Fantastic evening on the Peninsula with the coaching staff and 15 or so players. Much better attended than the last couple of years and the vibe and energy were noticeably more upbeat from staff to players to donors.
First off, just really impressive the quality of our student athletes. These kids are so well spoken and truly great representatives of Cal. They exude class and are as comfortable talking about their degrees and life on campus as they are discussing the football team. Having gone to these types of things for nearly 15 years, one of the areas where we've had stark improvement is with the underlying character of the young men we're recruiting.
With regard to Damariay Drew, it doesn't sound like the staff expects good news. They won't have a full diagnosis until after the initial surgery. It "looked bad" on the field and right now they are assuming they're not going to have him next year. They hope the news is better than that yet they are planning for the worst.
The QB battle will get reduced to the top 2 (maybe 3) starting tomorrow with reps getting less equally divided. Chase Forest and Ross Bowers are almost certainly the top two. I spent quite a bit of time with Forest tonight. He's got a nice manner to him - clearly not lacking in confidence yet not cocky. I believe he is 100% sure that he will be the starter.
Not a huge guy. Perhaps less than 6'2" and while not skinny, he's not a huge guy.
Heard from a lot of the offensive players how much they like the "new" offense. A couple of key differences - One call will come in from the sidelines to the QB who will then give the signals to the team at the line of scrimmage as opposed to each position group looking for signals individually in the TFS. The # of plays in the offense will go up. More diverse pass patterns rather than simply variants off a small tree. Spavital gets high marks for a.) being easy going and laid back in personality; b.) being a strong and clear communicator and c.) his work with the QBs (they all feel they are improving their technique under Jake). Sonny told me that his offensive background is more aligned with Spavital's offense than the TFS. Jake runs a system where the terminology and philosophy are 99% the same as what Sonny ran at Arizona and that "he grew up with" - Jake is more collaborative than Tony and open to the wisdom that Sonny's experience provides.
Defensive players called out how much better they believe the OL is this year. Hardy told me it's by far the best OL we've had in his four years. Raves about Coach Jones and how big a jump individual players are making technique wise under him. Big props for Aaron Cochran from the D players saying it's night and day from a year ago with the big man. Ooms is seen as the super bright guy with a nasty attitude. Still needs to get bigger and stronger. Stuckey has been watching Spring practices and the players said he clearly knows the system cold and is a BIG guy. Unclear whether he will play center or guard.
Big thing everyone talked about was improved depth across the board. Dykes told me they ran 220 plays the last five days of practice this Spring. He contrasted that by saying they ran less than 80 in his first Spring here. Not only were there not enough quality players to get more reps, guys were so nicked up and out of shape that they simply couldn't get the reps in. More reps = better team was the mantra I heard from the staff. The other big win with the depth (beyond the obvious of not having a big drop off if someone goes out) is the mental toughness they feel they can develop via competition. The best players on the team are for the first time fighting for their jobs practice to practice. The belief is that will result in tougher kids, more mentally prepared for the bigger games against the tougher opponents.
Chad Hansen told me the WR group is younger but far deeper and in his mind more athletically talented than last years group ("as hard as that may be to believe" he said). He and Pat Worstell are the veteran leaders of the group - he said Worstell is having the best Spring of any of the widouts - never drops a ball and super consistent with his routes. The player most called out by the other players was Melquise Stovall. Hardy said he doesn't look or play like a frosh (short but really strong), ridiculously elusive and runs very precise routes. Other shout outs for Carlos Strickland, Jordan Veasy and Brandon Singleton. Hansen is looking forward to the 40 times they'll do in two weeks to see how he matches up with Singleton.
Lots of props for Malik Psalms - much improved, super rangy with long arms and he can run. I get the feeling that he's viewed as more talented than Albert. Both are seen as press cover guys, very physical and jumbo sized. Different from Allensworth and White. Lots of discussion of the new guys coming in at CB this Summer. Competition going to get real.
Some concern about the loss of McClure as a strong leader in the secondary. Especially with Drew's health being in question. Drew is the one intimidator out there, the guy that all the offensive players fear. Nickerson calls all the defensive audibles and is clearly the leader on the defense overall. He's bigger than he's been. Told me he's up to 230lbs and it's noticeable relative to where he was last year. (I suspect he played at 220-225). Talked to him and Coach Dykes about our smaller DTs. For Hardy, it's a technique issue as we don't have the big space eaters that occupy OL and funnel runners to the LBs thus the LBs have to be consistent with their feet and hands when playing the run. Dykes told me that he and Kaufman prefer penetrating DTs that can rush the passer. Not that worried about the downhill running teams as he feels that quickness up front gives teams like Stanford and USC more trouble than raw size and strength. They think they win against running team by having speed and quickness all over the defense and getting lots of hats on the ball. Some shout outs to Luc Bequette as being the most improved DT with good upside. Westerfield is bigger by 15-20lbs and tearing it up this Spring, very tough to block. Derron Brown was being raved about by everyone for his speed and playmaking ability. Looney is perceived to be the star of the group upfront.
Downs hurt his foot against Oregon is just now getting to 100%. Forest told me he's scary quick and fast for such a big guy. He's expected to be able to play in the Spring Game. Ray Ray Davison is another much improved player in Nickerson's eyes. Hansen told me that Tre Turner is a baller - all over the field and clearly one of the fastest players on the team. Saffle's been banged up this Spring but likely to be greenlit to go 100% on Friday. Lots of confidence that the overall pass rush will improve this year. Rambo and Vanderbilt were mentioned multiple times.
First off, just really impressive the quality of our student athletes. These kids are so well spoken and truly great representatives of Cal. They exude class and are as comfortable talking about their degrees and life on campus as they are discussing the football team. Having gone to these types of things for nearly 15 years, one of the areas where we've had stark improvement is with the underlying character of the young men we're recruiting.
With regard to Damariay Drew, it doesn't sound like the staff expects good news. They won't have a full diagnosis until after the initial surgery. It "looked bad" on the field and right now they are assuming they're not going to have him next year. They hope the news is better than that yet they are planning for the worst.
The QB battle will get reduced to the top 2 (maybe 3) starting tomorrow with reps getting less equally divided. Chase Forest and Ross Bowers are almost certainly the top two. I spent quite a bit of time with Forest tonight. He's got a nice manner to him - clearly not lacking in confidence yet not cocky. I believe he is 100% sure that he will be the starter.
Not a huge guy. Perhaps less than 6'2" and while not skinny, he's not a huge guy. Heard from a lot of the offensive players how much they like the "new" offense. A couple of key differences - One call will come in from the sidelines to the QB who will then give the signals to the team at the line of scrimmage as opposed to each position group looking for signals individually in the TFS. The # of plays in the offense will go up. More diverse pass patterns rather than simply variants off a small tree. Spavital gets high marks for a.) being easy going and laid back in personality; b.) being a strong and clear communicator and c.) his work with the QBs (they all feel they are improving their technique under Jake). Sonny told me that his offensive background is more aligned with Spavital's offense than the TFS. Jake runs a system where the terminology and philosophy are 99% the same as what Sonny ran at Arizona and that "he grew up with" - Jake is more collaborative than Tony and open to the wisdom that Sonny's experience provides.
Defensive players called out how much better they believe the OL is this year. Hardy told me it's by far the best OL we've had in his four years. Raves about Coach Jones and how big a jump individual players are making technique wise under him. Big props for Aaron Cochran from the D players saying it's night and day from a year ago with the big man. Ooms is seen as the super bright guy with a nasty attitude. Still needs to get bigger and stronger. Stuckey has been watching Spring practices and the players said he clearly knows the system cold and is a BIG guy. Unclear whether he will play center or guard.
Big thing everyone talked about was improved depth across the board. Dykes told me they ran 220 plays the last five days of practice this Spring. He contrasted that by saying they ran less than 80 in his first Spring here. Not only were there not enough quality players to get more reps, guys were so nicked up and out of shape that they simply couldn't get the reps in. More reps = better team was the mantra I heard from the staff. The other big win with the depth (beyond the obvious of not having a big drop off if someone goes out) is the mental toughness they feel they can develop via competition. The best players on the team are for the first time fighting for their jobs practice to practice. The belief is that will result in tougher kids, more mentally prepared for the bigger games against the tougher opponents.
Chad Hansen told me the WR group is younger but far deeper and in his mind more athletically talented than last years group ("as hard as that may be to believe" he said). He and Pat Worstell are the veteran leaders of the group - he said Worstell is having the best Spring of any of the widouts - never drops a ball and super consistent with his routes. The player most called out by the other players was Melquise Stovall. Hardy said he doesn't look or play like a frosh (short but really strong), ridiculously elusive and runs very precise routes. Other shout outs for Carlos Strickland, Jordan Veasy and Brandon Singleton. Hansen is looking forward to the 40 times they'll do in two weeks to see how he matches up with Singleton.
Lots of props for Malik Psalms - much improved, super rangy with long arms and he can run. I get the feeling that he's viewed as more talented than Albert. Both are seen as press cover guys, very physical and jumbo sized. Different from Allensworth and White. Lots of discussion of the new guys coming in at CB this Summer. Competition going to get real.
Some concern about the loss of McClure as a strong leader in the secondary. Especially with Drew's health being in question. Drew is the one intimidator out there, the guy that all the offensive players fear. Nickerson calls all the defensive audibles and is clearly the leader on the defense overall. He's bigger than he's been. Told me he's up to 230lbs and it's noticeable relative to where he was last year. (I suspect he played at 220-225). Talked to him and Coach Dykes about our smaller DTs. For Hardy, it's a technique issue as we don't have the big space eaters that occupy OL and funnel runners to the LBs thus the LBs have to be consistent with their feet and hands when playing the run. Dykes told me that he and Kaufman prefer penetrating DTs that can rush the passer. Not that worried about the downhill running teams as he feels that quickness up front gives teams like Stanford and USC more trouble than raw size and strength. They think they win against running team by having speed and quickness all over the defense and getting lots of hats on the ball. Some shout outs to Luc Bequette as being the most improved DT with good upside. Westerfield is bigger by 15-20lbs and tearing it up this Spring, very tough to block. Derron Brown was being raved about by everyone for his speed and playmaking ability. Looney is perceived to be the star of the group upfront.
Downs hurt his foot against Oregon is just now getting to 100%. Forest told me he's scary quick and fast for such a big guy. He's expected to be able to play in the Spring Game. Ray Ray Davison is another much improved player in Nickerson's eyes. Hansen told me that Tre Turner is a baller - all over the field and clearly one of the fastest players on the team. Saffle's been banged up this Spring but likely to be greenlit to go 100% on Friday. Lots of confidence that the overall pass rush will improve this year. Rambo and Vanderbilt were mentioned multiple times.
