That's pretty much been pre-ordained for a while now, as the Tuis have been working him every week
Anyhow, today I got to sit down and interview a bunch of the freshmen/newcomers. I talked to Kyle Harmon, Siu Fuimaono, Alex Funches, Mike Saffell, Chase Garbers, Jeremiah Hawkins, Taariq Johnson, Brandon McIlwain, Valentino Daltoso, and Ben Moos. It was a busy morning. Anyway, here are some of the notes from those conversations.
- With McIlwain, he talked about how he grew up down in San Ramon, moving back to Pennsylvania due to his father's job. He also played baseball this summer in the Cal Ripken League in Baltimore (outfield). I also realized he's technically the most experienced QB on the roster, in terms of ingame rep experience
- Siu talked about the change in weight training programs, they had one back in his HS, but it's more of a "religion" in the college game here. Also said that the guys are 10x faster than what he's used to, but he's starting to get used to it. Also said if Cal hadn't gotten him, he was looking at JuCos, named College of San Mateo as one
- Daltoso implied that he was preparing to leave after Helfrich got fired (he used either disaster or catastrophe to describe it, I'll have to go back and listen to it). He decided to stick it out through spring ball, but got his release, contacted Greatwood, and they had a scholarship for him. He said he had faith that he'd be able to find a scholarship somewhere after his performance, just happened that Cal had one open for him
- Moos noted that learning the playbook has been a bit of a challenge, considering the playbook in HS was relatively small. Says he's got more of it down now, and that's helping him play a lot better over the past couple practices. Also noted that fellow freshman Gavin Reinwald has some very good fundamentals, and feels like their skillsets compliment each other well
- Garbers said he got the "Shooter McGavin" nickname due to a little introductory thing they did in the QB room, essentially stand up and say an interesting fact about your summer or whatever. Garbers' had gone golfing with his dad before he came in, and shot a personal best of 2 under (on a par 72 course), so one golf thing connects to another and so on. He also said he did expect to be in the competition for the QB spot, and also talked about how Tuiasosopo stresses ball placement as a big thing on throws
- Saffell talked about playing all three interior spots, reading the safeties as a means to understand what the defense is doing, to communicate it to the QB, so on. He's enjoyed learning under Greatwood so far, and he said that he's been learning quite a bit from Ooms
- Funches, who's from Southern California originally (Fontana), talked a bit about how Northern California is a different beast, though he noted that Denton (where he played at TVCC) was a bit weird (like Berkeley). Talked about how he came in and had a meeting with his DL coach his first day here (Tate), then the next day they were gone. Said he played mostly in a 3-point stance earlier, but he's getting used to the 2-point, dropping into coverage. Said it felt foreign at first, but he's felt fine in it since he had the spring to work on it.
- Johnson and Hawkins both noted it was good to have Jaylinn already here to help show them the ropes, but also noted that Edwards has been very helpful for them. Said they have a Nerf hoop and a dart board in the WR meeting room for competitions. Hawkins reiterated that he got the number 6 without asking for it, coaches just gave it to him. Johnson also noted the weirdness of being enrolled and in school when the coaching change happened.
- Harmon talked a bit about working with DeRuyter, and how it's been nice to stay close to home, something he wanted to do in the first place. The position is somewhat new to him, as he played ILB in both a 4-3 and 4-4 in HS, and the seniors are helping him get adjusted as well.
Lots of good stuff from these guys to come in the next few weeks.
