Cal is closing in on the end of second-to-last week of spring practice with Saturday being the final practice of the week. Friday, the team regrouped for its second day of work since spring break, and it was a day dominated by the defense. There were some big early bright spots for the offense but most of the day belonged to Peter Sirmon's group.
Here's a rundown of some top takeaways from what I saw from the Golden Bears during Friday's practice under some rainy skies.
• The biggest takeaway from the day was the lack touchdowns from the offense. A couple days after reaching the end zone a ton, the offense was mostly bottled up although the group was shorthanded without the services of Jaydn Ott (undisclosed) and Byron Cardwell (right leg injury). That meant Ashton Stredick handled most of the first-team duties, and he is also only recently returning from an injury. As much as the offense didn't have the full allotment of players, it was as much about what the defense was able to do than what the offense wasn't.
There were four interceptions on the day overall for the Bears' defense with three of them coming in the team periods. Isaiah Young picked off Fernando Mendoza in the 7-on-7 portion of practice before Mendoza was picked off again in the first team period by Cam Sidney on a ball thrown to the left side. Young got Mendoza again late in practice as the team began the third team period. Sam Jackson V was intercepted by Jackson Sirmon after trying to make a difficult throw with Myles Williams applying pressure.
• Those big plays were definitely important for the defense, but it was more about the overall approach and success that made an impact for Peter Sirmon's group today. There was not a ton of room for the backs to make any kind of plays in the ground game, and there was consistent pressure from all over the field making it difficult for the offense to truly ever be settled or comfortable. The theme for the secondary continues to be the pass breakups and deflections. That again continued today with four pass breakups by my count with Matthew Littlejohn and Dejuan Butler both having one during the first team period followed by a great one from Butler again on a pass down the field to Trond Grizzell. Kaylin Moore had one late in the practice during the final team period as well.
• Up front there was plenty of pressure being applied from different spots on the field and it led to several passes thrown out of bounds. Kaleb Higgins and Moso'oipala Tuitele combined for a sack of Mendoza during the first team period. Ethan Saunders had a tackle for loss in the second team period taking down Aidan Lee, who was working at running back with so many players out at the position today as well.
• Saunders was the most impressive player of the practice in my view as he also applied pressure to Jackson late in the third team period forcing a throwaway. During the one-on-one portion of practice, Saunders earned big wins as well. He worked alongside Ricky Correia with the first unit early in today's practice with David Reese and Myles Jernigan on either side of them.
• There were a couple different combinations used with that first group to start off the team portion of practice with Blake Antzoulatos earning the nod alongside Sirmon at inside linebacker to start practice before Sergio Allen came in to replace him. Allen held that spot during Wednesday's practice. Safety Miles Williams was also used in the first unit on defense to start Friday's practice taking the place of Raymond Woodie III, who eventually checked back in a little later in the period.
• Lu-Magia Hearns III is another player on defense who I thought put together a strong showing. He came through with some good pressure to open the second team period forcing a throw out of bounds by Mendoza. Later in the same period he made a nice hit on Lee to held him to no gain on a rushing attempt.
• It wasn't all bad for the offense on Friday as that side of the ball was the clear winner of the one-on-one portion of practice with several big catches across the board. You can watch highlights of that entire session in the video below.
• It was a bit of a rough day for the quarterbacks. There were some definite bright spots at times with both Jackson and Mendoza having some significant passes. Still, the big play eluded the offense and the quarterbacks in today's practice. Jackson did find tight end Jack Endries, who was able to get an extended look with the first unit, for about a 20-yard connection over the middle to open up the second team period. Jackson again linked up with Endries for another connection later in the drive. Overall, Jackson's best work again came on the ground as his ability to pull the ball and run has proved to be a success for the offense at really any time. He didn't break any huge runs on the day but did manage to move the chains on more than one occasion with his feet.
Mendoza was inconsistent throughout the practice but closed strong with a couple passes of close to 20 yards during the final team period with King and Grizzell being the recipients of those throws.
Jackson also finished his day with some positive plays in the final team period as he found Jeremiah Hunter on a rollout play to the left side for about a 15-yard gain before hitting Mavin Anderson on a crossing route for about 20 yards.
• Along the offensive line, the groups remain the same with Ender Aguilar still working at left guard. I thought Brayden Rohme had the best performance of the group as he had some good wins in the one-one-one and pass pro portions of practice but was also really solid in keeping pressure off the quarterback on his side of the field during the team periods.
Post-practice interviews
