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Notes and observations
Cal held its first scrimmage of the spring Saturday and the Bears went close to 90 plays over a couple hours focused on different situation at times but mostly it was live action simulating a game. There were bright moments on both sides of the ball, but the defense certainly seemed to control things for the most part. It was the best chance for us to see live game action over an extended period, and it brought some more insight into this year's team.
Here are some quick notes and observations from Scrimmage 1.
• The defense played well throughout the scrimmage and avoided the big chunk plays that it has focused on defending through the first full week of work. Limiting explosive plays has been at the forefront of the defensive approach this spring, and that group did a good job of not allowing the offense to find much room down the field.
• In particular, the linebacker unit was impressive for the Bears. Each player had his hand in stopping the offense in some way Saturday. Newcomers David Reese and Sergio Allen made an impact. Reese was disrupting plays all over the field and his play was highlighted by two batted passes at the line against Sam Jackson V. Ethan Saunders and Kaleb Elarms-Orr both had sacks in the scrimmage while Stanley McKenzie had two tackles for loss. Craig Woodson intercepted Jackson for a pick-six as the Cal quarterback looked for Mavin Anderson on a rollout to the right. Woodson jumped the route and stepped in front of Anderson to make the play.
The defense was also able to jump on two fumbles by Jackson in the scrimmage as well. One of them came on a toss from Jackson to Jaydn Ott and it was picked jumped on by Allen to give the ball back to the defense. The other mishandled ball came on a poor toss attempt from Jackson to Ott that was scooped up by Myles Jernigan and returned for a touchdown. Justin Wilcox pointed to both instances as moments that simply can't happen for the offense, and the defense took advantage of them.
• Ashton Stredick was a highlight player for the offense in the scrimmage as he put together the best day among the running back group. It was a solid week for that unit, but Ott said he hoped the running backs had performed better as a whole on Saturday. Byron Cardwell didn't make much noise, but Stredick had some highlight runs including a rush that went for 54 yards down the right sideline. Ott had a 43-yard rushing score on a nice misdirection play in which the defense (and myself) thought Jackson had the ball on a designed run only to see Ott leak out to the other side of the field for an easy score.
• Kicker Michael Luckhurst had a couple opportunities for field goals and he connected from 38 and 42 yards out on both of his attempts.
• It was the first practice with referees, and there were a number of penalties that negated big plays – mostly for the offense. A delay of game negated what would have been the biggest play of the day for the offense on a deep pass from Jackson to Monroe Young. It would have been a completion of close to 60 yards. Ott had two rushing touchdowns, Stredick had another and Fernando Mendoza also had a rushing score for the offense in the scrimmage. Mendoza was part of the best looking pass play on the day as he found Trond Grizzell on a back shoulder throw right at the pylon for a 17-yard completion. Grizzell's catch was the best one of the day for the offense and came against Isaiah Young in coverage.
Notes and observations
Cal held its first scrimmage of the spring Saturday and the Bears went close to 90 plays over a couple hours focused on different situation at times but mostly it was live action simulating a game. There were bright moments on both sides of the ball, but the defense certainly seemed to control things for the most part. It was the best chance for us to see live game action over an extended period, and it brought some more insight into this year's team.
Here are some quick notes and observations from Scrimmage 1.
• The defense played well throughout the scrimmage and avoided the big chunk plays that it has focused on defending through the first full week of work. Limiting explosive plays has been at the forefront of the defensive approach this spring, and that group did a good job of not allowing the offense to find much room down the field.
• In particular, the linebacker unit was impressive for the Bears. Each player had his hand in stopping the offense in some way Saturday. Newcomers David Reese and Sergio Allen made an impact. Reese was disrupting plays all over the field and his play was highlighted by two batted passes at the line against Sam Jackson V. Ethan Saunders and Kaleb Elarms-Orr both had sacks in the scrimmage while Stanley McKenzie had two tackles for loss. Craig Woodson intercepted Jackson for a pick-six as the Cal quarterback looked for Mavin Anderson on a rollout to the right. Woodson jumped the route and stepped in front of Anderson to make the play.
The defense was also able to jump on two fumbles by Jackson in the scrimmage as well. One of them came on a toss from Jackson to Jaydn Ott and it was picked jumped on by Allen to give the ball back to the defense. The other mishandled ball came on a poor toss attempt from Jackson to Ott that was scooped up by Myles Jernigan and returned for a touchdown. Justin Wilcox pointed to both instances as moments that simply can't happen for the offense, and the defense took advantage of them.
• Ashton Stredick was a highlight player for the offense in the scrimmage as he put together the best day among the running back group. It was a solid week for that unit, but Ott said he hoped the running backs had performed better as a whole on Saturday. Byron Cardwell didn't make much noise, but Stredick had some highlight runs including a rush that went for 54 yards down the right sideline. Ott had a 43-yard rushing score on a nice misdirection play in which the defense (and myself) thought Jackson had the ball on a designed run only to see Ott leak out to the other side of the field for an easy score.
• Kicker Michael Luckhurst had a couple opportunities for field goals and he connected from 38 and 42 yards out on both of his attempts.
• It was the first practice with referees, and there were a number of penalties that negated big plays – mostly for the offense. A delay of game negated what would have been the biggest play of the day for the offense on a deep pass from Jackson to Monroe Young. It would have been a completion of close to 60 yards. Ott had two rushing touchdowns, Stredick had another and Fernando Mendoza also had a rushing score for the offense in the scrimmage. Mendoza was part of the best looking pass play on the day as he found Trond Grizzell on a back shoulder throw right at the pylon for a 17-yard completion. Grizzell's catch was the best one of the day for the offense and came against Isaiah Young in coverage.
