The intensity continues to ramp up in training camp for the Bears as they head toward their second scrimmage coming up Saturday. The last two days of practice have been two of the more entertaining and eventual to watch so far with a ton of energy on both sides of the ball. It feels like the players understand the importance of the current stretch, and that has brought some big plays for both the offense and defense.
Day 13 was another one of those days for the Bears, and here's a look at the top takeaways from Thursday. As a note, it was a planned "no interview" day so there wasn't post-practice availability, but we will get both coordinators and select players tomorrow before getting Justin Wilcox again on Saturday.
Practice 13 notes and observations
- It felt this way on Wednesday, and today it was clear. Practice belonged to the defense. Led by some continued high energy from David Reese, the defense did a good job of putting the clamps down on the offense Thursday. There were highlight plays at all three levels on Day 13, but it was the secondary that again shined for the Bears. In all there were two interceptions, four sacks plus three additional tackles for loss, and seven pass breakups by the defense.
The defense allowed just two touchdowns on the day, but both came during the portion of practice with the third units on the field. So, the top two defensive groups kept the top two offensive groups out of the end zone on Day 13.
Seven different players either had a sack or tackle for loss for the defense Thursday, so the success was wide spread.
- Nohl Williams has raised his game over the last couple practices, and he came up with multiple impressive plays during Thursday's action. It started early as he intercepted Fernando Mendoza during the 7-on-7 period on a play where Mendoza was looking for Kyion Grayes. He followed that up with a pair of pass breakups during the team periods. That comes just a day after he had two interceptions during the 12th practice of camp.
- Neither of the top two quarterbacks had a particularly impressive performance on Day 13. The reality is that the competition feels like it is in the same place it has been with no clear leader as the end of the third week of camp approaches. Chandler Rogers got the first crack at working with the first unit during the initial team period Thursday but could get the offense in position to score. He was intercepted by nickel Matthew Littlejohn early in the final team period as he looked for tight end Corey Dyches.
It wasn't all bad for Rogers as he had one of the bigger throws of the day on a 41-yard connection with Trond Grizzell during the second team period.
Mendoza had a couple mishaps take place during his drives leading the offense. The team briefly went live for its "siren period" that has been installed the last couple days to keep the team alert. It takes place during the middle of a non-team period and forces the players to have to rush to get lined up in a more high-pressure situation. Thursday, the situation was fourth-and-1 from the 39-yard line.
Both Rogers and Mendoza were unsuccessful during that stretch, but it was Mendoza who had the bigger snafu as he fumbled after being sacked by Curlee Thomas IV. The quarterbacks have not been live outside of this one instance. Jaydn Ott was stonewalled for a loss by TJ Bollers during Rogers' sequence.
I've written about this a lot, but CJ Harris was the most productive quarterback of the practice. He accounted for the lone passing touchdown of the day as he hit Jonathan Brady for 55 yards during the second team period. He also had a couple pass plays that went for more than 15 yards.
Outside of the touchdown by Harris, Rogers put together the best looking drive. He hit Grizzell on a 41-yard play that set the offense up in prime position to score. The drive was called dead when the offense failed to get in the end zone on three downs. Still, it was a great looking play from Rogers.
- Neither Rogers nor Mendoza had a clean pocket to work with for most of practice. That has become a growing theme in camp as the offensive line still has some work to do before the opener against UC Davis arrives. The left side was a bit more of a concern Thursday as Nick Morrow and Rush Reimer continue to work at left tackle and left guard. A lot of the pressure on Day 13 came from that side including a batted pass from Reese against Mendoza and a sack of Rogers from Cheikh Fall late in the final team period.
- The biggest positive for the offense came on the ground as the running backs supplied the explosive plays on Thursday. Jaivian Thomas hit the first big one with a 40-yard run during the second team period. The second-year back has been seeing ample opportunities with the first (Ott has not been used in every first-team situation) and second units throughout camp. Kadarius Calloway has also been coming on strong making a case for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart behind Ott. He had a big touchdown run Wednesday and put together an impressive 23-yard gain during Thursday's practice.
The most notable run came by way of freshman Jamaal Wiley, who looks like a future home run threat, as he scored on a 41-yard run to end the second team period. He has worked with the third unit throughout camp but has supplied some explosive plays on the ground.
- The lone "live" field goal came up short for Ryan Coe. He's been consistently hitting from deep with his opportunities in camp, but he was not able to connect on a 53-yard attempt Thursday. He was short and right on the kick, but there was miscue with the operation that seemed to throw things off.
- There was a mixed bag of results elsewhere on special teams. Both Grayes and Marcus Harris had mishandled punts resulting in the ball being on the ground. Grayes' bobble was recovered by the kicking team. Isaac Torres also came up with a blocked punt during the same segment of practice.
Practice 13 clips
Practice 13 photo gallery
PHOTOS: Cal training camp 2024 (Day 13)
A collection of our top photos from the Bears' 13th day of training camp on Thursday.
