Day 10 of training camp brought the first scrimmage of the month for the Bears. There will be more opportunities to get in some game-like action before the end of camp including another scrimmage next weekend. Sunday, there were over 100 plays during the various team periods giving the group of fans in attendance an glimpse into what the Bears look like at this stage of camp.
It was an even day overall with both the offense and defense having strong moments at different times in practice. There continues to be some ongoing position battles that will need to play out in the coming weeks ahead of the opener, but Sunday's practice highlighted some of the common themes that have already come up through the first 10 days.
Here's a rundown of the top notes and observations from Day 10 of camp for the Bears.
Notes and observations
- We'll start with the quarterback play on Day 10. Fernando Mendoza got the call with the first unit first on Sunday with the Bears continuing to alternate between their returning starter and Chandler Rogers. Early the first drive featured a heavy dose of Jaydn Ott before Mendoza turned one loose on a 30-yard pass to Mason Starling. That set up a 45-yard field goal for Ryan Coe sparking a nice period for the offense. In all, the offense scored five times during that opening period.
Rogers had the big pass play of Day 10 as he connected with Tobias Merriweather for a 75-yard score after a miscommunication by the defense allowed the Cal receiver to get open. Most of that yardage (I'd estimate about 50 yards) was through the air, and it was one of the biggest passes made by Rogers in camp.
The competition is as close as it has been, as I mentioned yesterday, and Rogers is certainly in position to make his move this week if he is able to continue stringing together impressive days.
There were again no interceptions thrown for either of the top two quarterbacks battling for the starting job, so there has been some progress made in that key area.
- Defensively, the thing that stood out was just how much Peter Sirmon's group was in the backfield on Day 10. There were nine sacks and 11 tackles for loss overall for the defense, and the pressure came from all over the field. It was as aggressive as Sirmon has been in any team period so far in camp, and could signal what is to come for the Bears as they look to become more disruptive this season.
Even with David Reese being used sparingly and Xavier Carlton not being on the field at all, the rest of the outside linebacker group stepped up Sunday. That group accounted for six of the nine sacks on Day 10 including multiple sacks for Serigne Tounkara and Myles Williams.
- Defensive back Cam Sidney, who has been working with the first unit at safety in place of Craig Woodson, continues to look like a viable option as part of the rotation in the secondary. He came up with five tackles and an impressive pass breakup during Sunday's scrimmage. There were seven pass breakups overall for the defense on Day 10.
- We finally got the opportunity to see a bit more special teams than usual, and Ryan Coe continues to look rock solid at the place kicker position. He connected on both of his field goals tries (45 and 33 yards) plus his two PAT attempts as well.
- The biggest negative of the day on either side of the ball was the amount of penalties called on the offense. The second drive had a big play negated by an illegal man downfield penalty that took away what would have been a 36-yard connection between Rogers and Mavin Anderson. The drive ultimately ended on a sack by freshman defensive lineman BJ Canady for a turnover on downs. In all, the Bears had six penalties called on the offense resulting in a loss of 35 yards. A majority of those penalties were against the offensive line, which continues to be the biggest question mark right now.
- Mike Bloesch continues to use the same groups he's had in place for most of camp, but right now the Bears feel like they are going in the wrong direction along the offensive line. There were a few too many breakdowns Sunday leading to a big day for the edge rushers. It is not yet an alarming concern for Cal, but there needs to be some more progress made for that group in the coming weeks for there be any level of comfort heading into the season.
- The staff used the last portion of practice to get the younger players some extra work and even went fully live during one stretch to end practice. The star of that group was freshman running back Jamaal Wiley, who ended his day with 8 rushes for 63 yards including a 31-yard touchdown up the middle. Walk-on Belay Brummel passed for 35 yards and had just three incompletions during his time on the field while freshman EJ Caminong went 1 for 5 for 14 yards running the show.
- Freshman cornerback Khamani Hudson saw a lot of action come his way, and it was a bit of a mixed bag of results. He did end up with eight tackles and four pass breakups on Day 10 as the offense targeted his side quite a bit. He has been consistently running with the second unit as of late with Lu-Magia Hearns III moving over to nickel in the last few days.
- He likely is not going to challenge for the starting job, but Ohio transfer CJ Harris continues to be the most productive and consistent quarterback among the bunch. He guided a 75-yard scoring drive Sunday that ended with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Nyziah Hunter during the first team period, and he followed it up with another 75-yard scoring drive that was capped with a 7-yard touchdown to Isaac Torres later in that same segment. Harris was 9 for 11 for 122 yards passing in the scrimmage.
- Other than the big play to Merriweather, second-year tight end Ben Marshall had the play of the scrimmage as he went up and caught a pass thrown by Harris. Marshall twisted his body around and reached out with one hand to make the play over freshman Brooklyn Cheek.
- Here's a rundown of the scoring drives from Sunday's action ...
- Ryan Coe 45-yard field goal | Drive: 10 plays, 49 yards (QB - Fernando Mendoza)
- CJ Harris 37-yard TD pass to Nyziah Hunter | Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards
- Chandler Rogers 75-yard TD pass to Tobias Merriweather | Drive: 1 play 75 yards
- Ryan Coe 33-yard field goal | Drive: 11 plays, 60 yards (QB - Fernando Mendoza)
- CJ Harris 7-yard TD pass to Isaac Torres | Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards
- Jamaal Wiley 31-yard TD run | Drive: 4 plays, 45 yards (QB: EJ Caminong)
Post-practice interviews
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