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Takeaways from Cal's Pac-12 Return Press Conference

Cal will return to playing this fall, with a seven-game schedule to be determined, and both athletic director Jim Knowlton and head coach Justin Wilcox got on a Zoom conference to talk to assorted media about the decision and how it affects Cal.

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The Big Takeaways

- One of the biggest pieces of the equation to returning to play was the use of daily antigen testing that can minimize spread of COVID-19. Per Knowlton, Cal already has their testing equipment and they're getting the staff trained on their usage, which should allow for an increase in cohort size from the current number of 25.

"We got our test kits and testers on Wednesday, so today our trainers went through their training," Knowlton said, "I think there's a little more training and I imagine by mid-week next week that we'll be able to test every single day. The reason that's important is that you can't start contact until you're able to test every single day. The other things are the cohorts, right now we have a cohort of 25, we've been told the state is going to increase cohorts to a larger number and we're waiting for that feedback as well. We don't need it right now, but certainly when we get into contact we'll need to be able to have larger cohorts."

- That larger cohort also means they can share equipment, including a ball, which certainly helps as far as preparing for the game of football.

"Tomorrow will be the first day with a bigger group, we'll increase to 25," Justin Wilcox said, "they can actually use some shared equipment but they can't be within the six foot bubble, there's a lot more we can do, but the key to what Jim mentioned is once we get the daily testing, it'll allow us to close the bubble and be in each other's space, that's when you can start walkthroughs"

- Coaches are allowed to be out on the field as the cohort currently, with social distancing and protocol when they enter the building, there are no indoor meetings either at this point. Wilcox noted that indoor meetings may return with daily testing.

- The level of conditioning is still uneven, with Wilcox noting that they're going to need time to get everybody dialed back in.

"A good number of the guys had continued working out on their own, about a month ago when things got postponed," Wilcox said, "some guys stayed here, some guys had access to workouts, we had voluntary workouts, but it's not the same as being in a summer program every day where it's mandatory. When we came back, not every guy was in the same condition, so we're really tailoring it to the individual. I wouldn't say we're ready to play today, we're not, but we're going to get there, and we're going to need to be real thoughtful about how to do it with each individual."

- As previous discussed with Bill Musgrave, Cal will be limiting some of the installation that they do due to the time they have to put their offense and defense in

"I think it's going to be important that we're not going to have a lot of overage, whether it's offense, defense, or special teams," Wilcox said. "We don't have time to be inefficient with install, to put in 3000 blitzes and run them all twice, and the same goes on offense. I also think everybody's going to have a role, every guy on the team who can help us win a game is going to have a role, whether it's packaged on offense, defense or special teams. It's going to be really fun to take ownership for all those guys and have them take a role on the team."

- The new health regulations allow both the men's and women's basketball teams to get back in the gym for the first time in over six months

"I have two very happy basketball coaches right now," Knowlton noted, "we can start using Haas Pavilion and Gold Gym at the 10% level, based on square footage gives them in Haas 29 people on the court at the same time and Gold Gym about 20, it gives them the needs for both programs"

Things We Don't Know

-While they have an idea, there's no official start date for camp and when cohorts are specifically going to get bigger to make practice feasible.

"I anticipate the first day of our camp being October 9th, but that has not been confirmed yet," Wilcox said, "that's what we've been prepped for. Until then, we'd be under the 12 hour rules under the current public health order with our current cohorts of 25, hopefully that grows next week, and we're anticipating starting (camp) October 9th, which is a Friday)"

- There are currently opt-outs, though they haven't been made public and an upcoming schedule release will make them public.

"We have had a small number of guys opt out," Wilcox said, "but the overwhelming majority of guys want to play, and we've had some great support from our administration, support staff, and our doctors that they feel good about. There are a couple who have opted out, there's no judgement there, and we'll release the roster shortly, when it's appropriate, and you'll see who's in and who's out."

- They haven't figured out who they're going to play in the regular season cross-over game against a South division opponent and it's not guaranteed that it's one of the LA schools. In that vein, Knowlton couldn't detail what kind of dent TV rights for the conference's games would make in the $50 million hole that the pandemic put them in

"We can make a pretty good estimate of what the TV rights could be," Knowlton said,"but we don't have the details yet."

- Other teams across the country have limited roster sizes due to the pandemic, but there hasn't been a mandated number with regards to walk-ons and the like.

"We've discussed it as part of, is it best for the program and it's also been with the public health order," Wilcox noted, "with how many you can have in a cohort. The conference hasn't mandated a cutdown, we've talked at length about travel numbers or the numbers needed to play a game and those will be released, and the institutions are going to have the final say on how many they want to keep on the roster this fall."

There's a lot of work to go until the Bears get to that November 6th start date, but there's a cautious optimism, as Knowlton put it, around starting and finishing a 2020 fall season.

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