It has been a year and a day since Cal's trip to the Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara. Cal won handily, a 35-20 decision over Illinois, and a game that set the stage for the Bears heading into 2020. Justin Wilcox referred to 'Making the Move' to his team prior to the game, a term that became a mantra in both recruiting and on the field.
Then 2020 happened. The global pandemic due to the spread of COVID-19 shut down athletics across the country. March 12th was the final spring practice Cal had, the fourth of a scheduled fifteen, and the world changed quickly. Practices were shutdown, the NCAA tournament was canceled, and every day life changed.
Nine months later, Cal stands in a strange precipice. They did not make the move to the top of the conference, for a variety of reasons, but they're poised to be able to in 2021. Players are able to return if they choose, the Bears brought in the best class of Justin Wilcox's tenure so far, and there's more time for development.
That development piece is another thing lost in this pandemic. Running backs coach Aristotle Thompson put it succinctly:
"As great of shape as these guys are in, there’s no conditioning for football like football."
There have been months of development lost, from a physical perspective. You can see something on tape a million times, and watching tape was all a lot of guys could do, but building the muscle memory needed to execute in certain circumstances was lost. For a program that prides itself on development, this hurt.
Of course, every team in the nation had some sort of limitation. This year has been rough on everyone, as teams nationwide have turned down bowl bids. When Cal's game against Washington State was canceled, the year was done, regardless of the final cross-division game planned. Because of that, Cal has four games to evaluate off of, their 1-3 record emblematic of what they were over those four games, a team that hadn't developed to where they thought they'd be.
The hope is that there's never a year like this again. Aftershocks of 2020 are going to bleed through to the coming years, through players missing some of that development time as either high schoolers or college players, or limited scholarship spots due to players using their extra year of eligibility (unless the NCAA does something to ease the numbers). Cal may get a full offseason this year of conditioning, player run practices, and a full fall camp for the much needed development. Spring practice will likely start as soon as possible, with mid to late February being a target date.
With all the caveats from 2020, there's a few things to take away going forward and a handful of thoughts on the pieces coming in, departing, or staying.
The Immediate Impact
With spring ball soon to come, Cal will have eight early enrollees in Hunter Barth, Akili Calhoun, Kaleb Higgins, Patrick Hisatake, Ryan Lange, Nate Rutchena, Bastian Swinney and Jermaine Terry. There will likely be opportunities for a handful of these guys early, with a couple having more visible paths to playing time:
Calhoun - Cal didn't have too many bodies at the defensive line position this fall due to injury/opt-outs/transfer/COVID. They will still be relatively slim at the spot, depending on who's healthy in the spring. Calhoun, a productive, explosive defensive lineman out of nearby Liberty (Brentwood), could have an opportunity to carve out a niche early.
Terry - Cal doesn't have a guy quite like him on the roster. They have a similar body type to him in Collin Moore, but Terry has the size to play immediately out of the gate. Cal fought to hang onto Terry, and he'll have a golden opportunity early to earn reps.
Hisatake - Depth at outside linebacker was not there in 2020 due to opt-outs and injury, and Hisatake, like Terry, has a body type that Cal doesn't have many of. Hisatake has some great feet on the outside, and could bulk up to help with Cal's depth issues on the defensive line as well.
Seniors the Second Time Around
At this moment, Camryn Bynum and Jake Curhan are headed to the NFL from the senior group. Bynum was going after this season regardless, after opting out for the draft prior to the Pac-12 announcing a return to play. Curhan has accepted an invitation to the Hula Bowl, a post-season showcase in Hawaii, and has already graduated. Zeandae Johnson has been asked several times about a potential seventh season, to which he's said that may be a bridge too far.
Mike Saffell, on the other hand, noted that he was locked in for the 2021 season, as he's working on a master's degree in data science. At this point, he's the only Bear who has definitively counted himself in for one final go around.
A handful of other Bears have decisions to make going forward, with Devon Modster, Cameron Goode, Josh Drayden, Elijah Hicks, Kuony Deng, Bradrick Shaw, Kekoa Crawford, Marcel Dancy, Drew Schlegel, Valentino Daltoso, and Gentle Williams all have decisions to make as seniors. With whoever is in this class not counting towards Cal's scholarship numbers in 2021, any one of these guys could come back, depending on their aspirations. Whether they will is the big question.
Browning Effect
Cal defensive line coach Andrew Browning had one of the tougher jobs throughout the four games that Cal played in 2020. He had an entire position group in quarantine for a couple weeks, and really played with only three guys throughout the four games. The defensive line stepped up for the Bears, with JH Tevis making strides from year to year, Brett Johnson playing well despite playing out of position for the second straight year, and Zeandae Johnson staying productive.
In addition, you could argue that Browning was the top recruiter on staff, landing Derek Wilkins, Patrick Hisatake, Myles Williams, and Akili Calhoun in the 2021 class. Browning is a relatively young coach, and Justin Wilcox has heaped praise on Browning (Browning was a starter for Wilcox on the 2006 Fiesta Bowl team at Boise State). He has quietly been excellent on the Cal staff.
2020 MVPs
It feels odd to give MVPs, but we're going to give them.
Offensive Player of the Year - Mike Saffell
Cal's top graded player on offense per PFF. In a year where no skill player consistently produced from week to week, Saffell was the Bears' most consistent player on offense. The captain missed a good chunk of the Oregon State game, but played well through injury over the final two games.
Defensive Player of the Year - Brett Johnson/Cameron Goode
Statistically, this award should go to Goode. The redshirt senior lead the team with 8 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in four games. His 3.5 TFLs in the win over Oregon were a career high, as Goode likely earned some NFL money from that performance. Goode led the team in PFF's defensive stops metric as well.
Johnson does earn a share of this award for one big reason, take him out and the Cal defense suffers. Johnson played out of position, at a position that doesn't rack up much in the way of statistics, but you could see his impact in pushing back pockets and suplexing Oregon's CJ Verdell.
True Freshman of the Year - Damien Moore
Moore gets the nod for his Stanford performance, the first true freshman with 100 rushing yards since Marshawn Lynch. Moore took advantage while Christopher Brown Jr. limited, and ended up leading the Bears in rushing yards. Moore has some good vision, cutback ability, a fantastic stiff arm, and has cemented himself in the RB rotation for the next few years.
Offense to Come
The biggest piece for any sort of move in 2021, as it was coming into 2020, is a step up in Cal's offense. The Bears, somewhat limited in their playcalling, had flashes of solid play in 2020, but had more frustration in their offense. The passing game worked against Oregon State, the run game worked against Stanford, but the Bears didn't have a complete performance all year.
Chase Garbers' yards per attempt numbers were his lowest (5.7, down from 8.2 in 2019), the Bears struggled to run at times and kept with the run on early downs, forcing them into longer 3rd down situations. They were missing multiple offensive linemen for half their games, and wideout Nikko Remigio didn't get going until the Oregon game. A lack of development did hold this offense down in learning a new system, and with hindsight, it's easy to say that some of the run/pass decisions should have been different.
A full year of development under Bill Musgrave's system should make this group an interesting one. They've recruited well on this side of the ball over the previous two classes, and with Saffell back (along with multi-year starters in Matt Cindric, McKade Mettauer and Will Craig), there's experience up front. That is what was said at the beginning of 2020, with offensive line experience being a reason why the Bears could transition to a new offense. The optimism will need to translate into results.
For now though, we at Cal Rivals would like to thank you for reading, and wish you a healthy and happy new year.
