Biggest Questions for Cal Entering Pac-12 Media Day
Pac-12 Media Day kicks off bright and early on Wednesday, July 25th, as Justin Wilcox, Patrick Laird and Jordan Kunaszyk will represent the Bears at the event. In year two under Wilcox, the Bears return 18 starters (10 on offense and 8 on defense) as their head coach has high expectations for the group after falling short of a bowl game in year one.
There's a handful of questions facing the Bears as they head into year two under Wilcox, looking to make big gains as a team.
1. How Versatile Can the Offense and Defense Become?
Year two means the Bears get to get a little more complex with scheme on both sides of the ball. Multiple players during the spring commented that last year was getting to know what to do, this year is getting to understand the 'why they're doing it' part of the equation.
Offensively, that amounts to delving into Beau Baldwin's multiple schemes, using more tight ends, getting the running back out into the slot or out of the backfield to catch passes underneath (Laird caught 45 passes a year ago), getting wide receivers in advantageous matchups against linebackers, and stuff of that nature. The Bears have more options at tight end this year, with Ray Hudson healthy, McCallan Castles and Ian Bunting coming into the program, and Gavin Reinwald adding size in the offseason. Castles in particular adds an intriguing option, as the 6'5", 235 lb true freshman can split out (like he's done the past two years at South Tahoe) and be a difficult matchup for opposing corners to handle.
On the defensive side, there's some new faces on defensive line, but year two under Tim DeRuyter seems likely to create different types of pressure from the second level. In games where the Bears were at their most successful (Washington State and Ole Miss), they got pressure from their base four man rush. They brought the four from different places, and while they have to replace blitzer extraordinaire Devante Downs, they have a couple solid blitzers up the middle in Jordan Kunaszyk and Evan Weaver. The returning Zeandae Johnson also has some pass rush skills, though we've yet to see him back in full pads after a knee injury ended his 2017 ever began.
Along with the front, having more defensive backs who can play, adding a newcomer in Chigozie Anusiem to an already solid DB group, led by a potential breakout star in Camryn Bynum, gives the Bears flexibility in who can play where. Hybrid OLBs like Malik Psalms and JuCo transfer Deon White give the Bears more options in coverage as well. Those two in particular allow the Bears to stay in their base defense against teams that throw in 3 or 4 WR packages. A versatile nose tackle like Siu Fuimaono, one who can slide over to the one-technique spot, helps in that regard as well.
2. Which Newcomers, either redshirts, transfers, or true freshman, will make the biggest impact?
We've already seen Lone Toailoa, Colt Doughty, Anusiem, and Jasper Friis in spring ball, enough to have an early idea of where they fit in in the upcoming season, but there's 19 other scholarship newcomers besides those four who are in Berkeley (along with a number of preferred walk-ons who the staff are excited about).
Of them, there's a number of names that have come up who could play early(aside from the four already listed):
- Castles, for his size and versatility
- OL Will Craig, with his technical skill and strength
- RB Johnny Adams, certainly looks the part and has the ability to match
- WR Nikko Remigio, already played in a complex offense, plays a lot like Kanawai Noa
- OLB Nick Alftin, as there's no one quite like him sizewise on the roster
- ATH Evan Tattersall, he's a wrecking ball of a player
- White, Toailoa, and Doughty are all set to make an impact early, as well as Anusiem, who some compared to Elijah Hicks in the way that he took to the defense.
- Laney College RB transfer Marcel Dancey also had some intriguing film, and was at almost every spring practice watching the running backs. With the group in need of players to backup Laird
3. Quarterback and Wideouts, and how will they open things up for explosive plays?
At this point, Ross Bowers is the assumed front-runner for the Cal quarterback job, and barring an absolute melt-down in fall camp, it's likelier than not that he'll be the starter when North Carolina comes to town on September 1st. He's not going to be the only QB to play this year, it's easy to see Beau Baldwin putting in a couple packages for Brandon McIlwain to take advantage of his abilities.
With the transfer of Demetris Robertson, there's been a fear that the Bears have no true deep threat. That's not entirely the case, as both Vic Wharton and Kanawai Noa have enough speed to break open big plays, as they did on a couple occasions last year. It's also on the Bears offense to open things up underneath to force the safeties and corners, who in the Pac-12 are frequently playing cover four, to come down and overcommit to the tight end or the slot receiver. Plenty of the Bears routes are predicated on what the defense gives them with zones, something that Noa has excelled with. If he, Hudson, Bunting, Jeremiah Hawkins, Jordan Duncan, and others can continue to draw attention there, that opens things up for Wharton and Taariq Johnson on the outside in one on one coverage. Explosive plays (plays of over 15 yards) are what the Bears are looking to create.
It's on Bowers to get more consistent on his deep throws, he had a handful on target, but his deep accuracy was a step down from what Cal fans had gotten used to in Jared Goff and Davis Webb. Doing the easy things well will open up the downfield things, and Bowers did show that he's improved on the short stuff in the spring. He's also put on a bit of size, and should be able to have a bit more strength at closer to 200 lbs than the 180 he noted he was playing at a year ago.
4. Who Wins the Kicker Spot?
This is a lot more important than it may appear to be at first glance. The Bears no longer have all-time points leader Matt Anderson, and they have redshirt sophomore Gabe Siemieniec and redshirt freshman Chris Landgrebe to try and replace him. They're also bringing in a kicker fresh off a prep school year in walk-on Dario Longhetto.
While Anderson wasn't as automatic as hoped for in 2017, he still presented an option that the Bears could go to, notably hitting a 52 yard field goal to tie the contest against Arizona to send it to overtime a year ago. One of the lefty kickers, in Siemieniec or Landgrebe, is going to have to prove that they can provide that same type of option.
5. What is the expectation for this team?
Laird said recently on an interview with local radio station 95.7, The Game, that there wasn't a changed message going into year two, the general idea hadn't changed. Week in and week out in 2017, after wins or losses, Wilcox noted that they went into every game expecting to win, and prepare to hear that phrase again in 2018. The Cal head coach has said that his goals in the upcoming seasons go as follows: win a Bowl Game, win the Pac-12 North, win the conference. This is a confident group of coaches, especially when it comes to player development, and with the amount of returning starters along with a relatively easier schedule, this can easily be seen as a bowl team.
How high will those aspirations go in 2018? That remains to be seen, but this could be an 8 win team in the regular season, considering that the Bears get home dates with UNC, UCLA, and Colorado among others. They still have a plethora of road challenges, taking on Khalil Tate in the desert and going down to the LA Coliseum, but it stacks up to be an easier schedule for the Bears.