Saturday marked the midway point of spring ball, punctuated with multiple live tackling periods. What it showed head coach Justin Wilcox is that there's a lot of ground that still needs to be covered.

"There's some good things, but we've got a long way to go," Justin Wilcox noted afterward. "It shows up in tackling and finishing the play, and just the operation, getting the calls in. We've got to bring the energy, it's easy to be ready the first day of camp, the first day of spring ball, but you've got to sustain it. We've got to keep working there, the attitude's there, but we've got to get that purposeful practice in."

Some of that tackling struggle was personified in the first play of the fourth and 1 team period, as Chris Brown busted free for a 35 yard gain, but at a certain point, the defense and Brown were playing like it wasn't live, as a yell from the sideline came out to remind the defense that they in fact, had to tackle Brown. They did, but the tackling was an inconsistent area on the day.

One other piece that stuck out was the distribution of the quarterback reps, as Chase Garbers and Devon Modster have seemingly pulled forward into most of the 1st team reps.

"If you had a depth chart today, yeah," Wilcox said when asked about the two QBs pulling ahead, "but I think we've got so much time, we're really not thinking that way yet, we're trying to get the information we need for us to help that, but ultimately the players are going to decide that, and Chase Garbers, to me, has taken that next step in terms of comfort level and managing things, but we've still got to go out and perform in the fall. Then, Devon, the language is new to him, but he's picking up things quickly and can throw the ball down the field, for both those guys, it's just reps, reps reps."

Garbers did look like the more impressive quarterback on the day, with one strike to Jeremiah Hawkins standing out. Garbers hit the junior in mid-stride, right in the intermediate passing range that he'd stuggled with in the fall, as Hawkins brought in the pass and took it to the house for a 40 yard score. Garbers also found success as a runner, pulling the ball on zone reads and finding wide open spaces in front of him for gains of 20+ each time.

After that 40 yard score, the defense stiffened up, holding the offense without a score until the final redzone team period.

Standouts:

As many of the high rep guys on defense ceded time to their younger counterparts, a few names stuck out.

- Nick Alftin, as the 6'5", 250 lb outside linebacker is beginning to really grasp his position, as Tevin Paul is working as his mentor through this spring, jokingly calling him his 'son'

"He's a hard-working dude," Paul noted, "we're similar body types, similar backgrounds, so I'm just trying to be the father-figure to him, because he has all the tools, the work-ethic, everything.
- Evan Tattersall, who stood up Chris Brown on a rrun, no small feat when Brown, listed at 230 lbs, came down hard in the hole.

"He's continuing to make strides," Peter Sirmon noted on the former Granite Bay Star, "not a lot of experience at the inside linebacker position, but this year moving forward, he has really good skills. He runs well, he bends, he has change of direction, he's strong, it's just the development and experience of doing it over and over, and just the emotional development of 'can you do it over and over, can you play tough and play hard from the first snap to the last."

- Isaiah Humphries, who came down in the box to make a nice stop on Chris Brown, then picked off Modster on a sideline throw to Ricky Walker

Other standouts included:

- Josh Drayden, who leveled Jaylinn Hawkins during the special teams competition period, while also blowing up a Jeremiah Hawkins reverse with a cornerback blitz. Drayden was not kind to the Hawkins family

- Louie Bickett, who was usually involved with making stops whenever he was in, including three stops in a row during the team two huddle period.

- Jeremiah Hawkins, not only for the run portion of the catch and run touchdown, but for generally being tough to tackle on screens and making a point of bringing in everything after a couple drops Friday

- Gavin Reinwald, who had a nice catch and run for a score during the final redzone team period. He executed the leak out on the bootleg pass perfectly, and made the play for the offense, pulling them back up from the rut they were in.

Other Notes:

- McCallan Castles was back in pads, but didn't participate in the team periods. Siu Fuimaono was out, giving Erick Nisich plenty of time in at nose guard to prove himself

- Cal did have officials out during the team periods, but only one flag was thrown, for an illegal substitution by the defense while the offense ran tempo (Elijah Hicks couldn't get off the field)

- Cal did run some field goals in Memorial Stadium, with Greg Thomas hitting three of his four attempts, and Gabe Siemieniec hitting both of his. Charlie Ragle noted that both, along with Dario Longhetto, will likely compete into the fall for the starting kicking job. Longhetto held for both of the other kickers today.

Cal will get the day off Sunday, returning to the Memorial Stadium turf in preparation for next weekend's spring game.