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Cal Football: A Big Saturday Notebook

Saturday felt a bit more like normal for the Bears. They had a morning practice, more 11 on 11 work, with refs, crowd noise, and a post-practice barbecue meal cooked by director of on-campus recruiting Benji Palu. Football is back in Berkeley.

"We had refs out there," Chase Garbers said, "crowd noise playing from the speakers, simulating a big game. Everyone was off on the sidelines, it was truly the 11 players on offense, 11 players on defense with the refs. It was great, a great atmosphere to be a part of and I think our team responded really well."

Watch: Saturday Media Availability

With Garbers and a couple of offensive players being in the media availability, the big plays from the offense during the session were highlighted.

"Makai (Polk) had a big deep ball down the sideline," Garbers recalled, "Kekoa (Crawford) had two big deep balls, Ben Skinner’s been playing real well, he had a nice catch over the middle, Collin Moore had a nice touchdown on fourth down. Marcel Dancy is running real well, we had a big gain from him in the ‘play the game’ at the end of practice."

Crawford in particular had a 50 yard reception, one that opened a gash above his eyebrow, as he lost his helmet and got cut. He came up with the ball, as he's been at his healthiest during this fall camp.

"Just a double go concept," Crawford said of the play, "whenever I hear that, I’m trying to go out, try to make a play. I feel like that’s (the same) for all us receivers, we’re all trying to make a play. We heard that and know there’s a green light to get the ball no matter where it is."

The crowd noise was admittedly an odd aspect, because the Bears won't be facing any crowds, other than assorted parents of players, but they're looking to develop their skills for when there's fans in the stands once again.

"We had crowd noise," Garbers noted, "it might be needed because we may want to hide our calls vocally, stick to hand signals and kind of disguise what you have to say if you have to communicate with the offensive line and wideouts."

Cal will get back to practice one more time Sunday prior to a Monday off.

Notebook

- Garbers noted that the offense is pretty much completely installed, aside from a couple of quirks and week of things they'll put in prior to November 7th.

"The install is pretty much done," Garbers said, "we’re pretty much done with our main stuff, just a couple quirks here and there and couple add ons that we’ll add in by the time we play Washington. It’s mostly complete and the offense has done a good job as a whole in studying the playbook."

- True freshman Stanley McKenzie has impressed on the defensive line, and will be in the two-deep at nose guard. The Hawaii state champion at St. Louis has gotten help from his fellow defensive linemen, who have told him to play fast and fix the mistakes later.

"Their biggest emphasis is ‘don’t be afraid to make mistakes,’" McKenzie noted,"because when I first came in, I was taking too long to read the blocks, they were telling me ‘don’t be afraid to make mistakes, shoot your hands, fire out, and just try to push back the O-linemen before they get to you.’"

McKenzie did play nose in high school, but he's still adjusting to the speed of a college offensive line.

"In high school, we didn’t have a lot of slip blocks and reach blocks, it was mainly double teams," McKenzie said. "So coming here and playing against O-linemen that can move and get off the ball, it has been a big change. Two/three weeks in, I am starting to get used to the tempo and the pace of the game."

- McKade Mettauer was mentioned as someone who wouldn't put up with trash talk by Kuony Deng. Mettauer, who's up to 305 lbs and has reportedly improved his run blocking, has come into his own from a confidence standpoint.

"Whenever you’re the true freshman on the field, you don’t want to ruffle any feathers and just play the game," Mettauer said. "Now that I’m more confident, I wouldn’t say I’m a big trash-talker, but I will shove some people around during the play, get in somebody’s face. Me and Kuony meet in the hole now and then when I pull, we do get after it sometimes. His arms are so long, sometimes I just let him have it, he’ll push me and I’ll just go back in the huddle."

He did make a note of the two biggest trashtalkers he goes against on a daily basis.

"Aaron Maldonado, 100% biggest trash talker on the team," Mettauer noted,"JH Tevis, I would say they’re tied for first, I was getting flak from Aaron all day."

- Cal WR Jeremiah Hunter continues to get mentions for his strong play in fall camp, as the true freshman is going to play one way or another.

"Jeremiah Hunter has been making a lot of plays out there," Crawford said, "number 10, just tracking the ball, going up there and making contested catches."

"Jeremiah Hunter, obviously a big body," Garbers added, "huge frame, can go grab the ball off the top shelf, kinda like Makai. He’s got good speed, for a guy who’s a true freshman, coming out of high school, he’s got a great release off the line. He’s been working with coach Toler, the other wideouts, and even the DBs on what works and doesn’t work at the college level. I think the way he studies the game and how he has studied the offense is special as a true freshman, I look forward to having him out there on Saturdays."

- Due to opt-outs and injury, Cal is pretty thin at outside linebacker behind Cam Goode and Braxten Croteau, as Tim DeRuyter reiterated

"We’re looking at doing some different things within the packages to mitigate the loss of those guys," DeRuyter noted. "Orin Patu has been doing a great job in pass rush, we’ve got to get him to be an every down player, but he’s flashed in pass rush, which has been good. We’ve had Myles Jernigan, who has switched between STAR and Sam, we’ve got to get him stouter, but he’s flashed at times. Then Matt Horwitz, a walk-on, he’s been a guy who’s starting to show."

The schematic change that could see a defensive end serving as the bigger OLB would likely see the line shifting over to put a defensive end on the edge.

"We’re actually looking at being in three down," DeRuyter said, "and having one of those (DL) being an edge, someone like Z(eandae Johnson) or Ethan Saunders"

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