Cal Football Countdown: 18 Days, Q&A with RB Coach Nick Edwards
Cal running backs coach Nick Edwards may be the most hands on coach on staff. Either he's got a pad on, hitting the running backs (like in the photo above) to simulate defenders trying to punch a ball out, or standing in the running lane in a drill (holding a pad), inviting the running backs to put a shoulder into him. As the Bears are set to do some of their first live tackling of the fall, Edwards has stressed physicality for his RB group.
For this edition of the Cal Football Countdown, we spoke to Edwards Sunday his use of physicality and the running back room coming along.
Some of the drills you run with the RBs, it's either you hitting them with a pad or them hitting you, how much have you emphasized physicality with the group?
Shoot, that's my main priority with them. If we can't be physical, we shouldn't be playing the running back position, we should be playing a different spot. Running back is one of those positions where if you don't have physicality, you just can't flat out play. Everything that we're doing, our entire mindset is being physical first. We want to strike fear into people with our will and physicality and how we're going to attack people.
Do you have to take a step back at times if someone comes at you particularly hard?
Absolutely not. I did not fall once, and I want them to make me fall. I'm smart enough to know how to handle them, but no, I don't take it easy on them, they don't take it easy on me, they know that if they do take it easy on me, I'm gonna get on them very quickly.
How is Chris Brown coming along in the physicality department, because he's a physically impressive player?
Chris Brown doesn't lack anything in the physicality department, not one bit. He's been God-gifted ability, being naturally physical with his height and his physique is imposing as well.
You guys haven't done live tackling yet, how do you evaluate the running backs and their physicality despite them not really shedding tackles yet?
Posture is number one of them, just having great posture before you hit contact, make sure our pad level is down. Another thing is even before the defender gets to us, working on the art of the stiff arm, so we don't have to get tackled or feel like it's live to break a tackle. We can break a tackle before he even gets to us with a stiff arm, shaking a defender, stuff like that.
You guys have been able to do some physical stuff in the form of pass protection and blitz pickup, how are the RBs coming along in that area?
For all of the guys that we have on this roster at running back, all these guys can pass protect. I'm not worried about one guy in terms of pass protection in terms of ability, maybe one person's got to continue being a little bit more scrappy than others, but knowing who to get, when to get them, moving our feet, using our hands, all those guys have all the ability to be great pass protectors.
Everybody's rotated with the first two groups at RB, how are Marcel, Deshawn, and Alex handling things in that regard?
We're still trying to find our starter. Chris Brown knows that he's probably the leading guy, just because he had reps last year in the game. Marcel, he played last year, but he got hurt. All these guys are competing their tail off to get as many carries as they can, to help our team in the fall. They all know our objective is to win, and these guys push each other to be great. We're fortunate to have a group like we do, in terms of Marcel, Deshawn and Alex being able to push each other.
Alex is the senior leader, going into his fifth year, he does a great job in individuals and when he's getting team reps. These guys are just competing.
How's DeCarlos taking to some of the leadership of the older guys in the group?
He's a very bright kid, very smart. He does a great job of watching the older guys, trying to mimic what they're doing well. He's, just like every other freshman in the nation, he's learning, every day is a learning experience, every day is not the same. He's just continuing to learn what it should be like in college, it's only been nine practices, he's learning how to practice, learning how to be a great player, the right way.