Cal Football Countdown: 24 Days, Q&A With OL Coach Steve Greatwood

With 24 days left on the Cal football countdown, we're getting into some interviews done through the first five days of fall camp.

Offensive line coach Steve Greatwood has a solid sized group to work with, as the starting five of Will Craig, Gentle Williams, Mike Saffell, Valentino Daltoso, and Jake Curhan all have experience from a year ago. His three true freshmen scholarship linemen in McKade Mettauer, Brayden Rohme and Brian Driscoll have all taken reps with the second unit. Matt Cindric should play in some capacity as well.

Greatwood, who noted that he's been doing this for 39 years, took the time to answer some questions after Cal's third practice.

It's seemed like your true freshmen have been a little more ready than other freshmen offensive linemen in the past, what's made them more ready?

A couple reasons, first is the programs they came from, all of them came from pretty high powered programs, so they've been pretty darn well coached in high school. Then physically, all of them, I know leading up to their time enrolling here in the summer, were in pretty stringent programs as far as getting themselves physically ready to go.

They obviously need to continue to improve their strength levels and that kind of stuff, but from physical specimens, I'm very pleased with the way these guys showed up. Then mentally, they're handling things very well.

With McKade, how rare is it to find a kid like him, who may be more physically ready than a lot of other true freshmen lineman?

Well, it's nice, I've had it both ways where you look for kids that are going to develop over time and every once in a while you get a young man like McKade that has the size and is close to strength levels you're looking to get there.

Now it's just a matter of him continuing to hone his technique, continuing to learn and grow, but he's definitely got some tools.

Jake Curhan got named a captain Saturday, how much of a leadership role has he taken on the offensive line?

He does a great job, he pretty much, when I'm not in the room, runs our meetings. He and Mike Saffell, blessed to have them, Gentle Williams, those guys have really taken the reigns as far as leadership goes. I'm just tickled and very very proud that his teammates decided that Jake has earned the opportunity to be a captain. Just a testament to the way he's worked and conducted himself the last three years.

With Gentle Williams, you're using him mostly at left guard, but you've also thrown him in at center, how's he handled becoming things so far?

He hasn't blinked, I think the older guys understand that they're going to get cross-trained at multiple positions, we don't have the depth to be honed in at one position. I asked Gentle to get himself ready to be a snapper, so between he, Cindric and Mike Saffell, I think we'll have three quality guys that can play center. We're continuing to train some of these younger guys as well, but you've always got to have three. I've learned the hard way, through my 39 years of doing this that you need to have three guys on every road trip, every game, that can operate the offense, because it goes to hell in a handbasket if you don't.

You threw Rohme in at center after I'm pretty sure he's had a lifetime playing tackle, how has that gone?

Good, I haven't had the other guys taken live reps at center (Rohme has since taken live reps at center with the second group), but they're all down there working on their snaps, McKade and Brian Driscoll, just to get them the exposure to it. I'll continue to work those kids in as we continue fall camp as well. I just want them to get the exposure, get comfortable with it, and not feel like 'oh my god,' you know. The only way you can do it to get them in the heat of battle and see if they manage to keep their composure and get the snap back to the quarterback.