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Cal Football: Wednesday Thoughts on Development, RBs

Bowl season is an interesting creature here for this Cal football team. The players have the week for finals, and didn't have practice until last Friday due to dead week. That arrangement will stay the same, with Friday afternoon being their next practice.

The role for the coaching staff has changed as well. While post-season in-home visits have long been part of the menu for this time of year, the weight of those has increased, with early signing day just a week off. Cal will try to sign their entire class, which is why the Cal staff is off earning frequent flyer miles, while having their iPads loaded up with TCU film while they're in transit.

When the Bears get back into action on Friday, it'll be a similar pattern to what they did this past weekend, with a focus on developing the younger players and giving the high-rep guys a bit more of a break. Justin Wilcox said last Friday that some of the younger guys would see around 50 reps per practice, so in these first six days of practice, that extrapolates out to 300 reps. Multiple coaches have called it an 'extra spring practice,' which should help some of the players develop

"It's guys who have redshirted or haven't played as many reps," Wilcox said, "we get some extra work with them, it's our stuff and working on what we do as far as fundamentals."

These first two weeks are to get guys off the scout teams and to knock the rust off them at running Cal's playbook, both sides of the ball. There's a handful who will benefit from this more than the rest though.

Who Benefits the Most

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QB Chase Garbers

It starts with the young quarterback in Chase Garbers. This may seem odd, but as far as development goes, Garbers is a relatively young quarterback. What QB coach Marques Tuiasosopo wants for his quarterback is that the picture on film matches up with the live picture, and Garbers isn't quite there yet. That comes with time and reps.

"You always hear the term 'the game starts slowing down for them,'" Wilcox said, "and that's a real thing, mentally how quick they see things, it becomes easier, not that the game becomes easy, but the decisions come easy. The muscle memory gets better, once you see something you know exactly what you're doing the next, there's not that split-second of hesitation."

Garbers may not be doing it with his first team of skill position players, but he's got some of the younger guys he's set to play with next year and beyond, so it's a jump on next spring for him.

TE McCallan Castles

One of the two players Wilcox noted as flashing, and if I'm allowed to make a hot take, possibly the player with the highest ceiling on the offensive side of the ball for this Cal team, based on size and potential. Castles has been a problem at times while he's been on the scout team, which saw him get moved up to practicing with the travel squad, including making appearances in the Colorado and Oregon State games.

With the Bears set to have inexperience in the tight end room, getting Castles as many 11 on 11 reps as they can is imperative, as the position is one of the most 'feel-based,' in any offense.

RB Chris Brown Jr.

That's similar for Brown, who was the other name Wilcox noted as flashing early on during the first weekend of developmental practices. Brown's been taking the majority of the RB reps as the clear number two back among the group. This should give him a head start going into 2019, as the front runner to replace Patrick Laird at the moment.

CB Chigozie Anusiem

It's been surprising this year to not see Anusiem play, especially since he had as good of a spring practice session that you could ask for, but the Bears have just had a lot of success at corner running Cam Bynum, Elijah Hicks, and Josh Drayden on the outside. With those three getting to rest a bit, Anusiem is getting almost every rep at corner. Anusiem is redshirting either way, so these reps and the understanding that they build is crucial.

Every Freshman Offensive Lineman not named Will Craig

This is kinda cheating the question, but it's true. Every single true freshman not named Will Craig has crucial work to do. For Brandon Mello, it's to work on his pass sets. For Matt Cindric, it's to get even more used to playing center and making calls on the line. For Jasper Friis and Miles Owens, it's about continuing to catch up to the pace of the game. That's what all of these reps should do.

ILB Evan Tattersall

Finally, Jordan Kunaszyk's heir apparent is getting some more time at inside linebacker. Thanks to good health and the effectiveness of Kunaszyk and Weaver, Tattersall hasn't gotten as much time as assumed at the beginning. He now gets some more responsibility on the defense, along with Louis Bickett, as both get that opportunity to lead the defense.


RBs

The RB room got a little smaller for the future this week with Derrick Clark's announcement that he'd be grad transferring with three years of eligibility remaining. He joins Biaggio Ali-Walsh in transferring from the RB spot in the past couple of weeks. While it's a hit to RB depth at the moment, Clark was out for the season with a foot injury and had issues with fumbles, with his one against BYU being returned for a touchdown. Also, him finishing his degree in three and a half years (after enrolling in spring of 2016), should be praised.

That said, it doesn't make the biggest dent in Cal's RB depth, as we look into 2019. Right now, it shakes out like this:

- Brown (Sophomore)

- Marcel Dancy (Redshirt junior)

- Alex Netherda (Redshirt senior)

- Johnny Adams Jr. (Redshirt Freshman)

- DeCarlos Brooks (true freshman)

There's some uncertainty, as between Brown, Dancy and Netherda have a grand total of 38 carries between them (Brown with 23, Dancy with 14, Netherda with 1), but they've been playing these positions for a while now. Adams will return from injury next fall camp and Brooks will come in to Berkeley off a 2200 yard, 34 TD senior year at Chandler High School, where he looked like someone who could play right away.

At the end of the day, figuring that out is what spring practice is for. It seems unlikely that the Bears will take another high school running back in the class of 2019 because of the transfers (JuCo remains on the table), and this could end up with Dancy being on scholarship for his final two years at Cal.

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