After a month of anticipation and weeks of evaluation, Cal’s Spring Showcase finally arrived.

Donning their Saturday best, the blue and gold took the field as the Bay and the Pac-12 watched to get their first glimpse of the 2022 California Golden Bears. The team worked in periods of full-field and redzone work, with lots of players getting a lot of reps and opportunity.

To paint a fuller picture, we’ll start with our own awards for the game for Showcase MVP, Defensive Player of the Game and Offensive Player of the Game.

In addition, we’ll look at how each position group performed in a game-like environment under the albeit relaxed scrutiny of fans in the stands and a Pac-12 Networks TV audience at home.

For anyone who has been keeping up with the practice reports this spring, this should come as no surprise. Saunders has been an absolute force for the past month, and the 15th practice was no exception. Saunders recorded a tackle for loss, a sack and flew around the field much faster than any 6-foot-3, 280-pound human being should be expected to.

Seeing him running to the sideline to make a tackle is a freakish thing to witness, but it should be an absolute blast to watch in the fall. He looks every bit the type of player that could hear his name called early a year from now in the NFL draft.

In what was a pretty average offensive showing overall, these two running backs were among the most impressive. Stredick had by far the longest run of the day, ripping one down the left sideline. Ott showed a lot of really high-quality patience and technique in his running ability, allowing holes to open up and then hitting that top gear to get through them. He’s been as advertised and better for the Bears this spring.