“We’re launching more balls at our big, beautiful wide receivers and tight ends,” said Bill Musgrave after Wednesday’s practice, with perhaps just a hint of a smile.

Musgrave might have earned this little quip after the Bears’ offensive performance on Wednesday. The top two quarterbacks on the imaginary depth chart – Purdue transfer Jack Plummer and redshirt freshman Kai Millner – both looked great throwing the ball around. In particular, Millner took full advantage of his opportunity to launch balls at his tight ends.

Millner, who many Cal fans hope will be the starter come fall, completed several deep and intermediate passes with plenty of touch and accuracy. In particular, one long stroke to Aiden Lee, a junior wide receiver, caught the eye of quite a few.

It was a 35-yard bomb that felt like it hung in the air for at least a minute. Plenty long enough for Cal fans to get their hopes up about the future of the program. One minute might be too long and a bit unrealistic, but the ball hung above FTX Field for what felt like forever.

And forever is just long enough for Musgrave to like what he sees from Millner.

“It seems like every day he’s just growing before our eyes,” said Musgrave. “The confidence and the multiple turns he's getting with our concepts, he’s settling in nicely.”

‘Settling in’ for a young quarterback who looked unreasonably nervous in the first days of spring is exactly what the doctor ordered. Millner has clearly been someone who has all the tools to succeed as a quarterback, but if the quarterback room is too scared to make a mistake and too eager to get to the checkdown, then all that fans can really hope for is a repeat of the last four years.

It’s clear that the expectations are much higher than that.