Five Takeaways: Cal coaching staff talks QBs, Texas heat ahead of UNT game

After three weeks of open practices for fall camp and a closed weekend stint at UC Davis, Cal football is gearing up for its season opener at North Texas Sept. 2 with lots of questions but also — finally — some answers.

On Tuesday, Cal’s coaching staff talked about the upcoming matchup and the state of the team after what was a long and at times tumultuous offseason.

Here are five takeaways from media availability with Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon.

After weeks of uncertainty as the coaches determined who was going to earn the Bears’ starting job at quarterback, Spavital and Wilcox have found their guy — and in no uncertain terms.

“Sam’s the guy. We’re going in with the intention of him taking all the snaps” said Spavital about the upcoming game, adding that the other two quarterbacks, Fernando Mendoza and NC State transfer Ben Finley, will be ready “if anything would happen during the game.”

As has been noted over and over — and over — though not without reason, Jackson had a tough start to fall camp, showing an elite level of athleticism but struggling to stay in the pocket and make easy completions to sustain drives. But the redshirt sophomore has clearly separated himself from the pack over the duration of fall camp and, according to Spavital, into the now-closed practices.

“He has shown growth over these last few practices,” said Spavital. “He’s just getting more and more comfortable with the game plan and I think a lot of that has to do with taking a lot more reps over the last few days.”

Though fans finally got an answer as to who was going to start for the Bears at QB, there are still plenty of unknowns heading into Week 1 of the season, answers to which may only come following the final whistle Saturday.

The Bears have 50 new players on their roster — not an insignificant amount by any means. And while open practices gave everyone the chance to see some of the fresher faces in action, there is only so much that training camp can do to emulate a game day setting, even when the quarterbacks were live for portions of the first scrimmage in camp.

“Building chemistry, which you do … in the offseason, you do it during practices, but there’s no test like the game. So watching how our team, the guys who have played, how they come back and how they’ve improved and then watching the guys who haven’t played — maybe a little bit or any at all — how they build that chemistry on the field is going to be really, really important,” said Wilcox.

Though when it comes to the unknowns, Spavital went back to what seems to be the storyline of this offense so far: “It’s all about Sam.” The Bears’ first-year OC emphasized that he wanted to see Jackson get into a comfortable spot, allowing him a lot of freedom at the quarterback position. From there, he hopes to see the competition at the skill positions develop, with wide receivers and running backs making big plays.

“I just want to see somebody separate themselves and play consistently and make some plays, and hopefully you can build on that going into week two, and week three, and week four and so forth,” Spavital said. “So, a lot of unknowns — that’s what the beauty of game one is.”

After missing the entirety of the 2021 and 2022 seasons due to injuries, Brett Jonhson is back — for the most part. The defensive lineman, beloved by fans, is set to take the field after time away, though the coaches and medical staff are going to be consistently evaluating him throughout the season.

Sirmon said that how much action Johnson will ultimately see will depend on the tempo of the game and how Johnson himself is feeling. That being said, Sirmon is certainly eager to see Johnson return in the blue and gold.

“We feel really good about Brett being able to be somebody that can help us this season,” Sirmon said. “And up to that point it’s going to be how he’s communicating with [Andrew Browning] and what he feels, and … what his volume, what his capacity is going to be — and that might increase or decrease week to week based on how he feels and how the season is going.”

The 6-foot-5 295-pound lineman who played in all Cal games prior to injury, notching a career-high 10 tackles in the 2020 Big Game, is certain to be a playmaker and an asset to the team should he be in full form.

Though the team experienced a couple bouts of heat throughout fall camp this summer, a different beast will face the Bears at North Texas. To emulate somewhat similar conditions, Cal football spent some time at UC Davis over the weekend.

When it comes to rotating guys out in the heat, Sirmon says they’ll “feel it out.” He added that a lot of his defensive players, especially in the front seven, have been taking a lot of reps, which would allow players to “shuttle through,” especially on longer drives.

Spavital, someone who has certainly become accustomed to the heat during his time in Texas as head coach at Texas State, added that efforts have been made to make sure that the players are in peak form and ready for the near-100 degree temperatures in Denton.

“We’ve had many conversations throughout fall camp on the rotations needed and just trying to keep those guys as fresh as possible because it is a different type of heat,” Spavital said. “We need to play a lot of different bodies … Everybody’s got to come out there and play because [with] this heat and the tempo we play with, we’re going to need everybody.”

A season opener in Texas for a team based in California should be the farthest thing from any sort of homecoming, but a number of both players and coaches will be returning to their home — or alma mater — state for the first stint of this year’s football season.

Cal has 13 players on the team, including defensive back Craig Woodson and running back Ashton Stredick, who hail from Texas. A season opener far away from what the conference schedule normally allows for gives them an opportunity to visit family — and gives the team an opportunity to see a lot of fans donning blue and gold in the stands.

“I think we’re going to have a good showing. When I first got here, I didn’t know that there was going to be that many Texas kids on our roster, but I think those guys are excited to get there,” Spavital said. “They’re excited to be back to Texas, playing in front of their family … a lot of those kids I’ve talked to, they’ve got 10, 15 tickets they’re looking for.”

In addition to the players, Cal’s offensive line coach Mike Bloesch will also be able to return to his former home at North Texas, where he spent the past three years as the offensive coordinator. Spavital also returns to Texas, where he served as Texas State’s head coach before returning to Cal.