Now That He's Eligible, QB Brandon McIlwain Looks to Compete to Command

Cal baseball won their series at home against #15 UCLA last weekend, and on Sunday, a member of their bench had to be warned by the ump for cheering too loud from the dugout. The offender happened to be QB (and outfielder) Brandon McIlwain.

"Yes, it did happen, I was cheering for my guys," McIlwain said, "Since I can't really play, I'm trying to do as much as I can on the bench to help my team win. If that doesn't 100% agree with the umpire, as long as my teammates are with me. Yeah, it happened, but it was for a good reason."

That's just a sample of who the redshirt sophomore quarterback is, trying to affect outcomes even if he can't play. While McIlwain is sitting out the baseball season due to NCAA transfer rules, he's got a QB competition on his hands this spring, and he'll get the chance to affect games in a much more hands on way.

McIlwain will be eligible this fall to play, and after spending last fall as scout team quarterback, he's taking a deep dive into the Cal playbook, now that he gets to run it this spring.

"It wasn't as if he had the whole fall to continue to run our stuff," offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said, "he was running the opposing team's stuff every week, but you're definitely seeing a jump from where it was, what he was running back in fall camp and even the limited stuff we would do at the end of practices with some of the scout team guys."

"You're helping the team (running the scout team) in a way, in his mind he's okay with that," QB coach Marques Tuiasosopo added, "but now you're actually getting to work with the offense, that's why he came here. So there's a little more 'extra' there. It's good to get him in a position where he can control his own destiny here and fight for the job."

That extra is what Justin Wilcox wants to add to the quarterback competition this spring. McIlwain showed some flashes during fall camp last year, he showed the dual threat element that he brings to the table, while demostrating he can make some of the tough touch throws. At a position where getting better has been stressed multiple times by Wilcox, McIlwain's been spending his downtime learning, and now wants the reps to put that into practice.

"Taking a year off is just a good chance to learn, and between watching Ross (Bowers) last year and from being around coach Tui," McIlwain noted, "it's just getting more reps. I got to get into the playbook a lot to just learn, now it's just applying it on the field."

For now, it comes down to a competition to earn those reps. McIlwain, who started three games during his true freshman season, has to unseat Bowers, as well as outdo both Chases (Forrest and Garbers) to make his way to the top spot.

"All the competition," McIlwain added, "it just makes us better, we're competitors. You saw Ross win some great close games and have some big upsets for us last year, and it's been great. The better people that you can be around, the more that you're going to learn, and the more that you're going to push yourself."

The next step for McIlwain and company is who can take the greatest command of the offense. That was Tuiasosopo's criteria for a starter last summer, and it has continued into this spring.

"He's taught us about how much we need to be able to command our team," McIlwain said, "it's about the leadership, it's about being in the film room and wanting to learn everything you can for your brothers, for your team, for your teammates. As a quarterback, that's your greatest role to do that, you command, you start the play off, you make sure everybody's where they need to be when the play starts."

With the Bears heading into practice #4 this afternoon of the spring, putting on shoulder pads in what looks to be an afternoon of driving rain, McIlwain will get another opportunity to command the group in a difficult situation alongside the other quarterbacks.