There's a little over a week left before the dead period lifts for the first time since last March. Visits will come back, both official and unofficial. There will be in-person workouts for the Bears' recruits and staff, though Cal has not announced any recruit camps as of publishing time. Cal will have coaches attending other camps, a Sacramento State camp being one of them, and the next month will be a return to something resembling normalcy, as the state of California looks to return to that normalcy by the middle of the month. Summer workouts start today for the Bears, along with the first block of summer school.

In short, the 15-month state of limbo has an ending soon to come, with more to talk and write about than virtual visits. It's time to get back to the visits with jersey photoshoots, the moments where relationships can be developed in person. Those moments, such as various members of the Cal staff doing karaoke during an unofficial visit with now DL signee Derek Wilkins, help to cement recruitments for the coaches, recruits, and their families. It's a whole lot easier to show the 'family atmosphere' in person than through Zoom, though that's how many have interacted with their families over the last 15 months.

Right now, there are 28 official visits scheduled for the Bears, there is an upper limit of 56 for the whole cycle, and the Bears may want to save a handful for the season at-large. The Bears will welcome their two 2022 commits, in Justyn Martin and Damonic Williams, along with a number of guys they'd like to surround those two with. Until that time, it's still Zoom and phone calls for the Cal staff, as they look to welcome recruits and families into their facility.

This part is something that will be analyzed in every different direction, but if 2021 is the year for Cal to make a leap to the top of the conference, something they were predicted to do in 2020 before everything went sideways, there are four areas to watch heading into the summer months.

Chase Garbers

This off-season has produced multiple looks at Garbers' 2020 season, where his yards per attempt dropped from 8.2 to 5.6, and he adjusted to a new, somewhat truncated offense in a truncated amount of time. Some of the uncontrollable issues of a year ago, namely not being able to practice in a full 11 on 11 scenario before the first game, aren't as big of concerns. Garbers looked solid in limited play during the spring game, but it's a matter of that translating on September 4th and beyond.

Offensive Line

Cal has one of their most senior offensive lines in some time, with the five projected starters having started games in each of the last three seasons. Cal hasn't had an offensive line group make it an entire season without injury in the Wilcox era, and the depth built up behind Will Craig, Matt Cindric, Mike Saffell, McKade Mettauer, and Valentino Daltoso is important.

In addition, cutting down on the sack numbers is an important piece. In four games, Cal allowed 15 sacks, four against Oregon and Stanford each and five in the opener against UCLA. Sack numbers have been an issue for various reasons (46 over 13 games in 2019) over the past couple of seasons, and the hope is that depth and better health can come together.

Run Stopping

This would be a less worrisome topic if Brett Johnson weren't injured, but there will be youth at the defensive line spots one way or another. JH Tevis and Aaron Maldonado are the most tenured defensive linemen, though both are relatively young in terms of total reps. Around them, Stanley McKenzie, Ricky Correia, Ethan Saunders, Jaedon Roberts, Akili Calhoun, Derek Wilkins, Myles Williams and Erick Nisich will have a opportunity to contribute, among others.

Having depth on the edge, with Cam Goode, Kuony Deng, Braxten Croteau, and Orin Patu all having started games, should help the relative inexperience on the interior, but this year will test defensive line coach Andrew Brownings ability to develop talent (Browning has been praised multiple times, unprompted, by a number of Cal's staff and players)

Tight End

Cal brought in Geep Chryst, a long-time NFL assistant, to lead their tight end room, and it's a room that has the most size and ability the Bears have had since re-introducing the position to the offense in 2017. If the tight end position can be difficult to guard (as many Cal fans have seen and have had nightmares about over the years), it adds a different dimension to the offense.

If Jake Tonges can be what Chryst expects him to be, a potential all-conference player, Cal's ceiling rises. If Jermaine Terry can keep growing into the in-line tight end role he's being groomed for, Cal's ceiling rises. If Nick Alftin and Collin Moore can carry over a strong spring to the fall, Cal's ceiling rises. There are a lot of ifs for this group, but there's more pieces for Chryst and Bill Musgrave to work with here.

Jon Wilner of the Mercury News and Pac-12 Hotline put out a piece on the different non-conference opponents the Pac-12 is playing over the next handful of seasons, with over a third of those coming against the SEC. Cal accounts for two home and homes over that time, against Florida in 2026-27, and against Auburn in 2023 and 2024. Those Auburn games stick out, mainly for who could still be in charge at that time.

As a part of Rivals' 20th anniversary, Adam Gorney took a look at where every Power 5 coach was working or playing 20 years ago. Both Auburn's Bryan Harsin and Cal's Justin Wilcox were GAs for Dan Hawkins' Boise State team, working on offense and defense respectively, working camps and selling pizza at those camps to make rent for the summer (Wilcox's recollection of that is here).

If both coaches are still at their respective schools at that point, it will be a testament to the ever-growing Boise tree of the early 2000s and a faceoff of two coaches at the top of their profession.

Cal does have a strong slate of Power 5 opponents scheduled, facing a Power 5 school every year through 2029 (except 2025, which doesn't have a third non-conference opponent booked yet)

2021: at TCU

2022: at Notre Dame

2023: Auburn

2024: at Auburn

2026: at Florida

2027: Florida

2028: at Minnesota

2029: Minnesota

After watching Phil Mickelson's win at the PGA Championship Sunday, where he was followed by a mass of humanity, it was a reminder that we're not too far away from seeing fans in the stands at Memorial Stadium.

How many fans remains the question. The state of California will formally open back up on June 15th, though one main piece is a recommendation that events with over 10,000 people in attendance either require a negative test for COVID-19, vaccination, or a mask.

Cal hasn't announced at this point whether they're expecting to welcome back full capacity to Memorial Stadium (the last time Cal got close to full capacity came in the 2015 opener against Grambling State), but there will be fans in the stands, as there have been at baseball games in San Francisco and Oakland over the last two months.

The atmosphere around Mickelson's win was electric, as he became the oldest golfer (at age 50) to win a major. The atmosphere is one that Cal will welcome back, but it's unknown to what extent it will be at the moment.