Cal had another day of 11 on 11 work Saturday. Chase Garbers had a better day than last weekend, with three touchdown passes. Robby Rowell hooked up with Ben Skinner for a 56-yard Bay Area connection and a touchdown. Branden Smith forced a fumble at the goal line, stripping Gavin Reinwald before he could score. In all, the Bears ran nearly 120 plays, 60 of them with live tackling, as they now stand a week away from their spring game.
On the day, a few faces stood out, including Monroe Young. Young, now entering his fourth year in Cal's program caught two passes during the live periods, both touchdowns, and got himself on the post-practice interview junket because of it.
"I had a slant route for a touchdown in the redzone and a go-route on the outside," Young said, "Garbers threw me a good ball and I had my second touchdown of the day. It was a blessing to get the ball and Garbers threw me a dot. It feels good that got some balls up in the air, Garbers has been doing a good job this spring, and coach Wilcox, coach Musgrave and coach Toler have developed a good game plan coming in during spring ball."
The son of former NFL linebacker Fredd Young, the Las Cruces, New Mexico native has carved out a role for himself among a highly talented wide receiver room. Young earned reps at the Z-receiver spot in 2020, and will continue to do so, with his blocking ability.
"He does all the grunt work," WR coach Burl Toler said, "probably some plays you guys don't recognize, during the Oregon game last year he had five or six flatback blocks that were key blocks, he wasn't mentioned in the stats for that. He's been able to establish a role in the offense."
Young, who played some safety in high school, appears to relish some of the hitting that blocking at the position entails.
"I'm just trying to give my teammates opportunities," Young demurred, "I don't want to only be a route runner or pass catcher, I want to be an all-around receiver that can be depended on by the coaches, and that's what I came into to do."
In a room that both Young and Toler think is the most talented since they've been here (since 2018), Toler noted that they'll see multiple guys getting targets. Young looks to be among that group.
RBs
The running backs as a group accounted for four of the six running TDs, as there's a bit of confidence in the group. Running backs coach Aristotle Thompson has been willing to ride the hot hand in season when it comes to his running back group, and multiple players could take reps at the position, if not contribute on special teams.
One that hasn't played much to this point is Chris Street. Street had a single carry in 2020, but had the longest touchdown run of the afternoon, a 34 yarder.
"One of his runs got called back because of a holding penalty," Thompson said, "but there's a lot for us to learn from on tape. He had another good run down the home sideline with a good finish, he had a stiff arm on a DB at the end to propel himself into the end zone."
Street finished with 6 carries for 56 yards and a score over the periods, as his vision and understanding of the offense has improved
"He's been able to see things before they happen," Thompson noted, "that's one of the things we've tried to stress, to be able to understand what's happening in front of them before it happens and what gaps guys are playing in, and Chris has been doing a great job of understanding that not only in the run blocking game, but in the pass blocking game."
Also among the group that hasn't played much is DeCarlos Brooks, who had the final score of the day for the offense. For Brooks, this has been his first complete camp session, and his playmaking ability from his senior year of high school is starting to shine through.
"DeCarlos has shown that he can find interior lanes a lot better," Thompson said, "he's not pitter-pattering his feet and he's more decisive in it. DeCarlos has been able to show us the speed he had performed with in high school, he's translating more here. The last spring and fall camp, you didn't see him play through his speed, you see that a lot more. For him, having a shortened fall camp in 2019, having no spring ball really, four practices in 2020, and limited a bit in fall, this is really his first go at it."
Ashton Stredick ended up leading the Bears in rushing through the session, with 13 carries for 75 yards. The walk-on from Needville, Texas is starting to develop a more complete game as a running back to compliment his speed.
"Ashton has really done a good job at slowing the game down, he's so fast and he wants to do everything fast," Thompson said, "We're trying to grow and get him to understand you don't have to do everything fast, but when you have that opportunity, when you have that crease, you've got to take it fast. One of the biggest surprises to our team is seeing Ashton play behind his pads, he's probably 175-180 pounds, and you go back and watch tape of practice last week, you see him deliver the boom on a couple DBs, step out of it and keep going."
Last but not least among the young group is Damien Moore, who had a 28 yard touchdown run to match the number on his jersey.
"He just keeps going and is getting better and better every day," Thompson said, "he had a 28 yard touchdown run, he's been making some splash plays out there. There have been a couple plays where we got caught in a pressure, next thing you know Damien is slipping out and getting us a good run. One of the things we've been stressing with him, is being able to finish forward, he's been doing a better job of getting his center of gravity down, putting the pressure on his outside leg so he's making that cut, not putting it on the inside leg and slipping a little bit."
On Tattersall
With Kuony Deng now at outside linebacker, Evan Tattersall suddenly became the old guy in the inside linebacker room.
"It happened pretty quickly," Tattersall noted, "the move that Kuony made only happened a couple weeks ago. It didn't hit me until we started practicing, I was like 'oh my gosh, where's everyone else, everyone is younger than me.' It's a different role than it has been the past two or three years, but it's something I've gotten more comfortable with as the last ten or eleven practices have gone down."
Tattersall tied for the lead in tackles during the live period, with 6. His fellow inside linebacker, Trey Paster also had six, as the two, along with Muelu Iosefa and Blake Antzoulatos, could form a rotation at the position. The hitting part of the day was a joy for Tattersall, who noted that they hadn't been able to do it consistently for over a year.
"That's always a blast," Tattersall said, "especially at our position. We didn't get to do it last spring, and last fall we didn't get into it much, and we were right into game mode. Now with a full spring, getting several days live is really great, because it's really hard to simulate the game situation without going to the ground. It's always super energetic no matter what day it is."
In a room where there may not be one standout leader of the pack, as there has been in every other year Justin Wilcox has been in Berkeley, Tattersall is looking forward to keeping the standard of solid linebacker play up as a group.
"In our room," Tattersall said, "there's a standard that has been set since Sirmon has been here, of how things go, and nothing has really changed. We work off each other, feed off each other and learn from each other. I'm going into my redshirt junior year, but everyone is still sophomores or freshmen, we all work as a unit rather than having one or two people leading the whole group."
Assorted Stats from Cal Football
Scoring Plays ... 12
Robby Rowell 56 TD pass to Ben Skinner … spot the ball period
Chase Garbers 4 TD run … red zone period
Marcel Dancy 6 TD run … red zone period
Zach Johnson 4 TD pass to Justin Richard Baker … red zone period
Robby Rowell 11 TD pass to Grant Daley … red zone period
Robby Rowell 4 TD run … red zone period
Chase Garbers 7 TD pass to Jake Tonges … play the game period
Chase Garbers 34 TD pass to Monroe Young … play the game period
Damien Moore 28 TD run … play the game period
Chris Street 34 TD run ... play the game period
Chase Garbers 7 TD pass to Monroe Young … play the game in the red zone period
DeCarlos Brooks 1 TD run … play the game in the red zone period
Team Statistics
Rushing (Att-Yards, TD)55-247, 6 TD
Passing (Comp-Att-Int-Yds, TD)31-48-0-315, 6 TD
Penalties (No-Yds)
Offense (4-35)
Defense (2-25)
Total (6-60)
Individual Statistics
Rushing (Att-Yds, TD) ... Top 3 of 10 total runners listed
Ashton Stredick (13-75)
Damien Moore (5-58, TD)
Chris Street (6-56, TD)
Passing (Comp-Att-Int-Yds, TD) ... All 4 passers listed
Chase Garbers (12-22-0-100, 3 TD)
Zach Johnson (10-12-0-99, 1 TD)
Robby Rowell (7-10-0-98, 2 TD)
Spencer Brasch (2-4-0-18)
Receiving (Rec-Yds, TD) ... Top 6 of 16 receivers listed
Aidan Lee (3-31)
Jake Tonges (3-18, TD)
Elijah Mojarro (3-17)
Monroe Young (2-41, 2 TD) … 1 TD in play the game period, 1 TD in play the game red zone period
Justin Richard Baker (2-30, TD) … TD in red zone period
Ben Skinner (1-56, TD) … TD in spot the ball period
Tackles (Other Plays Defense) ... Top 2 of 27 Tackles Listed
Evan Tattersall (6)
Trey Paster (6, 1.0 sack, -1 yard)
Other Plays Defense (All Sacks And Turnovers Listed)
Craig Woodson (1 fumble recovery)
Erick Nisich (1.0 sack, -4)
Patrick Hisatake (1.0 sack, -3)
Orin Patu (1.0 sack, -5)
Carter Lynch (1.0 sack, -4)
Brendan Smith (1 FF)
