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Notes from Practice Ten: Visit From an OL Alum, Reinwald's Progression

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Cal's now finished with two thirds of practice this spring, as they've got 10 days before the spring game on the 28th. With that comes a certain level of malaise that this Cal squad has to fight.

"You're at practice 10, so you're in those moments where you almost have to test yourself, keep challenging yourself," offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said, "it's different. When it's practice 2 or 3, there's still that giddyness, but I thought our guys did well for a good chunk of the practice, then I thought we hit a lull at an hour 35, hour 40 into practice."

That lull was something the offense snapped out of to end the closed practice, with two wins in the 3rd and 5 competition. The first had Ross Bowers convert a pass to Ray Hudson for a 1st down, the second saw Chase Garbers complete one to Jordan Duncan to convert. That sent the defense to run a couple of gassers, and something that was noticed today was that the defensive coaches were running with them.

"I've been doing some running too," Baldwin admitted, "we haven't won all of those. We might have caught a little break, I respect our D-linemen staying off the quarterback on the first one, because that could have been close to probably a sack, but Ross stood in there and Ray made a heck of a catch. Then we came back, Garbers hit Duncan and made a good play."

Jeremy Newberry Visits

While standing outside Memorial Stadium, waiting to conduct interviews, one of Cal's greatest offensive linemen walked past. Jeremy Newberry, a former Cal center and a longtime member of the San Francisco 49ers, attended practice with other members of the Liberty High School (Brentwood) coaching staff, where he's the offensive line coach. He spoke to the offensive linemen in their meeting, according to sophomore lineman Mike Saffell.

"He came into the O-line room, gave us a little speech on his insights on the game, ultimately how we can advance as a group," Saffell said, "that's the biggest thing the O-line is concerned with, coming along as a group. Obviously with his NFL experience and being around a lot of good offensive lines, he's got a lot of experience with that. So it was just awesome having him out, obviously a very respected guy around the California Golden Bears."

According to Saffell, Newberry's biggest advice was about making sure they finish their blocks.

"I think his main message on the day was just finishing guys, finishing blocks and being violent," Saffell noted, "obviously that's the kind of player he was, high effort guy, high intensity, so that was his biggest thing, wearing guys down."

Reinwald's Growth

Gavin Reinwald played as a true freshman, and he was used much more as a receiver than a blocker at tight end. This spring, he's put on a noticeable chunk of muscle(says he's 225 now, he had gotten sick recently though), and is much more productive as a result.

"He's developing really well," Baldwin said, "and I've seen it even not just from last year, even from spring 1, 2, 3, and 4 to where he is now, spring 10, and even last Saturday, spring 8. To me, he has definitely taken some strides, and he's going to continue to put on size. He's got size 15 feet, he's a little younger than most of the guys in this freshman (2017) class, so I think he's got some real room to grow when you look at his hands, his feet, and that stuff."

Reinwald made a couple of fantastic catches Saturday, one 25 yarder downfield where he boxed out a safety to make a play, and another diving play on a 4th down where he basically took the ball away from linebacker Alex Funches.

"That's one of those plays we've really been emphasizing on film, to try to understand," Reinwald said of the 25 yarder, "it's kind of a break-off route where you have a few options to break it off. Kanawai ran a lot of those in a lot of games where we didn't really have the tight ends in those situations. Now I'm seeing a lot of it."

It's part of a continuing theme for the offense, that last year they were learning what to do, now they're understanding why they're doing it. That's been helped by having Baldwin as their coach.

"He definitely critiques a lot, and that's definitely helping us get a lot better and understanding the offense a lot more," Reinwald said, "because now we're understanding why we're doing the things, not what we're doing."

Kickers

The kicking battle between Gabe Siemieniec and Chris Landgrebe is still raging, and special teams coach Charlie Ragle has a simple criteria for what he wants for the kickers.

"I think just being consistent more than anything," Ragle said, "I think we've kind of hit a lull between practice 7 and 10. Really looking in the next five practices we finish for one of those guys to step up. I feel very comfortable with those guys kicking off, but one of those guys have to elevate their play when it comes to being the placekicker."

Other Notes:

Beau Baldwin noted last Wednesday that they'd pare down some QB reps, and he expanded on that today.

"It's sometimes just pared down at practice, it's maybe not pared down total," Baldwin said, "it's pared down with maybe we'll focus on a different two or a different three going into practice, based on the combination, and coach Tui does a great job, in terms of managing that and we talk it throw. We're in a great spot with where we are rep-wise and evaluation-wise."

Baldwin also noted that wideout Hiroaki Endo, who has gotten plenty of reps due to injuries of Demetris Robertson and Kanawai Noa, made the move from the video room (working under video coordinator Matt Fox and filming practice), to walking on.

Cal returns to practice Friday, with the last open practice coming next Monday before the spring game a week from Saturday.

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