Riley tunes up for USC in final practice
BERKELEY-In the Cal football team's final tune-up for Saturday's game against USC (4-2, 1-2), senior starting quarterback Kevin Riley looked to have corrected some of his lower-half issues that head coach Jeff Tedford mentioned earlier in the week, problems that caused Riley to struggle on certain passes last week against UCLA, when he threw for a season-low 83 yards on 9-of-16 passing.
"Yeah, he's gotten back to his fundamentals," Tedford said. "I mean, that happens to all players, footwork and things like that. It's not just him. It's everybody. That's what you coach; you coach fundamentals, techniques, and if they're ever off a little bit, you make sure you try and coach them up.
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"He knew it and he felt it. It just happened a couple times; it wasn't like it happened all game. It was just a couple times where his feet were out of sorts."
Riley's feet looked to be back to normal today, as he completed several solid passes to true freshman Keenan Allen during red zone drills, including one touchdown strike that had Riley's old zip from Fall Camp.
Both Riley and backup Beau Sweeney looked very comfortable throwing on the run. Sweeney rolled right at one point and threw a seed in the end zone to junior transfer Coleman Edmond.
Tedford also addressed the perceived depth issues that have the Trojans going non-contact during their practices in order to avoid costly injuries.
"I don't see that," Tedford said. "I see good players, I see quality players all around in every position, more than one."
After sophomore Dominic Galas opened some eyes last week with a stellar performance at center, Tedford was mum on who would take the opening snap against USC, but was leaning towards senior Chris Guarnero, who practiced injury-free all week.