Rain poured down on the early portion of Cal's practice, a first for the Bears during spring ball (and a much needed rain for the Bay Area), but it didn't slow down the Bears

"It's a Saturday in the spring and the weather's been incredible lately," defensive coordinator/ILB coach Peter Sirmon noted, "but it's fun for the guys to get a change of pace, we had a lot of energy today, and that was good to see."

That energy bled through to a final special teams competition period, a punt gunner drill that had a gunner fighting through two blockers to hit a tackling dummy 40 yards downfield. True freshman Isaiah Young was the only chosen gunner to make it to the dummy, diving into it and eliciting yells from his fellow defensive backs on the sidelines.

It was the first day of shoulder pads for the Bears', and while there was no tackling, it was an opportunity to see Evan Tattersall hitting. Tattersall may be the heir apparent to Evan Weaver at the inside linebacker position.

"Tatt's ready," Sirmon said, "this is his opportunity to really show what he's been doing for the last two years, learning from Jordan and Evan, I'm excited for the next 12, to get Tatt in some live situations and watch him use some of that experience."

"The past two years, I've taken a ton of reps behind Weaver," Tattersall noted, "so it's nothing new, but I'm able to take more of a leadership role playing with the ones."

Tattersall suffered an injury against USC last year, one that saw him carted off and taken to a hospital, but has been back healthy since December and hasn't let the incident loom over him.

"Stuff like that, you can't play to not get an injury," Tattersall noted. "Stuff happens like that, you take a step back, you recover. It's a freak injury you could say, I've never had that before and I've played for 12 years, you've got to keep playing, not be hesitant at all."

Sirmon noted that 'everyone' is in the competition to slide into the spot vacated by Weaver, though the soft-spoken Tattersall is the front-runner to replace the bombastic Weaver. With Kuony Deng out for the spring, there's opportunity for the likes of Blake Antzoulatos, Kyle Smith, Tommy Vanis and Muelu Iosefa to get reps early.

- There's a handful of guys that the Bears are moving around the secondary in Elijah Hicks, Josh Drayden, and Daniel Scott among others, as versatility is a theme for the Bears this spring, whether it's in the secondary, in the front seven, or with tight end use on offense.

"We're gonna be moving some guys around with Cam, Josh Drayden, Elijah," Sirmon said, "we've got a lot experience back there. With some of the new guys, we're going to bump them around, see how much they can handle, get a feel for what they can do physically"

"I can play in the slot, safety, corner, that's what I'm doing right now and I love it," Hicks added "It's preparing me for where I'm trying to go and it's making me a smarter player. I love (the safety spot), I'm a physical guy, I like to come down and hit, but at the same time I can play in the slot. It's whatever they want me to , I just like to be around the ball, I'm a football player, I make plays."

- Cal spent a lot of today working on more of their 11 personnel, after running more 12 and 21 personnel over the first two days. Ricky Walker, Makai Polk, and Jeremiah Hawkins were the first receivers up for the Bears, as Kekoa Crawford and Nikko Remigio are still limited in practice.

- Cal continued to use Brayden Rohme at left tackle with the first group, getting him acclimated. Valentino Daltoso, who closed out 2019 at left tackle, worked in 1 on 1 drills, but didn't take any team reps.

- Safety Craig Woodson continued his reign of terror on defense, with his second interception during team periods in two days. Woodson intercepted a wheel intended for Jake Tonges. Woodson, who Cam Bynum noted had '10 or 15' interceptions during bowl preparations, noted that the lightbulb went on for him in December

"We were at the end of the season," Woodson said, "so I was recognizing plays and trying to put myself in the position, now I've got to execute when the ball's in the air and just get it. That's the whole plan on defense, getting to the ball."

- Woodson has put himself in a place to start at safety, as he's been with the first group all of spring.

- Iosefa has been playing with the second team at inside linebacker, but was around the ball during his reps in team periods, and he's already showing cover skills, covering a wheel route from Elijah Mojarro.

"He's done a really good job of handling install," Sirmon said, "He's mature for being a mid-year, football is important to him. He's serious about learning, and in my experience when guys have that maturity and they're serious about football, they catch on really quickly, and he has some talent, we'll see what he can do."

- Sirmon, who has assumed playcalling responsibilities on the defensive side, downplayed his updated role, citing the experience in playcalling on defense and highlighting the collaborative process that has been in place.

"Nothing's really going to change," Sirmon said, "with Marcel added, we have four different defensive coordinators on staff. We're doing our best to collaborate as we have since Justin has been here, with Tim. We're just trying to be as good as we can with the guys that we have."

Standout Plays:

- Woodson's interception of Garbers, a fantastic diving play on the sideline

- A deep ball to Jeremiah Hawkins from Chase Garbers, Hawkins stopped on a dime, watching defensive backs fly by, then running for the end zone to finish the play

- A couple reps in OL/DL 1 on 1s, one where JH Tevis broke out the swim move on Erick Nisich, causing Angus McClure to call for a rematch. Nisich stonewalled Tevis on the next two reps. That session also saw Aaron Maldonado bust out a killer spin move, Orin Patu showing off some solid edge rushing skills, BRETT JOHNSON bullrushing PJ Poutasi into the quarterback, and Everett Johnson running off Curley Young on one attempt

- Sharp route running from Makai Polk in 1 on 1s that elicited some yells from a couple high school 7 on 7 teams in attendance for practice

- A couple blown up runs thanks to Zeandae Johnson and Gabe Cherry.

Cal returns to practice next Wednesday at 9:30, starting week two of spring ball.