Spring Ball: Day 12 notes

Day 12 of Spring Ball was marked by strong, cold winds out of the Northwest that appeared to make all drills a bit more challenging than in more benign conditions. The sessions emphasized lots of individual drills as well as partial unit scrimmaging before an unusually short set of situational scrimmaging towards the end of practice.

Here are some highlights:

David Seawright was back and kicking field goals up to 45 yards. He struggled a bit with getting good loft on the ball and was visibly rusty. However, he seemed to have reasonably good power and control. In his two or three kickoff attempts he was only able to get the ball down to the 7-8 yard line. That said it was unclear if he was kicking at full strength as he is said to not yet be 100 percent.

Nyan Boateng excelled in man-on-man route drills versus the secondary. He ran a number of impressive routes including one where he got Syd'Quan Thompson turned around enough to get 10 yards behind him for an easy completion. Throughout the entire session he showed off his physical style of play and good technique.

Marvin Jones was also impressive until he tweaked his ankle during 7-on-7 drills. He hobbled to the side of the field and was attended to by the trainers. Before too long he was back up and by the end of practice was no longer limping. However, his participation was limited from that point forward.

Chris Conte was absent from participating in practice due to a concussion sustained in Saturday's scrimmage. It doesn't appear serious but he is being held out for precautionary reasons. In his place Bryant Nnabuife got a lot of playing time at corner with both Conte and Darian Hagan out. (Hagan continues to be held out to focus on academics.)

7-on-7 drills saw all 3 quarterbacks perform very well. They completed 12 consecutive passes as a group, with each of them (Riley, Mansion and Sweeney) completing 4 each. Overall they ended the session 19-of-24 with Riley missing two and Mansion and Sweeney each missing one and Boateng dropping an otherwise good pass from Mansion.

The team also ran extended 8-on-8 rushing drills with the offensive line, quarterback, fullback, and tail back facing off against the front seven on defense plus one safety. When it was the 1st team players facing off against one another, the defense had the upper hand giving up just one sizeable run and forcing a fumble out of Shane Vereen. However, when the 2nd and 3rd team units faced off the offense had the upper hand. Peter Geurts, Langston Jackson and Kevin Lewis were all able to streak through the lines for long gains. Geurts was particularly impressive with back-to-back TD runs.

Crowd noise was used for the first time in Spring Ball during hurry up offense scrimmaging in the last 15 minutes of practice. All 3 quarterbacks were given the opportunity to take the team in from the opponents 45-yard line with 45 seconds on the game clock. Both Riley and Sweeney were successful in executing touchdown drives but Mansion had issues managing the clock with too many passes over the middle.

Here is the play-by-play summary of the full unit 11-on-11 scrimmaging:

-- Mansion passed to Vereen for 5 yards

-- Vereen rushed for 3 yards

-- Mansion fumbled under pressure

-- Mansion passed to Jarrett Sparks for 6 yards

-- DeBoskie rushed for 21 yards

-- False start by Donovan Edwards

-- Sweeney goes down for 15 yard loss under pressure from Aaron Tipoti

-- Sweeney passed to Spencer Ladner for 7 yards

-- Sweeney broken up by Josh Hill

-- Geurts rushed for 4 yards

-- Sweeney passed to Charles Satchell on go route, broken up by Charles Amadi

-- Riley sacked by Kendrick Payne

-- Riley passed to Jarrett Sparks for 1 yard

-- Riley mis-handles shotgun snap for fumble

-- Mansion passed to Boateng, who dropped it

-- Sweeney passed to Satchell, miscommunication on route

-- Kevin Lewis rushed for 1 yard

-- Sweeney scrambles for 7 yards

-Sweeney to Levin Lewis for 2 yards

-- Langston Jackson rushed for 1 yard

-- Mansion to Geurts, slightly overthrow and dropped

8-on-8 run only drill:

-- Fumble by Shane Vereen after stopped at line

-- 5 yard gain by Covaughn DeBoskie

-- 1 yard gain by Shane Vereen

-- 15 yard gain by Covaughn DeBoskie

-- No gain by Shane Vereen

-- 7 yard gain by Peter Geurts

-- 30 yard gain by Langston Jackson

-- 12 yard gain by Kevin Lewis

-- 68 yard TD run by Peter Geurts

-- 68 yard TD run by Geurts

7-on-7 play-by-play:

-- Riley to Anthony Miller for 17 yards

-- Mansion to Brian Holley for 8 yards

-- Sweeney to Spencer Ladner for 15 yards

-- Riley to Alex Lagemann underneath

-- Mansion to Marvin Jones (weak throw but complete)

-- Sweeney to Peter Geurts underneath

-- Riley to Ross Bostock on hook route

-- Mansion to Nyan Boateng for 15

-- Riley to Lagemann for 20 (nice diving catch on tight coverage)

-- Sweeney to Charles Satchell underneath

-- Riley to Marvin Jones for 10

-- Mansion to Covaughn DeBoskie out of backfield

-- Sweeney to Boateng incomplete (nearly intercepted by Nnabuife)

-- Riley to Marvin Jones (overthrown)

-- Mansion to Alex Lagemann for 5

-- Sweeney to Boateng for 10

-- Riley to Ross for 15

-- Mansion to Bostock (overthrown resulting in interception by D.J. Campbell)

-- Sweeney to Brian Holley out of backfield

-- Riley to Jeremy Ross overthrown on deep slant

-- Mansion to Marvin Jones for 10

-- Sweeney to Nyan Boateng for 10

-- Kevin Riley to Jeremy Ross for 5

-- Mansion to Nyan Boateng (dropped by Boeteng)

45 second drill from 45 yard line:

-- Riley to Anthony Miller for 7 yards

-- Riley overthrows Nyan Boateng

-- Riley to Nyan Boateng on tight throw for 8

-- Riley spikes ball

-- Riley to Anthony Miller for 6

-- Riley to Miller for 7 (TOUCHDOWN)

-- Riley to Jeremy Ross (end zone fade overthrown)

-- Trick play (nets 2 yards)

-- Mansion to Ross Bostock for 6 yards

-- Mansion scrambles out of bounds for 2 yards

-- Mansion to Charles Satchell for 39 yard TD pass (bad coverage)

-- Mansion intercepted in end zone (intended for Charles Satchell)

-- Sweeney toJ arrett Sparks for 9 yards

-- Sweeney spike ball

-- Sweeney to Jarrett Sparks for 3 yards, fought to get out of bounds

-- Sweeney to Jarrett Sparks, dropped

-- Riley to Skylar Curran for 8

-- Riley to Charles Satchell for 5

-- Riley spikes

- Giorgio Tavecchio 39 yard FG (GOOD)

Ken Crawford is a staff writer for BearTerritory. A lifelong Cal football observer, Crawford covered the Bears during the 2007 season, which included the memorable 31-24 victory over Oregon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. Crawford will continue to handle Cal football assignments during the 2009 season.