Spring Review: Cal's Special Teams More Experienced in 2019

Let's be frank here, special teams isn't going to be the most exciting thing for a lot of people. Charlie Ragle even said it himself, that a lot of players don't think about special teams when they're looking at a school.

That said, it's a group where players are earning time, and the group of specialists that are returning have another year of experience under their belts.

Important Names on ST Units

RB Alex Netherda: If there was a special teams captain, he'd be it. Netherda had the most reps on kickoff coverage in 2018, tying for the team lead in special teams tackles. Netherda has a ton of energy for this work and per Ragle, takes care of business.

"We had some high school coaches here for our clinic, I was showing some different stuff at the clinic presentation," Ragle said, "and he came up several times off cutups we had made from the offseason because he does it right."

RB Chris Brown: He made his name in special teams work last fall camp as a blocker in kickoff return drills, he'll likely be there again

DBs: Trey Turner, Traveon Beck, Jaylinn Hawkins, Elijah Hicks, Daniel Scott and Josh Drayden all played 100+ reps on special teams, with guys like Scott and Turner to make more of an impact as they may not be getting as many reps on defense

WR Jeremiah Hawkins: Hawkins was often in on punt coverage, has good speed to chase down returners. He'll likely be the backup at both kick and punt returner as well

Right now, Cal welcomes back Steven Coutts and Greg Thomas as the primary punter and place kicker respectively. Kickoff specialist Chris Landgrebe is no longer with the team. Alonso Vera graduated, leaving Slater Zellers as the heir apparent at long snapper.

Coutts was injured for the entirety of the spring, Justin Wilcox noted that he'll be back for the fall. In his stead, Dario Longhetto punted in addition to kicking field goals and competing for the kickoff job along with Thomas and Gabe Siemieniec. Wilcox noted that Thomas is ahead of the pack, and the kickoff job is still up for grabs.

"I thought Greg, coming out of spring, he’s still ahead of the pack," Wilcox said, "Dario, he has some ability and Gabe, who actually lost a lot of weight is in his best shape. Kickoff guy, that’ll be a big part of summer and fall."

Siemieniec's weight loss puts him in a position to regain the kickoff spot he held throughout 2017, as he's dropped about 40 lbs, which has helped his flexibility in the interim.

As for snapper, Zellers is who's been targeted for the spot since Cal offered him a scholarship in June of 2017. He'll be backed up by Daniel Etter, a longsnapper who's one of the most well liked players on the team.

"Slater’s a very talented snapper," Wilcox said, "he can get it back there, now he’s got to go do it when the lights are on. There’s a reason we used a scholarship on a high school snapper when we had a scholarship snapper. You don’t traditionally do that, but he was different enough that we did that, I’m glad we did it. He’s a talented guy, and old Etter is backing him up, he’s like the mayor of the team."

Spring doesn't have much time for working returns at full speed, but Ashtyn Davis and Nikko Remigio should keep their starting jobs at kickofff and punt returner respectively. Jeremiah Hawkins will likely back both up, though Jaylinn Hawkins has seen time as a kick returner as well.

Cal has three walk-ons coming in to help the special teams unit in Las Lomas long snapper JJ Lindsay, De La Salle kicker Christopher Abbes, and Mater Dei kicker Nick Lopez, who should provide depth for the positions in the immediate future.