Ten Questions for Cal With Pac-12 Media Day Upcoming
Pac-12 Media Day is set for Tuesday, in the midst of a flurry of news surrounding conference realignment and drama surrounding other coaches within the conference. As they have been wont to do under Justin Wilcox, Cal has been relatively low key over the past month as they've prepared for the 2021 season. There have been a few bigger points, with a handful of recruiting commitments along with the medical retirement of Mike Saffell, but Tuesday marks a time where people will ask Wilcox, Chase Garbers, and Kuony Deng questions in person for the first time in nearly 17 months.
With that, there's a handful of questions facing the Bears as they head down to Hollywood for Pac-12 Media Day Tuesday.
1. How will the offense take a step forward?
This is the biggest question for Cal in 2021. It can't be a whether or not the offense moves forward if the Bears want to go up a level with their performance. They have to show improvement on that end.
The offense has been a focus on the recruiting side of things, adding more talent in the wide receiver and tight end room (with names like Jeremiah Hunter, Tommy Christakos, J. Michael Sturdivant, Justin Baker and Jermaine Terry adding more size and speed to their rooms). Chase Garbers is a rarity by Cal standards, being a four-year starter at the quarterback position, and he'll have to return to the standard he ended 2019 at, with some of the more tenure offensive players at the skill positions (Nikko Remigio, Jake Tonges, Kekoa Crawford, and Chris Brown Jr. among others joining him)
That also brings the offensive line group into focus, which lost Mike Saffell to a medical retirement Friday. The group will need to become more consistent, after a year where nothing was consistent. A Covid positive and subsequent contact tracing took out half the offensive line for two games, and prior to that, they didn't have a defensive line to work against in practice due to a different Covid positive and subsequent contact tracing. Despite that, they still had flashes, especially in helping the Bears to 250+ yards on the ground against Stanford. There's experience among the group thanks to guys being thrown into the fire, and they're a piece that can raise the ceiling of the offense.
All things considered, it's a big 'if.' A lot of pieces have to come together, but Cal has been near or at the bottom of the conference in production over the past few seasons. A rise even to the middle of the conference could make a big difference.
2. How will the younger defensive linemen meld with more seasoned players at the position?
With Luc Bequette returning, Cal has a guy that has played over 2000 reps of college football,. something that eases the loss of Brett Johnson for the 2021 season. Everywhere else isn't completely certain. Alongside Bequette, they have:
- JH Tevis, who jumped into a starting role with Bequette transferring out in 2020. Tevis has had some growing pains, but has turned into an effective run stopper alongside his pass rushing skills (netting him two sacks against Stanford)
- A returned Aaron Maldonado, who comes back to the Bears after an injury kept him out last fall and during the spring. Maldonado has flashed at points, but hasn't had the body of work to show his ability as a full-time rotation player.
- A junior college transfer in Darius Long, who last played in 2017. Long impressed at workouts and with camp tape in order to earn a scholarship for the year at Cal, as they looked to add depth in the wake of Johnson's injury. Long was injured during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, and saw his 2020 season wiped out due to Covid-19.
- The 2020 recruiting class of Stanley McKenzie, Ricky Correia, Ethan Saunders, and Jaedon Roberts. Injuries and Covid-related issues took this group out of the picture for the most part in 2020, as McKenzie and Saunders were in line to see playing time. During the spring, both McKenzie and Correia excelled, giving the Bears two potential nose guards to work with.
- An early enrollee in the 2021 class in Akili Calhoun. Calhoun was seen as one of the more raw recruits in the class, but his power off the snap is impressive and he's had six months of a college weight program and skill work to work his way into the program.
- The other two 2021 recruits in Derek Wilkins and Myles Williams, who come in with great size and length for the position.
- A wild card in walk-on Erick Nisich, a former high school wrestler who has earned praise from coaches for his ability to play with leverage and hold up at nose guard despite being undersized for the position.
3. Who fills the hole at center?
This is something that there's more detail on here, but the Bears have a hole in the middle of their line, and may want to take a look at the whole of the offensive line this fall to figure out how they can be at their most effective. There's obviously a lot to figure out, as far as chemistry between the group, along with the thought that various guys could move spots (like Matt Cindric to center for instance).
4. The Offseason Growth of a 'Normal' Year
2020 wasn't normal, but 2021 has been more normal. Cal did have more restrictions early in the year as far as only having certain cohorts allowed into the weight room and only grab and go food, but with time and workouts, things are slowly but surely getting back to normal.
Media Day will see the release of a new roster, with new heights and weights to obsess over and make too much of. The previous roster up on Cal's site is from over five months ago, and tracking the growth will be focal point of media day.
5. The Health
Every media day, there's usually an announcement of a player expected to contribute being out for the season. In 2017, it was Zeandae Johnson. In 2018, wide receiver Taariq Johnson was announced as no longer with the program. The last two years haven't brought the same type of announcement, but the health of the team will be an important focus, even with a roster that has more depth than others during the Wilcox era.
6. Which Freshmen Have a Chance to Contribute Right Away?
Cal now has sixteen returning starters for the 2021 season, but there has been a consistent pattern of four or five players in each recruiting class playing right off the bat. Jermaine Terry is one expected to play early considering his combination of size and skill gives him an opportunity to fill a much needed role for the Bears in 2021. J. Michael Sturdivant will have a lot to learn in a new offense, but has the skillset to raise the ceiling of the wide receiver group.
One of the 2021 defensive lineman could see more time with a wide open rotation at the position, while someone like Patrick Hisatake at OLB could find a niche to play on defense.
7. Potential Breakouts
There are a handful of names through the spring that were bandied about, and media day will be the time to check on them:
- WR Jeremiah Hunter, who may be in line to start, if not see a large role in 2021
- NG Stanley McKenzie, who may start for the Bears in their base package
- WR Tommy Christakos, whose size makes him a red-zone and jump ball threat, something Cal hasn't really had at the position in a number of years.
- DBs Ray Woodie and Myles Williams, two younger players outside of the defacto starting group who tackle well and add size and speed to the group.
8. The NIL Question
Some of the bigger picture pieces for Media Day will revolve around the recent introduction of Name, Image and Likeness rights. Cal has a program for NIL, called GOLDEN, as a helper for players looking to utilize those NIL rights. Both Chase Garbers and Kuony Deng have done some NIL deals, Garbers with an organic protein company and Deng getting on Cameo, but the larger ecosystem of what they've been offered, what Cal has been able to do for them in that ring, and how Wilcox sees it affecting his program is one thing to watch for.
Generally, the type of player that Cal has recruited under Wilcox hasn't been the type to focus on being 'a brand,' in the way that other players signing NIL deals around the country have been. This isn't exactly a regulated industry either at this point, and the early attempts to figure it out will be important for Cal going forward on the recruiting end.
9. The Thought on Realignment
The big question on new Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff's desk is that of realignment, with Texas and Oklahoma looking to move to the SEC in a Spaceballs-like search for more money. The conference, one that will see its TV rights come up at the end of the 2023-2024 school year will have to take a look at realignment as one of the ways to close the widening gap of money going to schools in the other Power Five conferences versus the Pac-12.
How Cal plays into that future is worth watching, as ESPN's Adam Rittenberg floated a thought of the Big Ten pursuing schools in other conferences from the Association of American Universities. Cal is among those.
10. The Pursuit of a Normal Year
This may be the biggest of all. Per a story from Jon Wilner of the Mercury News, eight teams have hit an 80% vaccinated threshold in the Pac-12. While it's not clear at the moment whether Cal is among that group, coaches and staff at Cal have been getting vaccinated since February. Covid-19 affected Cal in a big way a year ago, despite only having three total cases during the season. The team has seen firsthand and are pursuing some semblance of normalcy.
That ties into the potential of there being Covid-related forfeits, something that didn't happen a year ago. The Bears will look to have a healthy season, but we'll see if they're making it to that 80% threshold.