Ten Thoughts on a Monday Evening: Feburary 10th
It's the dead period, but there has been recruiting news, quotes from last week's NSD coaches talk that didn't fit into stories, and talk about Cal athletics that have been compiled into one neat package on Monday evening.
1. Cal got their second commit of the 2021 cycle in Bastian Swinney
And to put what Nam put into much better words in the commitment analysis piece, the Minnesota offensive lineman fits what new offensive line coach Angus McClure wants to a T. I asked McClure, during last Wednesday's media availability with new assistants, about whether there was anything different from what Steve Greatwood looked for in offensive line recruits. Here's what he had to say:
"Frame first, then I start from the bottom up, I’m gonna look at feet, I’m gonna look at ankle flexion, I’m going to look at shin angle, I’m gonna look at knee to hip, and I want to make sure they’re a knee-bender and not a waist bender. Good athletes in any sport have great change of direction, great balance, and they don’t bend at the waist, they know how to use their hips. That’s what I look for."
It's not different from what Greatwood looked for, but the layman doesn't normally think of ankle flexion when it comes to what makes an offensive lineman good. I certainly didn't. Either way, Swinney fits this, playing low, exploding off the snap, and with solid balance from playing basketball. He's a good get early for the Bears.
2. Recruiting Running Backs
I also spoke to Aristotle Thompson and Marcel Yates last Wednesday (though my recorder malfunctioned for the Yates interview, which is a reminder to everyone that you've got to double-check your recordings immediately afterward). Both have experience around Justin Wilcox, but Thompson had spent the past 11 years recruiting at Cal Poly. That said, he was aware of Cal's two signees in 2020 (recruiting LA) prior to taking the job.
"Some of the names, in particular, the guys we signed in this class," Thompson said, "they’d been on my radar, watched Chris Street for a number of years, watched Damien Moore for a number of years, in Southern California you look at everything out there regardless of what level you’re at. To me, it wasn’t about the levels, you’ve got to find the best guys and build the best relationships wherever they may be, recruiting guys in California, so I got to know a little bit about those guys. As far as recruiting here, it won’t be that much different for me and my belief. I’m used to recruiting guys that are great students and I’m used to recruiting good running backs. Now that you’re at Cal, you can go get the best running backs in the nation. That’s my aim."
So far in the class, Thompson has put out offers to Damir Collins, Jordan Hornbeak, and Prophet Brown, and offers to the likes of Stevie Rocker and Brandon Epton Jr. still stand.
3. Dealing With Balance
With Chris Petersen retiring (and Mark Dantonio doing the same), both cited the grind of recruiting becoming a year round thing in the aftermath of their announcements. The balance issue is something everyone deals with (see: almost every romantic comedy, the plot of the Karate Kid), but it's exacerbated in the college football coaching profession. So I asked Wilcox, who seems to have a solid grip on the balance of the job, what his thoughts were.
"In our profession, you have to acknowledge a work-life imbalance. To say there’s going to be a (work)-balance, I don’t know what that phrase necessarily means, but I think you have to acknowledge that there’s an imbalance and you have to be conscious of it, and when you have time, although it may be a smaller amount of time, that you take advantage of it and make sure you’re doing something that gives you some peace.
"I think that’s important, and I think that’s important for everybody, coaches, players and everybody to have those moments where you’re doing what you need to do for yourself or your family or whatever that might like look like for the individual. I think it (requires) the acknowledgement that the imbalance exists and having a purpose with your personal time to take care of yourself."
4. Men's Basketball Swept in the Mountains
It wasn't an easy trip for Cal Men's Basketball, who still are without a road win on the year. They had a strong performance against Colorado, but played a disjointed game against Utah that was made that way by early calls on Matt Bradley. Bradley picked up two fouls early in the first half, and the Bears never found a rhythm without him, something that carried over to with him.
Bradley being the main scoring force is something that has plagued the Bears all year, and it's one of the limiters on what they've been able to do. When they've been at their best, it comes from more than Bradley, who has scored in double figures in every game except one this year. Some nights, Paris Austin has been the guy. Kareem South has been up and down throughout the year. Sometimes, it's Grant Anticevich who finds his stroke from beyond the arc. Against Oregon State and Colorado, it was Andre Kelly, who scored 14 and 12 respectively in those contests.
It's a matter of putting it all together, and I don't think the Bears have really played a complete game in conference play at the moment. They'll have opportunities in a Pac-12 that hasn't made much sense recently. Arizona is coming off a 65-52 loss at home to UCLA where they shot 25%, the lowest in the history of the McKale Center. Arizona State has also been up and down. There's opportunity for the Bears this week at home, where they're 10-3 on the year.
5. Couple Other MBB Notes
- Kuany Kuany is going to be in the starting lineup for the Bears next year. He's still got a few things to work on on the defensive end, and he'll need a bit more bulk, but you can't teach his length, and his shooting form and release is smooth
- Cal did reach their highest KenPom ranking (within Pac-12 play), at 164 after the Colorado game, before dropping to 175 following the loss to Utah. Cal is 151 in the NET as well. Not exactly placements that set the world on fire, but the Bears finished at 241 on Kenpom a year ago and have dropped their 2 PT FG defense by 10%
- Joel Brown made a two 3s over the two games, which brings him to 7 of 20 from beyond the arc on the year. That's not his game at this point, but it's something he's been working on developing, and keeping that percentage as the volume goes up should open up driving lanes going forward.
6. Other Cal Sports Notes
- WBB nearly took down 10th ranked UCLA, which Ben wrote a sterling recap of here. After a bunch of struggles in Pac-12 play with injury, Charmin Smith's squad is starting to come around a bit. Lot of fight for a team that'll add the sixth ranked recruiting class in the fall, and a group that has taken a ton of lumps in an extremely talented conference.
- Baseball starts up this week with a three game series at Long Beach State. The Bears boast a couple players ranked by D1Baseball.com as top-20 players in the country by their position, with Quentin Selma ranked 10th among 3rd basemen, and Darren Baker ranked 16th among second basemen. The Bears lost a ton of production from last year's squad, including 3rd overall pick 1B Andrew Vaughn, C Korey Lee (a 1st round pick of the Astros) and P Jared Horn (a 7th round selection of the Colorado Rockies). Former Cal QB Brandon McIlwain returns in the outfield, having chosen to focus on baseball.
- Cal softball is 3-2 after a weekend at the Felsberg Invitational in Miami, with two wins over Michigan State and a split of two games with Penn State
- Cal Rugby won their home opener over UCLA and Cal Maritime in a doubleheader, with a 59-7 victory over the Bruins, and a 109-0 victory over Cal Maritime
- Cal Women's gymnastics, ranked 12th in the country, barely fell to 3rd ranked Utah by a final tally of 197.550-197.325. They've been lead this year by junior Kyanna George and freshman Nevaeh DeSouza, both of who have earned Pac-12 weekly honors this year.
7. Spring Ball Upcoming
As of when I'm writing this, there are 23 days until Cal's first spring ball practice, and I have five players who I'm curious to see in the new offensive system or in new roles on defense:
QB Chase Garbers - This one's obvious, Garbers cemented himself as the guy at QB, now how does he take to what Bill Musgrave brings to the table, with more under center stuff than in the past two years.
WR Nikko Remigio - Musgrave has mentioned running more option/choice routes. Remigio is one of the better receivers on the Cal roster at feeling his way into space. How they mesh will be worth watching
TE Jake Tonges - Wilcox has talked about the use of some heavier formations, and Tonges would be the one to benefit from that, both as a blocker and a receiver.
S Elijah Hicks - That S is what's on Cal's official roster, as the Bears will test out the senior DB at the position through the spring
ATH Jaedon Roberts - A roster media was given during last Wednesday's signing day had Roberts on the defensive side of the ball, though listed as an athlete. The 6'3", 285 lb Sausalito native has the potential to play on either side, but will start with Andrew Browning's group in the spring
8. What I'm Looking For
With spring football approaching, I have a few of my own questions that will be somewhat answered:
- What looks different? Wilcox mentioned maybe a few more bells and whistles, things might look different but may be the same concepts, which makes you wonder what really changes in Musgrave's offense
- The leadership void of Evan Weaver, who picks that up? No one on the Cal defense is quite like Weaver, but early returns would say Cam Bynum, Kuony Deng, and Luc Bequette seem like the most likely to surprise.
- Who breaks out? It's the question we ask every year at spring ball time. Early candidates include Blake Antzoulatos, Orin Patu, Craig Woodson, and Ricky Walker, among others
9. One Final Wilcox Quote
I asked Wilcox about getting Musgrave back into the recruiting game, as it has changed since he last coached in college (Virginia in 2002).
"Recruiting is at its core working, being thorough, and having some communication skills," Wilcox responded, "not everybody has to communicate the same, but he’s great. We had a big junior day this weekend, and it was like he’d been doing it for 20 years. I don’t think there’s any magic to recruiting, you work at it, you’re thorough and you communicate and that’s what recruiting is."
10. Miscellaneous
This was the first weekend of the renewed XFL, and I watched pieces of all four games. There's a lot of things I enjoyed about it:
- Quality of football is better than the AAF and the first iteration of the XFL
- The transparency of reviews and the live mics on the coaches making calls were things that I really enjoyed
- Someone described the XFL as 'college pro football', which is a term I agree with
- The new XFL has a new extra point rule, no kicks, but you have to go for it from various yard lines (1 pt from the 2, 2 from the 5, 3 from the 10). It's intriguing, but there were more failures than not, which tells me that it may be something that needs to be reworked. Or that nobody has any good two point conversion plays, which may be more likely.
- There's no He Hate Me, but the sideline interviews after something good or bad happens is fun.
- One team already fired their defensive coordinator. Week one chaos is always great.
I hope the league can succeed longer than its predecessors, giving more guys a chance to showcase their stuff, like former Cal DB Steve Williams (4 tackles) and Ray Davison (2 tackles).