Advertisement
football Edit

The Great Shuffling Experiment: Cal Experiments with Position Changes

Alex Funches (closest to the camera, on the sled) has excelled in moving from a DE spot to the 3-4 OLB spot
Alex Funches (closest to the camera, on the sled) has excelled in moving from a DE spot to the 3-4 OLB spot (GoldenBearReport.com)

When Justin Wilcox came in back in January, one of his edicts was to put players in a position to succeed. It's a 180 degree shift from the previous group of coaches (at least on the offensive side of the ball), where the system was in place and talent was expected to fit into it. Now, it's about figuring out what skills guys have, and putting them in the right place

"Well any time you build an offense or a defense, you want to build around what you do best, kinda play to your strengths," Wilcox said, "so we’re gonna find out what we do best on offense, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing at every position, and then build our schematics around those guys and those positions."

This is a bit of a no-brainer really, building around talent is what coaches are supposed to do, but it's serving a secondary purpose. In shifting guys from their expected positions, they're teaching the different spots and figuring out who can fill in the best at the position. For a team that doesn't have the depth on the offensive line that you'd like, or the truest archetypes for a 3-4 defense, finding out who can give you the best combination is important.

"What we try to do is have our big guys be able to play either the nose guard or the end position," defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter noted. "I love how coach Azz has those guys rotating so they all know what to do and we get the best on the field, so if someone goes down who maybe is a nose guard, the backup nose guard may not be as good as the third end, we’ll put the third end in there."

That philosophy has led to even more players shifting around this fall, players who didn't play in the spring, like Evan Weaver and Luc Bequette moving around, freshmen linemen like Mike Saffell moving between all three interior line spots.

Other less anticipated moves have been made, like moving Hamilton Anoa'i and Malik Psalms to the outside linebacker spot. Anoa'i makes some sense at the spot, he's big, explosive, and he played OLB in high school, but Psalms is an outlier at OLB, being 190 lbs currently and moving down from safety.

"Coach just called me in one day," Psalms said, "and said we want to move you to outside linebacker, we feel like it’d be better for the team. The things I can do with my speed or my size, he said it’ll probably benefit the defense a little bit more, so I was all for it."

Moving a safety down to linebacker is isn't new for Wilcox, he's done it at past stops with Shaq Thompson and Su'a Cravens, and it's a move to use a different mold of player at the spot, but to also utilize a hybrid LB/S position.

"Malik gives you a little different element out there," Wilcox noted, "he’s a skill guy, moving from the safety position to that outside backer spot, and we can use him at another spot we call the ‘coin’ which is an important spot for us too. Just a guy that can match up tight ends, in the slot if you need him to, and still a physical guy."

For others moving around, like Weaver and Cameron Saffle, it's to positions they've played before, albeit in high school, with Weaver playing a bit of inside linebacker while Saffle has become a stalwart at the outside linebacker spot. Both have taken to their spots, and Weaver especially has become a piece that can move around between positions.

"Evan, playing inside, he’s a physical guy," Wilcox said, "he can run, he’s pretty natural in there for not doing it much."

"I’m kinda like a Willie Bloomquist, he played for the Mariners," Weaver said, "he’d just go all over the place, play shortstop , first base, centerfield, he’d do whatever. I’m gonna do whatever I can, inside, outside, wherever they put me. I’ve been working with the inside guys this week and I’ll still be playing some outside linebacker, switching around between rush downs and pass downs, just go out there and hopefully make some plays."

It's a return to form for players like Kyle Wells, who also is back playing his high school position of tight end, where he's earned a scholarship.

"When I got here, I was lost in the offense at that position (being a former TE)," Wells said, "I played inside wide receiver, Steven Anderson's position with coach Franklin, then coach Spavital came, I switched to fullback, and then played Malik (McMorris)'s position, which athletically Malik's just a different player than me, so I never really had a real position, then when tight end came I knew this was my opportunity that I'd been waiting for for the past couple years to really play the position that I feel is my natural position."

Lastly, it's helped players like Alex Funches, who spent the vast majority of his HS and JC days playing as a hand in the dirt defensive end, utilize more of their athletic ability.

"It was kinda funky maybe the first day," Funches said, "footwork and being out there and standing the whole time and realizing you’re on a wide receiver right now. For maybe that first day, I might have been just like,’oh I don’t know if this is for me,’ because I’ve been hand-in-the-dirt since high school, but I think I began to like it. I can run with you step for step, I’m stronger than most people out there, it’s really adjusted well."

It's yet to be seen how much these position changes will show, the Bears are still ten days off from their road opener in Chapel Hill, but it's a new sense of thinking about the defense and offense that has been effective for the coaching staff in their previous stops, and could prove to be effective here.

Advertisement