Cal wideout Trevon Clark currently sits as the leading receiver for the Golden Bears. With six receptions for 157 yards and a touchdown through two games, Clark is starting to become the deep threat the Bears were in need of.

Just over nine months ago, this may not have been a possibility. Prior to the Oregon game in 2020, Clark was announced to have left the team for personal reasons.

"Everybody went through something during the pandemic," Clark noted to media Tuesday, "it weighed on everybody different. It was real bad timing, I decided to take a step back, gather everything, and once I stepped back out there, I put my best foot forward every single day."

Clark, who had a redshirt year available in a normal year, ended up being one of ten announced super-seniors who would return for the 2021 season, as the Victorville, CA native wasn't done with football.

"The thought of my football career being over never crossed my mind," Clark said, "It was a hard time, and I felt like that was what I needed to do to continue my football career."

Clark has a bit of a different life from some of his fellow wide receivers. He has a son and a fianceé, quite a bit different from your average college football player, and the Cal staff has seen Clark's routine in action.

"He lives with different responsibilities than the other guys," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox noted"he's got a family to take care of. He comes up, does his school(work), he works out, he goes to meetings, he takes every rep at practice, he practices hard, and he goes home to his family. He's worked hard to get to this point. We're all excited for him, because it has never been easy. Whether it's junior college, coming to Cal, and this past offseason was really impressive with the way he approached it."

That approach, one that had him commuting an hour and a half each way to El Camino College before his time at Cal, is paying off. Clark, coached at the JC level by Cal's all-time receiving leader Geoff McArthur, may be the deep threat that Cal has needed throughout the Wilcox era. Clark noted he had been working on adding size and speed to his 6'4", 195 lb. frame, and it was apparent in practice prior to his two 50+ yard receptions against TCU.

"Last week during practice," Wilcox noted, "Trevon and Chase hooked up on four or five deep balls during the week, contested deep balls and you could almost see it coming, the way those two worked together last week. Trevon has worked really hard to put himself in this position, he has earned this."

"It was waiting on the opportunity to present itself," Clark added, "and it was on me to make it happen. That's something we've been emphasizing, continuing to have that vertical threat, and that can open up everything else."

On-field success so far aside, Clark is close to another goal. He's set to earn his degree in December, a culmination of even more hard work.

"I'm finishing up my last three classes right now so I graduate in December," Clark said, "(I'm) the first person in my family, both sides, to graduate from college first of all. For it to be from such a prestigious school like Berkeley, it's amazing. I'm just smiling about it, all the hard work paying off."

- Wilcox noted that they were still awaiting word from the doctors about OLB Kuony Deng's injury. Deng only played a single series on defense, after being hit by TCU left tackle Obinna Eze on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Deng is still listed as a starter for the Bears in the depth chart, though Braxten Croteau would likely get the start this weekend if Deng is out

- ILB Femi Oladejo (pronounced O-la-day-joe) played a bunch against TCU with Trey Paster out, and the true freshman outside linebacker has made an impact in practice thanks to his physical tools, which have him backing up Evan Tattersall and Mo Iosefa on the depth chart.

"Since he's been here, he's a very coachable guy," Wilcox said, "very eager, and he's got physical tools. He's big, he can run, he's a very good tackler, he's got great tackling radius with his length and his speed. I think he's got a really bright future, but it's brand new. It was his first college game, and he got thrown into a tough situation, a pretty tough environment, he did a heck of a job."

In playing Sacramento State, Oladejo will go up against a couple former teammates in S Cameron Broussard and CB Elijah King. The freshman from Cosumnes Oaks HS noted that he didn't know he was going to play as much as he did a week ago, and that he's going to continue to stay ready.

"I knew I was going to get in," Oladejo recalled, "but I didn't know it was going to be as much as I got, (I was) staying ready so I didn't have to get ready. I was prepared, coaches got me prepared mentally and physically."

- Lu-Magia Hearns has been Cal's fourth cornerback to come into the game in past weeks, as the true freshman from De La Salle has ascended Cal's depth chart (he's currently listed as Chigozie Anusiem's backup). His ability to stick with receivers has aided his rise.

"Lu has shown the ability to stay attached to people in coverage," Wilcox noted, "he's a smart guy, and for a young guy, he's got a really good feel for what we're doing. Still very inexperienced, he's got quick feet and good instincts, and ultimately you want the DB to be close to the receivers when the ball arrives and they can make a play on it. He's not the biggest guy, but he's competitive, and even though he might lack some size on some of those guys, he can stay attached to them and compete for the ball."

- Cal misses 17 tackles against TCU, per Pro Football Focus, and Wilcox highlighted two routine plays that exemplified the Bears' poor angles and tackling, things that have to be corrected moving forward.

"There were some routine plays," Wilcox said, "end of the half they ran inside zone, and we misplayed it on the edge and we missed a number of tackles. You can't have inside zone go for 50 and a touchdown, that's unacceptable. Same on a curl route later in the game, things that should not be going for touchdowns, we've got a lot of work to do there."