One day away from the midway point of spring ball, the picture of what the 2021 California Golden Bears are is far from complete. Again, since media does not have access, there's a reliance on hearing from coaches and players, along with some stats received from a Saturday scrimmage. It isn't a clear picture at the moment, but there's a few more things we know about the Bears moving forward.

Saturday was Cal's first scrimmage of the spring, and one that produced some good statlines, some less than palatable ones, and something concrete that should provoke discussion moving forward.

The first big thing comes with the quarterbacks, as second year QB Zach Johnson had the best day. The former Hart High School star put up a line of 14-16 for 151 yards and 5 touchdown passes. It's worth knowing that three of these came in the red-zone period, meaning that the Cal offense was already starting close to the end zone, but Johnson had the longest touchdown of the day, a 45 yarder to fellow 2020 class member Jeremiah Hunter.

The problem with stats like this, is that they're without context, without knowing which string of defense he was going against, the plays being called, or otherwise. It's hard to jump to a conclusion because of that, but Johnson has cemented himself in the running for the backup job. He jumped ahead of Spencer Brasch and Jaden Casey to make the travel roster as a true freshman, and his performance has shown why.

On the flip side, there has been concern about the numbers Chase Garbers put up, a 7-17 for 35 yards and 1 interception performance, with the sole interception coming at the one yard line on a one-handed grab by Chigozie Anusiem.

As said before, the stats lack a bit of context. They don't look great, but in the words of Allen Iverson, we're talking about practice. This is the time where guys are allowed to make mistakes. Garbers did struggle during a truncated season in 2020, and he'll obviously need to get back to his late-2019 form in order for the Bears to make their leap, but he has plenty of time to do that. The focus of the spring is development, and as multiple coaches have said, they're not at a point where they're making decisions about playing time for multiple positions.

Garbers did have good things to say about some of the young wide receivers from the class of 2020.

"Tommy Christakos had a couple of beautiful catches on deep balls, Jeremiah Hunter, it was good to see him out there, he played really well, and Justin Baker had a great touchdown at the end on a fade in the corner, little toe-tap. It was great to see what the young guys step up, we know what our veteran guys can do."

Christakos finished with three receptions for 65 yards and a score over the live periods, Hunter finished with two receptions for 51 yards and a score , while Baker had a four-yard touchdown to end the practice.

Other Notes:

- Defense had stops on five of the seven 'play the game' period drives, including Anusiem's interception on the goal-line

- Walk-on RB Ashton Stredick had the sole rushing touchdown of the afternoon, a six yard run in the red-zone situational period.

- Raymond Woodie led the defense in tackles with 5, Orin Patu had two sacks, Damien Moore had 8 carries for 55 yards to lead the team in rushing

- Robby Rowell also had a solid outing, going 6-9 for 81 yards and 3 TDs of his own.