Welcome back to another staple of our offseason content series – Play, Compete, or Redshirt, in which your humble analysts take an educated stab at which freshmen see the field, which freshmen could push their way into playing position, and which freshmen seem likeliest to benefit the most from focusing on S&C and adjustment to college life.

Play: Barring injury or some sort of unforeseen setback, we expect these players to see the field in more than four games this year.

DJ Rogers, TE

Nam: Rogers may already be the best receiving tight end on the roster on Day 1 and doesn’t need to add too much weight to be competitive. Bet on Musgrave getting him in there.

Trace: A common theme of figuring out who plays right away is what the niche is. For Rogers, that's easy to tell, as there isn't a receiver at the tight end position quite like him. With Bill Musgrave wanting to use more tight ends, it seems like a no brainer that Rogers will see the field.

Trey Paster, S

Nam: A rare body type and skill set combination at an admittedly crowded defensive backfield (Daniel Scott, Craig Woodson, and Elijah Hicks are all there too), but I think Sirmon and Yates find a spot for him to play, simply because he’s so big and agile. Being able to come for the early part of spring also helped his odds a bit – Trace’s reports spoke glowingly of the guy, and he’s the prototype for the new kind of versatile player they’d like in the secondary.

Trace: Paster has his niche, at the newly created STAR position. The size, athleticism and willingness to hit are all there, and Paster's body type isn't one that Cal has a lot of on the roster at defensive back, where he and Daniel Scott are the two guys in that role. It should get Paster on the field early.

Jeremiah Hunter, WR

Nam: Already polished as a technician and a legit YAC threat, it’s hard not to see him pushing for time when the only sure scholarship receivers on the two deep are Nikko Remigio, Trevon Clark, Makai Polk, Kekoa Crawford, and Jeremiah Hawkins.

Trace: Burl Toler noted back in December that Hunter was the most physically ready to play out of the 2020 wide receiver group, and he might be the biggest contributor from the 2020 group in year one as a whole, depending on how quickly he picks up the offense.

Justin Baker

Nam: Not currently sure how much time he’ll get out of the slot – they could move Nikko around for example if Baker is really ready to go – but I’m putting him on here for kick/punt return potential.

Trace: Again, the niche argument comes into play, and Baker's niche is blazing speed, where he could easily add some value in the return game, much like Remigio did as a true freshman.