Saturday marked Cal’s final scrimmage of fall camp and the last time nearly everyone will see the Bears prior to their September 4th opener with Nevada, which only stands thirteen days away. The scrimmage, where the Bears ran somewhere close to 100 plays total, saw Cal have plenty of success in the redzone on offense, while the defense rebounded during the ‘play the game’ situations.
With the majority of practice still not being full contact, the run game still was a little more difficult to evaluate, but there were a handful of standout things from the day.
A Willingness to Go Deep
There has been a long need for Cal to create explosive plays, and Cal really didn’t look to the deep ball in last week’s scrimmage. This week, Chase Garbers went deep on the first play, just missing a touchdown to Nikko Remigio on a go route, but scoring two plays later from a slot fade. Garbers unofficially went 12-19 for 143 yards and 3 touchdowns, throwing TDs to Remigio and Gavin Reinwald in the redzone period, and one to Monroe Young in the ‘play the game’ portion of the scrimmage.
Even beyond Garbers, who threw a couple other nice deep balls (one to Trevon Clark that stands out) along with a couple other shots that didn’t quite connect, Cal had a handful of shots taken by other quarterbacks. Ryan Glover, in his first action, threw a nice fade to Mason Mangum for a touchdown in the red-zone period off a perfect route by the Texan wideout. Kai Millner hit the longest play of the day, a 57 yard strike to Tommy Christakos, exploiting a tough matchup for Marqez Bimage. Cal threw within ten yards of the line of scrimmage nearly 60% of the time a year ago, and they will need to take shots to be threatening on offense.
Shifting Offensive Line Groups
Cal’s offensive line, still without Will Craig after an injury early in camp, had a set group of (left to right) Ben Coleman, Matt Cindric, Brian Driscoll, McKade Mettauer, and Valentino Daltoso running with the first team. Saturday, the right side of the line stayed the same, but Cindric bumped over to center, Coleman moved in to left guard, and Brayden Rohme (who started two games in 2020), played left tackle with the first group.
“Matt is a guy we know we can count on, he can play multiple spots.” Justin Wilcox said. “Ultimately we’re finding our combination of the best five to get out there. There’s the best five, but there’s always some other guys who will play, so we’re giving him reps at center, we like him there, Brian Driscoll has played there. Both of them have played, will play, and we’ll determine within the coming weeks how we settle on that starting five.”
It is a group that has used a number of different players over the last couple years, as they look for the right answer both in pass protection and in the run game. Wilcox thought they looked better as a whole.
“I think we’re better than we were a week ago,” Wilcox said, “and the more we can work together and get healthy, the better they’ll be. Really liked the progress they made, thought we had some clean runs, the backs made some good runs, and the pass protection was better today than it was a week ago. Angus has done an awesome job with those guys, they’re a group that really cares about what they’re doing and they’ll get better if they continue with that attitude.”
Those weren’t all of the changes, as Rohme played right tackle with the second team, with Bastian Swinney at left guard, Everett Johnson at right guard, Ender Aguilar at left tackle, and Driscoll at center. Multiple guys will play on the line during the year, and this is part of a continuing effort to cross-train them all.
Defensive Line Rotation
A handful of starters sat, as the Bears tried to evaluate some of the younger talent across the board. While starters at DL played a bit, with Luc Bequette and JH Tevis getting time, the depth is starting to show up there. Both Jaedon Roberts and Darius Long had sacks, as Roberts’ technique has drastically improved since his arrival. Akili Calhoun showed off a strong punch in pass rush, while Derek Wilkins had a sack of his own. Ethan Saunders didn’t have a stat put out by Cal Athletics, but he has looked comfortable with the first group in the past.
The potential for a larger defensive line rotation is there, and it’s something Cal needs after not having defensive line subs in 2020.
Young Wide Receivers
Remigio had a couple nice catches, coming off a slot fade and a wheel concept, but some of the younger wideouts impressed. Both Jeremiah Hunter and Tommy Christakos came back and made some big plays, with Christakos leading the team in receiving yards with 70 on two receptions. Cal is also comfortable throwing him fades in the red zone, though Kaleb Higgins made a very nice play on one of them. Mason Mangum also made a nice play on a fade from Ryan Glover, selling an in cut and leaving Chigozie Anusiem staggered while getting wide open.
While he’s in his fourth year, Monroe Young is still finding a greater role in the Cal offense, and where he has been effective is in routes that get him open in smaller spaces. He had the final touchdown of the scrimmage, on a slant route that showcased his footwork and short area quickness, as Garbers threw a dart of a pass. Cal will need more contributions from beyond their senior wideouts, as this next group has plenty of potential.
Ryan Glover Getting Reps
A transfer from Penn and West Carolina, Glover finally got on the field for Cal after being out for a good portion of practice due to ‘protocol,’ as Chase Garbers put it.
“I think I definitely made a step forward,” Glover said, “I had only been practicing for two days prior to (Saturday), so it was a good day to evaluate my game and to see how well I know the playbook. Overall I think I did pretty okay, I just have to keep working.”
The numbers don’t look especially great for Glover, going 5-10 for 36 yards and a touchdown, but the grad transfer notably got the ball out quick and looked far more comfortable than someone with two days of practice would normally be. Other than Garbers, Glover is the only other quarterback with starting experience at the college level, and the Bears brought him in to, in Glover’s words ‘compete.’ He’s finally getting a chance to do just that.
Other Notes
– Myles Jernigan played some inside linebacker, as the Bears need inside linebacker depth with a handful of guys out. Mo Iosefa did return, credited with three tackles and a sack, while making a bit hit in run support
– ILBs worked a bit on timing blitzes, which looked effective on a handful of occasions
– After struggling a bit last week, all three of Cal’s FG kickers were perfect, as Dario Longhetto went 5-5 (42, 43, 40, 42, 45), Nico Ramos went 2-2 (42, 45), and Nick Lopez hit his sole attempt from 40 yards out.
Selected Stats Provided by Cal Athletics
Touchdowns
Chase Garbers 16 TD pass to Nikko Remigio … 2-play, 16-yard drive
Ryan Glover 13 TD pass to Mason Mangum … 3-play, 16-yard drive
Kai Millner 16 TD pass to Jeremiah Hunter … 2-play, 16-yard drive
Chase Garbers 1 TD pass to Gavin Reinwald … 1-play, 7-yard drive
Ashton Stredick 2 TD run … 2-play, 7-yard drive
Kai Millner 1 TD pass to Keleki Latu … 4-play, 7-yard drive
Chris Street 5 TD run … 9-play, 65-yard drive
Chase Garbers 5 TD pass to Monroe Young … 9-play, 58-yard drive
Penalties (No-Yds)
Offense (5-30)
Defense (3-28)
Total (8-58)
Individual Rushing (Att-Yds, TD)
Chris Street (12-31)
Ashton Stredick (6-20, TD)
Individual Passing (Comp-Att-Int-Yds, TD)
Kai Millner (6-12-1-88, 2 TD)
Chase Garbers (12-19-0-143, 3 TD)
Ryan Glover (5-10-0-36, 1 TD)
Zach Johnson (3-3-0-12)
Team (0-1)
Individual Receiving (No-Yds, TD)
Mason Mangum (3-29, TD)
Chris Street (3-13)
Tommy Christakos (2-70)
Nikko Remigio (2-43, TD)
Christopher Brooks (2-14)
Damien Moore (2-12)
Ashton Stredick (2-10)
Trevon Clark (1-37)
Jermaine Hunter (1-16, TD)
Monroe Young (1-5, TD)
Gavin Reinwald (1-1, TD)
Keleki Latu (1-1, TD)
Field Goals (FGM-FGA – Distance Result)
Dario Longhetto (5-5 – 42 good, 9-play, 43-yard drive; 43 good, 7-play, 33-yard drive; 40 good; 42 good; 45 good)
Nico Ramos (2-2 – 42 good, 45 good)
Nick Lopez (1-1 – 40 good)
PAT (XP-XPA)
Dario Longhetto (2-2 – good, good)
Nico Ramos (1-1 – good)
Defense (Tackles; Other Plays)
Kyle Smith (4)
Mo Iosefa (3; 1.0 TFL, -5 yards; 1.0 sack, -5 yards)
Tyson McWilliams (3; 1 INT)
Femi Oladejo (3)
Jaedon Roberts (3; 1.0 TFL, -4 yards; 1.0 sack, -4 yards)
Raymond Woodie III (3)
Derek Wilkins (2; 1.0 TFL, -2 yards; 1.0 sack, -2 yards)
Marqez Bimage (2)
Braxten Croteau (2)
Lu-Magia Hearns (2)
Alex Murray (2)
Nate Rutchena (2)
Branden Smith (2)
Collin Gamble (1, 3 PBU)
Dejuan Butler (1; 1.0 sack, -7)
Darius Long (1; 1.0 TFL, -11 yards; 1.0 sack, -11 yards)
Evan McLurkin (1; 1 PBU)
Daniel Scott (1; 1 QBH)
Isaiah Young (1; 1 PBU)
Kaleb Higgins (1 PBU)
Kickoffs (No-Yds)
Dario Longhetto (1-65, 1 TB)
Nico Ramos (1-65)
Kickoff Returns (No-Yds, TD)
Lu-Magia Hearns (1-15)
Punts (No-Yds-Avg)
Jamison Sheahan (3-132-44.0)
Christopher Abbes III (2-79-39.5)
Punt Returns (No-Yds, TD)
Josh Drayden (2-26)