SB Nation - David Wilkerson

Rebuilding or Reloading? Cal Linebackers Roundtable

Ohio Bear — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 19:00:01 -0000

When you lose your two starting inside linebackers off last year's team -- including the Pac-12 defensive player of the year -- it is inevitable to ask whether this year's linebacking corps will be able to be nearly as good. The Cal defense has had the good fortune to have good linebackers over the years. But this year's team has big shoes to fill with the departure of inside linebacking stalwarts D.J. Holt and 2011 Pac-12 defensive POTY Mychal Kendricks. How will the Cal defense adapt and move on? CGB's fearless leadership fearlessly addresses the Cal linebacker situation.

TwistNHook: The linebackers have been a strength position at Cal the last few years. Will that continue in 2012?

Kodiak: I'm afraid that we're set to take a step back this year. On the outside, we should have a nice trio of Scarlett/McCain/Whiteside with the steady Campo also in the mix. Scarlett and McCain have the potential to be incredibly disruptive and Whiteside really has a knack for rushing the passer. When we need to play coverage or assigned-based defense, Campo is very steady and does a good job spying on backs trying to sneak out late.

Inside is where I'm concerned. Right now, we have Mullins and Hurrell set to start. Neither of them have made much of an impact previously when subbed in. Most noticeably, there was a big drop when they replaced the injured MikeyMo against Nevada. The talent gap was significant enough for the coaches to shift Kendricks inside after starring on the outside. This year, we shifted Wilkerson back inside as well as Jason Gibson. Now that they're both hurt, it's Mullins/Hurrell backed up by Forbes and RS frosh Jalen Jefferson. There isn't a lot of significant playing time in this group. Khairi Fortt has experience, but won't be available for 2-3 games due to injury and may redshirt.

My concern is that our veterans may be steady, but not strong or fast enough to be consistently effective. On the other hand, our younger players may not be ready to make the right reads and get the defense in position.

I hope to be wrong, but I suspect that we're going to be particularly vulnerable in coverage and various types of mis-direction such as play-action.

(Wow, leave it to that Kodiak fellow to throw a wet blanket on things. Is he right? See what others think after the jump.)

Click here for the Cal depth chart

Ohio Bear: I am intrigued about our guys on the outside, Scarlett and McCain. With McCain, we know he is an athletic, speedy pass rusher on the outside. With Scarlett, we know that he had an outstanding training camp to launch to the top of the depth chart at OLB.

It's ILB I'm worried about. Mullins and Hurrell are the starters. These guys are veterans of the program. But as Kodiak said, neither one has been an impact player up to this point in his career. And they have big shoes to fill, replacing Pac-12 defensive POTY Mychal Kendricks and the solid D.J. Holt. We would be naive to think that we won't have a dropoff at the ILB position this year.

2011 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Mychal Kendricks: yeah, Cal will miss him.

norcalnick: The linebacking core strikes me as the most volatile unit on the team. And what I mean by that is that it wouldn't surprise me if the unit became a relative strength of the team, and it wouldn't surprise me if the unit was a weakness.

It could be a strength because I think there's lots of potential talent. I don't think we can be sure which guys will be the ones to step up, but Cal certainly isn't lacking for candidates. I think it could be a weakness because there's such a lack of experience and proven producers. Cal linebackers: the roulette table of 2012.

Vincent S: I would like to echo everyone's concerns about the ILB position. I will point out that Scarlett had one impressive highlight tape; that combination of size, speed, and power is amazing. I expect him to have a huge impact from the OLB position. I consider McCain proven at this point. On a basketball court, 6'6" is average; on the football field, that kind of reach is freakishly awesome. However, it does all go back to the ILB position. If they play their assignments well, we'll be okay. If not, it's going to be a long season.

TwistNHook: I wonder how Cecil Whiteside missing a few months will affect things?

via cdn3.sbnation.com

Cecil Whiteside making a sack against Washington State last season.

Avinash: I suspect he is out of the rotation and will not be a factor to start this season, although his talent as a pass rusher could get him back on the field at some point. He's missed a lot of playing time.

Ohio Bear: This brings to mind an interesting point. Could it be that we will see the linebacking unit improve in quality and depth later in the season? Whiteside certainly showed flashes of being a talented rush linebacker, so the Bears' defense could get a boost if he is able to play his way back. And Cal's inside linebackers could get a boost themselves when Khairi Fortt finally is game ready and gets into the rotation. Not to mention David Wilkerson, who had lots of playing team last season: if Wilkerson gets healthy, Cal gets another body with game experience to add to the mix.

HydroTech: I'm a little concerned about our linebacker situation. It seems like we're counting on a lot of guys who don't have a lot of experience. McCain is a sophomore. Likewise, Scarlett is a sophomore and doesn't have a ton of experience himself. While Mullins and Hurrell are seniors, they haven't had tons of playing time -- not like a three-year starter would, for example.

I would say that Linebackers is probably the one position on defense where I am pretty worried.

unclesam22: I'm excited to see how our young lb corps come along. I think that the talent is definitely there and with some seasoning I feel like this unit will become a dominant force for years to come. Obviously they are the key to the defense but I think that we all have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our linebackers.

Poll

Which Cal linebacker do you expect to have a breakout year in 2012 and become the next in the succession of excellent Golden Bear LBs?

Chris McCain

80 votes

J.P. Hurrell

12 votes

Robert Mullins

3 votes

Brennan Scarlett

102 votes

Nick Forbes

20 votes

Other (tell us in the comments)

4 votes

221 votes | Poll has closed

Golden Nuggets: Cal Football--A Surprise Pick in 2012, or an April Fool's Pick?

Berkelium97 — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 10:00:13 -0000

Fool Ted Miller once, shame on you, Cal Bears. Fool Ted Miller twice, shame on...Ted?

Like the rest of us, Uncle Ted cannot help but predict that this year might be "the year" for the Bears. Is he onto something, or are we being fooled by another promising Bears team?

Schedule? Cal plays host to Oregon, Stanford and Washington, the likely three top teams in the North Division. Plays host, by the way, at an awesomely cool renovated Memorial Stadium that will put the Strawberry back in the Canyon. The Bears went 30-9 in Memorial Stadium between 2005-2010 before playing their home games in AT&T Park in 2011, including 7-0 marks in 2006 and 2008.

Every team is better at home. Cal fans would tell you their team is better-er at home. Sure, it's had its share of mega face-plants in front of the home fans -- Oregon State in 2007 (altogether now "ouch"), USC in 2009, and that three-game home losing streak to end 2010 with a whimper. But there is no doubt it will be better to play the Ducks, Huskies and Cardinal at home, particularly with the Ducks and Cardinal breaking in new quarteracks.

And Cal isn't breaking in a new quarterback. What if, just maybe, Zach Maynard plays the entire season like he did the final four games of the 2011 regular season? And what if offensive coordinator Jim Michalczik works his magic with the line his second year back in Berkeley? And what if all that young talent -- Mustafa Jalil, Stefan McClure, Todd Barr, Viliami Moala, Brennan Scarlett, David Wilkerson, Chris McCain, Michael Coley, Avery Sebastian, Cecil Whiteside, etc. -- breaks through on defense?

We'll probably get a pretty good measure of the Bears early on. They will take a 2-0 record to Ohio State on Sept. 15. That is a winnable game, but it will require the Bears to go East and show some fire. You might recall that they didn't exactly do that in recent years at Tennessee and Maryland.

Then they visit USC. Jeff Tedford is 1-9 against USC, losing those nine by a combined count of 291-144. The Bears can afford to lose at USC, though a poor showing might cause the team to question itself and make it seem like these are the "same ole Bears." That, however, is not a divisional game. The larger issue is holding serve at home, which would give Cal an advantage in the event of a tie atop the North.

After the jump the football team sets a date for the annual open practice and the softball team holds off a top-3 UW team.

Football

The Bears will hold an open practice on April 21st at Edwards Stadium. Gates open at 10am, the event begins at 11am, and players and coaches will sign autographs afterwards.
Wilner reacts to Maynard's absence at multiple practices. He posits that the missed time could make the difference between a team that wins 8-9 games or 6-7 games.

Basketball

Jorge Gutierrez had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and a steal in the NABC Reese's College All-Star Game.

Softball

With two outs, Jace Williams hit a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh to give the Bears a 2-1 win over no. 3 Washington. The win brought an end to UW's 19-game winning streak.
The Bears' Saturday game was postponed due to rain.

Baseball

Errors continues to plague the Bears in a 13-3 loss to Texas. BearTerritory.net has great coverage of the game.
The tables were turned as a barrage of Texas errors allowed the Bears to bounce back with a 12-2 victory over Texas.

Tennis

Lacrosse

The Bears surged in the second half to turn a 5-5 halftime score into a 10-6 victory over Villanova.

Tackles, Tackles, And More Tackles! Cal Linebackers In 2011

TwistNHook — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:00:01 -0000

TwistNHook: Be honest here. How much are we going to miss Mychal Kendricks and D.J. Holt? They seemed especially key to our defense this year!

Atomsareenough: With the play of our young OLBs McCain, Wilkerson, and Whiteside this year, not to mention guys like Brennan Scarlett, Jason Gibson, and Jalen Jefferson coming up the pipeline, I'm pretty bullish about depth on the outside. The major concern is, as Twist pointed out, how to replace Kendricks and Holt on the inside. Last year, the worry was replacing Mike Mohamed at the key middle linebacker position, but the experienced and talented Mychal Kendricks gamely moved in from outside linebacker. Fortunately for the Bears, Kendricks was more than up to the task, earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, and he and Holt turned out to be a huge strength and source of stability for the Cal D. It seems likely that juniors JP Hurrell and Robert Mullins, who have the most game experience, will continue to see the field next year on the inside, but will they be the starters, or will well-regarded but unproven underclassmen such as Nick Forbes or Nate Broussard earn starting roles? With the depth we have on the outside, could Wilkerson move back inside and start for the Bears? Will Fanua and Krebs be able to contribute? I feel like there are way more questions than answers at this point.

NorCalNick: To me, replacing Kendricks and Holt is the biggest concern of the off-season, potentially only surpassed by replacing Mitchell Schwartz. They were the rocks on defense - with injuries to the secondary and outside linebackers, and a rotation on the d line, they were the few players who played pretty much every snap, and they were awesome.

They were so awesome that I don't really recall seeing much action for inside linebacker back-ups. As a result I have no idea what to expect on the inside next year. Atoms talked about all of the choices - veteran backups, up-and-coming youngsters, guys with OLB experience - nothing would surprise me, which makes it really hard to speculate.

Kodiak: This year, I had assumed that we'd be solid in the middle with Holt and Kendricks, but take our lumps on the outside. It wasn't too surprising to see the trio of McCain, Wilkerson, and Whiteside struggle a bit early. But, they really seemed to make steps towards the middle of the year. It was unfortunate that both McCain and Wilkerson were injured right when they were finding their way.

Holt was a bit overshadowed because the other guys were the ones making the big plays, but a case could be made for him as the defensive MVP. He did everything well and was rock-solid consistent.

Kendricks was incredibly versatile. Although he had to make some adjustments to different coverage responsibilities early in the year, his ability to play inside or out and stick with wide receivers in our nickel package really helped take pressure off of our secondary.

Right now, I don't see anyone who can easily duplicate what Holt or Kendricks brought to the field; at least, not on an every down basis.

Moving forward, we have speed and athleticism, but we're going to be short on experience. Worst-case, it's a situation similar to when we lost Follett, Felder, Bishop, and young - even though the players replacing them were theoretically faster, they didn't have the same instincts or play-recognition. If we're allowed to pump some sunshine, I'm not sure if we've ever been able to fill our linebacking depth chart with guys who were AAs in high school.

If I had to guess, it would be McCain and Whiteside on the outside, and Wilkerson will move back to his natural spot at one ILB. The other ILB spot will be up for grabs between Forbes, Mullins, Fanua, or Hurrell. Right now, I'd give the edge to Mullins on experience; he was the one who subbed in when Kendricks was out. It might be a situation like this year with Campo/Davis giving way to McCain/Wilkerson/Whiteside with Mullins starting and eventually sharing more snaps with Forbes or another youngster.

Realistically speaking, we're probably a year away from having a dominating linebacking corps. It'll still be fun to see who eventually wins playing time, however. We might give up more than our fair share of play-action passes to the flat, or tight ends down the middle, but we'll hopefully be able to offset those with some TFLs and sacks. Once the young guys figure it out, I wouldn't want to play against our defense. The pieces are in place (dominoes!) for an absolutely nasty unit.

LeonPowe: In making a mistake I've always made, I feel fairly comfortable about replacing losses because we've been able to do it consistently before. From des bishop to the Williams felder follett trio to Miley mo to Kendricks/Holt we've had decent to good linebacking for what seems like forever. (why I didn't give Sofele the benefit of the doubt with Gould is another matter) I think we'll be golden at backer for years to come, praise Tosh.

Avinash: Kenwick Thompson deserves a lot of credit. The linebackers had plenty of hiccups this season, but it's hard to get everything right fundamentally in such an aggressive scheme Pendergast employs. Those type of defenses are always subject to various counterattacks by the offense to exploit weaknesses in gaps, so it's hard to get it right at the beginning (and at times you can look really, really bad).

But they shaped up. The difference between their play in September and October is significant, and it only got better in November. Credit Thompson for finding players who could run the scheme even when depth got hit late in the year. Hopefully over the next season or two depth will become less of an issue.

OhioBear: When a unit has the Pat Tillman Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, that's nothing to sneeze at. I was surprised that Mychal Kendricks won the award, but the more I replayed the games in my mind's eye and looked at the statistics, I can't say that it was undeserved. Kendricks had a very, very good season. There were numerous games (none more than the Big Game) when it seemed like the dude was EVERYWHERE .

That said, we will miss Kendricks. And we will miss D.J. Holt, probably more than we know. Losing those two guys will hurt, but I somehow remain confident in the guys that are left. I am excited about what Chris McCain gives this defense in terms of an outside speed rusher. I thought Cecil Whiteside did some good things, too, in the time he saw the field. David Wilkerson is also a guy I expect to really step up.

Poll

What's your view on the backers?

Pain Train 2.0! We're really going to miss Holt and Kendricks

113 votes

Looking OK, hoping some of the young guys step up

104 votes

Was really hoping for more out of them this year

8 votes

225 votes | Poll has closed

Golden Nuggets: Cal's Isi Sofele Looks for Redemption Against Texas

Berkelium97 — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:00:16 -0000

While Isi Sofele and the rest of the Bears were excited to have the opportunity to play a big-name school like Texas, a brief look at the history books got them even more excited to play the Longhorns.

"[Time off] helps a lot," Sofele said. "It gives us a chance to get in there and get treatment. It's time to heal our bodies. It gives us time to come out here and work on little things that we messed up with, during the season, and try to fix that up for this big bowl game."
...
"I feel like our offense is hitting its peak," Sofele said. "I don't feel like we're going to lose much ? We all got excited once we heard that it was Texas that we were going to be playing against. Everyone's juiced up. We're ready to go, and we can't wait to play them.

"I've watched a couple of their games, just towards the end of the season. I've seen a couple of their games, and they look pretty big and physical, and we're just going to have to come out here and play physical just like they are. We're all ou there just trying to get a better feel of how it's going to be, so we're going ones-on-ones, and trying to get us ready for a bigger team."

While Sofele was unaware of the drama that unfolded surrounding the Rose Bowl in 2004, he now has some more motivation with that knowledge under his belt.

"It makes me hate them even more," Sofele smiled. "I just want to go out there and get them even more."

After the jump Tedford hosts Cal's biggest recruiting weekend of the year and McCain, Wilkerson, and Calvin get clearance to play in the Holiday Bowl.

Football

Chris McCain, David Wilkerson, and Michael Calvin have been cleared to play in the Holiday Bowl.
Tedford was not at Friday's practice due to the big recruiting weekend. Zach Maynard and Keenan Allen comment on how Texas will be a stiff challenge for the Bears.
Fourteen recruits visited this weekend, including eight 4- or 5-star players.
Freddie Tagaloa has officially committed to the Bears.
CalBears.com has a full set of quotes from Mack Brown and Jeff Tedford at the Holiday Bowl press conference. Both address the 2004 issue and where their teams are at this point in the season.

Basketball

The women's team held off a pair of comebacks to defeat Santa Clara 75-58.
Coach Gottlieb was very pleased with her team's resilience in the game. She says they were tested in ways which they have not been tested so far this season--this should produce dividends down the road. Here's a fun fact: Santa Clara had not been held under 71 points until they played the Bears.
Eight first-half threes pushed the women's team past Saint Mary's 65-55 on Thursday. CalBears.com has video highlights from the game.
While Gottlieb usually talks about the Bears' great defense following victories, she spoke highly of the offense during Thursday's post-game press conference.
ESPN has a set of Pac-12 power rankings.

Rugby

Irving Lyons III has agreed to become the chairman of the California Rugby Advisory Board. He looks forward to having a role in the future of Cal rugby.

Soccer

Golden Nuggets: Tedford Hits the Recruiting Trail Before Bowl Practices Begin

Berkelium97 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:30:06 -0000

With the Bears bowl-eligible again, December is a busy month for Coach Tedford and his staff. They will be recruiting heavily this week before starting up nearly four weeks' worth of practice for the bowl game. Per the usual tradition, the underclassmen should see more practice time than normal during bowl prep. Here Tedford talks about his plans for recruiting and bowl prep.

On the benefits of recruiting when your team is bowl eligible

"When you're successful on the field that definitely helps. Going to bowl games and with things the way they are right now that's exciting. Put that together with all of the other things that the University of California has to offer with an education and now the new facility, there's plenty to offer. With our guys having the most on the all-academic team in the conference, I think there are many things to showcase."

On emphasizing the Simpson Center for High Performance to recruits
"It's a huge part of it, when they come on campus and they're able to walk through a facility. It's been a long time since we've been able to do that. For 10 years, we've been showing them pictures of things that are going to come, and now it's just nice to know that we can actually walk kids through our facility that is up to speed with our competitors, and they'll have a first-class place to hone their skills, academically and athletically. That's a focal point to what they're looking at when they come on campus."

On focusing more on getting the true freshmen involved in bowl practices or sticking with the starters
"It really depends on which game that we go to. The earlier the game, the less you can do that. The later the game, the more you can just because there are more practice opportunities. If it happened to be a game that was later in December, then you could take the first part of your bowl practices and kind of make it like a spring practice, letting a lot of other guys get in there to help other guys get healthy. Then when you're closer to the game, you have to implement the game plan, and the guys who would be playing would participate more."

After the jump Kendricks wins Pac-12 Defensive player of the year, men's basketball holds off McNeese State, and women's basketball upsets Joanne Boyle's 22nd-ranked Virginia squad.

Football

Tedford has no idea which bowl the Bears will attend. He's focused on making recruiting visits before the Bears return to practice on Friday. He expects injured linebackers Chris McCain and David Wilkerson back in time for the bowl. Kaelin Clay, however, may or may not return; he is attending a junior college to take care of an academic issue.
Mychal Kendricks has become the fourth Bear to be named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
CalBears.com has information on how donors and season ticket holders can obtain early access to bowl tickets.
Rivals.com predicts all the bowl matchups. Cal is predicted to battle Texas at the Holiday Bowl.

Basketball

The women's team upset no. 22 Virginia, coached by Joanne Boyle. CalBears.com recaps the victory.
Gottlieb and Layshia Clarendon talk about defeating the former California coach. Despite the move to Virginia, Boyle appears to have maintained great relations with the team and staff.
Jorge Gutierrez scored 26 to lead the Bears to a victory over McNeese State.
CalBears.com has video and quotes from the post-game press conference. The first image in the article pretty clearly sums up Monty's thoughts on the game.

Volleyball

Swimming

CalBears.com has a Q+A with Katherine Raatz.

Lacrosse

Coach Miles signed seven new Bears this week.

Water Polo

Golden Nuggets: Cal-Arizona State Score Predictions

Berkelium97 — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:30:06 -0000

Happy Turkey Day, Cal fans! While we are all undoubtedly thankful to have wrapped up bowl eligibility I think we all, in the spirit of stuffing ourselves silly, would like just one more win. Will the Bears deliver? Opinions are mixed.

It is with great regret that Ted Miller must pick a winner for tomorrow's game. He chooses the Bears.

California 28, Arizona State 24: Picking California on the road seems stupid, but how can a person pick Arizona State to win at this point? I did the previous two weeks and see what happened.Yes, I am quitting the Sun Devils.

CAL (plus-4.5) at ARIZONA STATE (Friday): The Bears are oh-fer in conference road games this season and have only won one in the past two years. But ASU has collapsed with three consecutive losses — two as double-digit favorites. Two bad options here. Pick: Cal.

Phil Steele's computers predict a 23-23 tie while Phil picks ASU to win by 10.

Shane Vereen

Football

What should we keep an eye on during tomorrow's game? Will Arizona State have any motivation whatsoever?
Maynard continues to become more and more comfortable with running the offense.
Tedford, Ernest Owusu, and and Trevor Guyton have high praise for freshman defensive end Mustafa Jalil. Here's a fun tidbit on Arizona's hiring of RichRod:

Tedford was happy for newly hired Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. "Rich is actually one of my good friends in the coaching profession," Tedford said. "Him and Rita, his wife, are good people." Tedford said the spread offense that Rodriguez utilized at West Virginia and Michigan will be similar to preparing for Oregon. Tedford visited Rodriguez at West Virginia a few years back hoping to absorb some knowledge of the spread offense. Likewise, Rodriguez dropped in at Cal headquarters last summer. "He might be regretting that now," Rodriguez quipped to Arizona reporters.

The Bears sit at 8th (just behind ASU) in Wilner's Pac-12 power rankings.
Stiglich has some notes from Tuesday's practice. This was the Bears' first day back at practice, as Tedford gave them an extra day off to get some rest following the hard-hitting Stanford game.
Stiglich reports from Wednesday's practice. David Wilkerson returned to practice and is questionable for Friday's game. Chris McCain is still out with concussion symptoms. He may or may not return for the bowl game.
CalBears.com checks in on Bears in the Pros, including Shane Vereen who scored his first NFL touchdown on Monday!

Basketball

Want to ruin that holiday spirit? Look no further than some recaps of the Bears' blowout loss to Missouri. CalBears.com recaps the game. BearTerritory.net recaps the game. CCTimes recaps the game.
Is the 39-point blowout the end of the world for the Bears? Probably not.
Denver, the Bears' next opponent, upset St Mary's this week.
Faraudo keeps tabs on what else is happening in Pac-12 basketball.
Itching to buy something during those black friday sales? Select men's and women's basketball tickets are half off.

Volleyball

Seven Bears were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams. First team: Robin Rostratter. Second team: Erin Freeman. Honorable mention: Kat Brown, Adrienne Gehan, Shannon Hawari, Correy Johnson and Tarah Murrey.

Cross Country

11 Bears earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors. First team: Matt Miller. Second team: Maxime Chevee and Deborah Maier. Honorable mention: Matt Petersen, Renaud Poizat, Cody Schmidt, Heather Cerney, Taylor Dutch, Elisa Karhu, Keena Kohl and Chelsea Reilly.

Women's Crew

On this day of Thanksgiving, Avinash looks at Pacific Takes at Jill Costello's remarkable senior season and her legacy.

Golden Nuggets: Cal-Oregon State Score Predictions + Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech Open Thread

Berkelium97 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:30:05 -0000

Use this as your open thread for Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech. Go Jackets!

How doomed are the Bears? Let's ask the experts.

Uncle Ted picks the Bears as narrow victors.

California 28, Oregon State 24: Cal never beats Oregon State. And I never pick either of these teams correctly. But Cal is at home -- sort of at AT&T park -- and seemed to figure out last week against Washington State that it needs to run the ball and play defense to win.

OREGON STATE (plus-9.5) at CAL: Beavers have owned the series in recent years but lack the defensive mettle and steady hand at QB to continue their dominance. Pick: Cal.

Phil Steele's computer forecast has the Bears outscoring OSU 25-15, on average, and winning 87% of the time. Phil picks the Bears to win by 6.

After the jump Isi gets on track for 1000 yards, basketball season approaches, and fall signing day brings several talented young athletes to Cal.

Football

Stiglich reports from Wednesday's practice. Tedford plans to hit the Beavs with the running game to open up the passing attack. Tedford was tight-lipped about injury updates for Chris McCain and David Wilkerson.
Wilner has the Bears at 8th in his Pac-12 power rankings. Curiously enough, they are one spot behind Utah.
None of the current players have beaten Oregon State. Sean Cattouse and Justin Cheadle reflect on the Bears' struggles against the Beavers.
CalSportsDigest previews this must-win game for the Bears. On paper, the Bears should win...
What should we watch in this week's Cal game? Will the good Bears or the bad Bears show up?
Isi Sofele is on track to continue the legacy of 1000-yard rushers at Cal. He only needs 161 yards over the next three games.
CalBears.com checks in on Bears in the Pros, including Lavelle Hawkins who caught his first career TD pass.
Aaron Rodgers does great things on the field while DeSean Jackson does great things off the field.

Basketball

Faraudo has a quick look at/preview of the men's team.
Faraudo also has a brief preview of the women's team.
Jorge has developed into a leader while at Cal, one who commands respect from his teammates and opponents.
Sports Illustrated looks at the brotherly love between Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon.
Monty signed guard Tyrone Wallace and forward Kaileb Rodriguez. Typical Monty recruits, they appear to have plenty of potential and will turn into solid players over the next four years.
Dick Vitale praises Monty's coaching style and ability to teach young players.
Are you a student? Do you want some free men's basketball tickets (of course you do!) ? The first 1000 students at the first three home games will receive free tickets.
Lindsay Gottlieb has brought a tremendous amount of energy into coaching and it appears to resonate very well with her players.

Swimming

Teri McKeever brought in what could be considered the best recruiting class in the modern-day era of women's swimming. The class includes five of the top eleven recruits in the nation.

Soccer

Four Bears (Danielle Brunache, Betsy Hassett, Lauren Battung, Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick) earned All-Pac-12 honors.

Rugby

The Cal ruggers helped raise $50,000 at the Climb for Life.

Baseball

BearTerritory.net takes a look at five of baseball's newly signed players. More details on the class.

Golden Nuggets: Mike Riley Hopes to Establish the Run Against Cal

Berkelium97 — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:30:11 -0000

Today we check in with Mike Riley of the Beavers. He knows his team has had some great success against Cal in recent history, but he recognizes that has no influence on Saturday's outcome. And while the Beavs have run wild on the Bears defense in the last few years (2008 excepted), in recent weeks the OSU run game has struggled. Riley hopes to get that run game working this week against a stout Cal front seven.

On past success against Cal …
"Every year is a new year. You can’t put too much stock in the past. Because, however, both staffs have been there, we look at last year’s game and try to use that in preparation for this game. In terms of new personnel, both these teams are at different places – certainly we are. It becomes a brand new game."

On a common thread in the recent victories over Cal …
"This is our old cliché here – it’s whoever plays the best that day. We’ve played well against Cal. We have a ton of respect for Jeff (Tedford) and that program. We’ve had a long-standing rivalry – you always feel that way for teams in the league, but especially when staffs have been there for a while. It always seems hard. They’re always a good, well-coached team, and it’s going to be no different this time."
...
On the recent success of the fly sweep …
"A lot of it has to do with winning at the line of scrimmage. You would think that if we have a good balance with our fly sweep we’d be doing better inside, and that’s our goal. If you look at attacking a defense, you want to have all parts working – the inside run, the outside run, the play-action pass, and your drop-back game. You want all those things to be basically on attack-mode hurting the defense. We have not hit on all cylinders and we’re missing that part of the game, but we’re going to work hard to try to get it back. We picked a tough team to do it against. We played the three top defenses in the league the last three weeks, Cal is now No. 2. We’re hitting some rough sledding here, but that’s not going to diminish our will to run the football."

After the jump the Bears open as 9.5-point favorites, the Big Game gets picked up by ESPN/ABC, and Wilkerson/McCain may end up playing against OSU.

Football

The Bears are 9.5-point favorites over Oregon State.
Wilner gives the Bears a B+ for the win over Wazzu.
Cal might have limited depth at outside linebacker on Saturday. David Wilkerson's knee injury appears to be serious and Chris McCain has not yet been cleared to play. Update: Wilkerson is day-to-day with a bone bruise in his knee.
The Beavers have yet to put together a complete game this year. Will their recent history of success against Cal be continued this year?
The Big Game will be nationally televised on ESPN or ABC. The game will kick off at either 5pm or 7:15pm, depending on the outcome of this weekend's Oregon-Stanford game. If Oregon wins, the Big Game will be at 7:15pm. If the unthinkable happens, the game will start at 5pm.

Basketball

Faraudo and several other Pac-12 writers have a great roundtable on the upcoming season. They ponder who will win the conference, who will be player of the year, who is most underrated, etc.
Rivals projects the NCAA tournament. The Bears are a 6-seed. Other Pac-12 teams include Arizona (4), UCLA (7), UW (7), and Oregon (12).
CBSSports ranks college basketball's top players. Jorge is 47th and Crabbe is 77th.
Alex Rossi was elected as president of the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Tyrone Wallace committed to the Bears. Rivals and Scout respectively name him the 78th/77th overall prospect.
Earl Robinson will receive the Pete Newell Career Achievement Award at halftime of the December 19th Cal-UCSB game.

Field Hockey

Erin Magill was named the Muscle Milk Student Athlete of the Week.

Crew

The men's team won the open eight by 25 seconds at the Newport Regatta.

Soccer

The women's team won an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. They play Santa Clara at 2pm on Saturday.
The men's team snapped a four-game losing streak with a 1-1 double-overtime tie at San Diego State.

Tennis

Zsofi Susanyi won the Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational title over the weekend.

Golden Nuggets: Paul Wulff Calls Cal The Most Talented Team in the Conference

Berkelium97 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:00:22 -0000

Fill out a report card for yesterday's game!

In a win very similar to the victory against Utah two weeks ago, Maynard managed the Bears to victory thanks to tremendous production from the running game and defense. Tedford was obviously pleased.

On the offensive strategy:

"We were trying to mix it up; not be dependent on one part of the game. I thought our offensive line played great; I thought Isi [Sofele] ran really hard. I thought we played really well up front, which kept us out of third and long, and the chains moving. When you can run the football effectively like we did today, the game is very different. We didn't hurt ourselves with penalties. When you run the ball it makes the flow of the game much better. Isi ran it really well today. The guys up front did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage."
...
On QB Zach Maynard:

"Every game is different, depending on what the defensive gives you. I thought he managed the game really well and managed the offense efficiently. He didn't turn the ball over a lot, which was key coming into this game. I thought he played really well."

Paul Wulff, however, had the most interesting comment of the day:

On the athleticism of Cal:
"They are the best-looking football team that I have seen in this conference, period. [Oregon head coach] Chip Kelly told me he thought they were as well, after we played [Oregon] last week, because he knew we were playing [Cal] this week. They probably have the best talent, top to bottom."

Ponder that one for a moment...(Kelly has to be trolling, right?)

After the jump Will Kapp gets his much-deserved moment in the spotlight and field hockey defeats Stanford to win the NorPac conference title.

Football

BearTerritory.net has video from the post-game press conference in addition to a recap.
CalBears.com has a fun assortment of notes and stats from the game.
SFGate recaps the game.
CalBears.com posts a photo gallery.
SFGate has a photo gallery. #8 is clearly the best photo of the day.
Maynard, Chris McCain, and David Wilkerson all left the game with injuries. Maynard will be fine, Wilkerson will undergo an MRI this week, and McCain was released from the hospital last night.
The defense earns another one of Ted Miller's coveted helmet stickers.
Maynard's job is pretty easy when the running game puts up nearly 300 yards.
All the players and coaches were thrilled when Will Kapp got the first TD of his career at Cal.
Want to chat with Keenan Allen? You can on Wednesday at 1pm.

Basketball

Field Hockey

The Bears defeated Stanford 1-0 in the NorPac Tournament Championship game. This victory earns them the conference crown and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Volleyball

The Bears capped the weekend with a 3-1 win over Colorado.

Water Polo

The third-ranked Bears escaped from UCSB with an 8-7 win.

Rugby

Former Cal ruggers Derek Asbun and Jason Law are trying to become the fourth and fifth Bears in history to earn their Varsity Blues at Oxford. Both are currently pursuing their graduate studies at the world-renowned university.

Soccer

Swimming and Diving

Tennis

California Bears Preview: Part II - Defense and Special Teams

AHMB — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:37:55 -0000

Clancy Pendergrast brought NFL pedigree to the Bears (6 years as NFL DC), and their aggressive defense has already gathered 18 sacks and 54 tackles for loss. However, the numbers do not seem to add up to the games that I've seen.

Cal's total defensive numbers are skewed somewhat because of the amount of yards given up to Colorado (582, mostly through the air) and Oregon (563, mostly on the ground), and the lack of yards given up to FCS Presbyterian (48 total yards).

Cal also gathered 5 of their against Presbyterian and 6 more against Fresno St. They also had 21 of their 54 tackles for loss against those two opponents. That isn't to say that their defense isn't good. In fact, Cal looked very good in the first half of the Oregon game, and they demolished Utah last week, holding Norm Chow's offense to 178 yards with only 13 rushing yards, as well as gathering 4 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Rather, Cal's defense is very talented and plays well with momentum.

Defensive Line

Cal plays with a three man front, and each of the lineman brings very good size. Nose Aaron Tipoti (6-2, 295, Jr.*) is the key to the line. Tipoti is very talented, but he has fought injuries his entire career at Cal. He missed the Presbyterian game, but he has otherwise played in every game. Kendrick Payne (6-2, 285, Jr.*) backes up Tipoti, but he is oft injured as well. He fought a shoulder injury during the entire 2010 season, but he does appear healthy this year.

At ends, Trevor Guyton (6-3, 280, Sr.) and Ernest Owusu (6-5, 270, Sr.*) have been very good. Owusu has already eclipsed last year's production with 3 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss, while Guyton is well on his way to exceeding last season's numbers with 3 sacks and 6 tackles for loss. Mustafa Jalil (6-2, 285, Fr.) and Deandre Coleman (6-5, 315, So.*) will back up Guyton and Owusu.

Linebackers

ILB Mychal Kendricks (6-0, 240, Sr.) is the clear leader of the defense. He is one of the top overall defenders in the country. He leads the team with 53 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss. He will be backed up by J.P. Hurrell (5-11, 220, Jr.*), but don't expect to see Kendricks off the field very often. He is a true three down linebacker, and is a very good pass defender.

The other ILB spot is manned by D.J. Holt (6-1, 242, Sr.*). It is easy to overlook Holt because of Kendricks, but Holt is extremely talented as well. He has 52 tackles, including 5 tackles for loss. Holt is backed up by Robert Mullins (6-0, 225, Jr.*).

On the outside, Cal starts a pair of freshmen. Chris McCain (6-6, 233, Fr.) and David Wilkerson (6-2, 240, Fr.*) beat out Ryan Davis (6-4, 250, Sr.*) and Dan Camporeale (6-3, 240, So.*), but all four will see time on Saturday.

Secondary

Safety Sean Cattouse (6-3, 218, Sr.*) is the star of the secondary. He is third on the team with 32 tackles and adds 2 interceptions on the year. He's backed up by fellow senior C.J. Moncrease (6-1, 215, Sr.*).

At the other safety spot, D.J. Campbell (6-0, 205, Sr.*) has performed well in his first year starting. He is fourth on the team with 31 tackles, trailing Cattouse by only a single tackle, and also adds an interception. He's backed up byMichael Coley (5-11, 202, Fr.*).

At corner, Cal starts Marc Anthony (6-2, 200, Jr.*) and Steve Williams (5-10, 185, So.*) with Josh Hill (5-10, 202, Jr.*) at Nickel. Stefan McClure (5-11, 188, Fr.) will also see time. All four corners have good size, and opposing offenses are only completing 55.7% of their passes against the unit. On the other hand, Cal's aggressive Cover 1/Cover 0 scheme does open itself to big plays, and opponents are averaging 7.1 yards per attempt.

Special Teams

Placekicker Giorgio Tavecchio (5-10, 178, Sr.) is 11/13 on the season on field goal attempts and punter Bryan Anger(6-4, 208, Sr.*) is averaging 44.47 yards per punt. Cal has not allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown, but they did give up a punt return touchdown to Presbyterian.

Marvin Jones and Keenan Allen handle the punt return duties, and kickoff return duties are split between Coleman Edmond (5-11, 205, Sr.*) and Brendan Bigelow (5-10, 180, Fr.).

That concludes the California Bears preview. Fire away with any additional comments.