SB Nation - Brock Mansion

Cal Fan Appreciation Day 8.29.09 I

TwistNHook — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:00:16 -0000

Well, another year, another fun time at the Cal Fan Appreciation Day. So much better than the Cal Fan Depreciation Day. That day is just so negative.

This was a fun day in the sun. Too much sun, really. It was so hot that day. Why they make all football jerseys in polyester, I do not know. Each year we go and try to interact with the players and take some photos and just have a relaxing time. This year was a smashing success. For me, at least. I think there were some problems for others, but we can get into that later.

I mean how bad a day could it be where we were able to snag this bad boy?

The day started off at about 11 AM. The event was 12-2, but I knew it was important to get there early. Last year I arrived at about 11:30 and the line was already incredibly long. This year, they did things a little different. They didn't have a line, they just had people milling about in front. There were things to buy and a whole lot of free food from Rubio's!

Former Cal kicker Tom Schneider was there selling his book about the Cal football team:

It ultimately did not matter that I got there so early, because I decided to sneak into the stadium first. Sorry, but I have to keep my methods a secret to protect innocent parties and for the sake of further sneak-ation. When I got in there, practice was still going on. Of course, I will not reveal anything I saw in there. And, of course, I did not take any photos. But long story short, we may or may not see Isi Sofele play somewhere on the "football" field at some point this "season."

BUT YOU DIDN'T HEAR IT FROM ME!!!

I just sort of relaxed in there for a while, watching various parties set up. The players finished the practice and left the field. I guess to shower and get ready to come back out and shmooze with us, the creepy shmucks. While I waited, I watched them bring in those sweet chairs that cost $250,000.

That blue chair there is partially blocked here, unfortunately, but looks incredibly comfortable. Can I borrow $250,000.00! You know I'm good for it, I make a lot of internet money!

Some players were still milling about:

Tepper walked by. I said Hi and took a photo. He said he had to run off to an interview or some such thing and shook my hand goodbye. I think his hand is bigger than me. He is a massive beast of a man. I think we could solve both the problems in Afghanistan and North Korea by sending Tepper there. More on potential Tepper battle-violence later!

Yknow, often times, people say that we bloggers are an unprofessional breed. That we lack basic civility. And we just throw pot shots at people in our underwear. Well, to overcome the pot, to overcome the shots, I decided to be extra civil. To be incredibly professional. I referred to all players as sir. I thanked them profusely for signing my items or taking a photo with me. I may or may not have curtsied before Jesse Brooks.

Considering I am a decade older than some of the players, I think it freaked them out a little. More on that later.

Then, the world's greatest radio announcer (Right "Fire Joe Starkey"??), Joe Starkey walked by. I'd like to describe his entrance in the same Monet-esque impressionist way that Joe Starkey would, but I have a much clearer picture here:

At noon, they let the plebeians onto the field. The California blue and gold rush began! I started moving quickly onto the field. There were 4 possibilities in front of me. Seniors Defense. Seniors Offense. Coach Tedford. And an un-named location that I (correctly) assumed would be for Jahvid Best.

Since there was no sign for Best, I decided to go to Tedford. Just to be safe. I thought there was a chance that the unnamed one could be a spirit group. Basically, I played it safe. I was about 3rd in line for Tedford. While I stood there, in the span of about 2 minutes the line for Best absolutely exploded. Insanely long. Like down the entire field and then curved around the corner of the end zone. Just so long.

At first, I was disappointed. I thought I had made the wrong choice. The line for Tedford did get somewhat long, but NOWHERE near as long as for Best (and, as I later found out, SydQuan). I mean Tedford is great, don't get me wrong. But if I could have knocked that super long Best line out of the way, I figured I could deal with the Tedford line.

That said, I later realized I was wrong. The Best line didn't move for a LONG time due to Syd apparently being late. NorCalNick told me that it took him 1.5 hours to get through it. I think this was frustrating for a lot of people. I would have been at the front of the line, so it would not have taken me 1.5 hours. Nonetheless, I ultimately lucked into making the right decision. More on this later.

Tedford did not take all that long to arrive.

Usually, I say something all "wacky" and then "awkward" "hilarity" ensues. But, of course, we've turned over a new leaf here at the CGB. So, I thanked Coach Tedford for being a Golden Bear and expressed my deep concern that he stay one for a long, long time. That photo up there is Coach Tedford signing our business card. Yes We Cannon had provided it to him and given a bit of a spiel. He very much said "Well, yknow, I don't care for the blogs."

That's why I had Yes We Cannon provide it. I am a cowardly cowardly general!

Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the axe was not out there. Two years ago, the axe was there. Last year, the axe was not since Stanford had it. :(! But how come they didn't have it out again? Who do I blame for this catastrophy??

When I got out, the line for Best was still super duper long (as it always would be), so we decided not to pursue that. We decided to start going all Pokemon style. While some players have fixed seats, the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast majority just wander aimlessly throughout the field.

And so, we began to collect em all. Getting signatures, photos. Chatting about our wives and jobs. You know the drill.

We saw Spencer Ladner out there. He is HUGE! CalBandGreat had noted that in his Open Practice report, but you have to see it to believe it. He's like a Nordic God out there. He looks like Thor.

"Is Spencer Ladner a 1,300 year old vampire with incredible reflexes and an inability to be in the sun? Only time will tell." via wearemoviegeeks.com

I thanked him for his signature and inquired about what conditioner he used. Because in polite society, you tell other people that you really just LOVE John Freida Brilliant Brunette (I'm a chestnut!). He told me he was a Pantene Pro V man. Whatever he is doing, it is working. No split ends there, people!

We continued to Pokemon it up.

Noted gadabout Brock Mansion was there.

I asked him what his name was in the Old Country, if it was Mansionberg or Mansionstein. He, somewhat seriously, said he always wanted to ask his grandparents about that. Boo to genuine emotion!

Things were going great, but then we saw the man, the myth, the legend, the anti-Ladner, Isi Sofele!

I'm 5'10" and I'm just a touch taller than him. He's clearly buffer than me, which, let's be honest, is not a high bar here. But usually when I take a photo with the players, they seem so big and otherworldly. Tavecchio and Sofele were the only ones who didn't seem to be so physically intimidating to me. More on Tevacchio later.

But ya, Sofele was very popular with the fans. Not quite as popular as Jahvid Best in 2007 when a huge throng of people crowded organically around him. But still there is some buzz about this fresh face. Hopefully, he can provide speed and agility to the team.

Marvin Jones (not to be confused with Markish Jones) was there, too. He has a lot of tattoos as you can see.

I asked him what that tattoo on his chest said. He said "Fear Of God." I told him if I got one like that, it'd say "Fear Of Wife." He is a personable enough fellow.

Shane Vereen was a very popular player, too. I heard a fan behind me note that Vereen was one of the best, if not the best, back up running backs in America.

Then, we went to our boy Bryan Anger. ANGER SMASH!

I did my "oh thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to sign my hat. I am so appreciative of that." He looked at me quizzically, so I told him that I knew, as a punter, he was a much classier player than all those other players. So, I treated him more classy. I told him when I wanted an autograph from another player, I'd just be all "SIGN THE FUCKING POSTER, BITCH!"

I'm not sure he bought it.

HydroTech and I both agreed that if anybody could destroy the new Cowboys TV screen, it would DEFINITELY be Bryan Anger. ANGER SMASH SCREEN!

Quinn Tedford was there! Now I have the autographs of two separate generations of Tedfords!

Trevor Guyton, who is pushing Cameron Jordan for playing time, is a large, large, large, LARGE man. He has these baby eyes, though. He looks so gentle. But hopefully, out on the field, he isn't!

I said "Hey, you look like you must be a punter or something." He jokingly said "ya, kicker. Definitely a kicker." I said "Are you the waterboy?" He said "Back up waterboy. The back up waterboy."

So, he's got a good sense of humor. Likes to play the game. I feel good with our depth at DLine here.

Speaking of those beasts at the line, Derrick Hill is another huge man.

Speaking even more of the line, there were some OLineman milling about right nearby, too. Like Matt Summers-Gavin.

And Mitchell Schwartz.

Look who I would see, but Worrell Williams! GO BEARS!

He was hanging out near the Seniors on Defense. Like Jesse Brooks and Eddie Young.

Eddie Young was seemingly entertaining what I can only assume is rollonubears.

I unfortunately did not get a solid shot of these other Defensive players.

I think that is a good place to stop here. At this point, the line for Best and SydQuan was still unbelievably long. I had many Tedfords worth of autographs and had nearly melted into a small pile of goo. Clearly, fun time had by all. Keep it locked here for more antics, hijinks, and spinsanities from the Cal Fan Appreciation Day. GO BEARS!

Poll

How was your Cal Fan Appreciation Day experience??

I had a blast! Met tons of players. Felt really appreciated!

31 votes

I spent most of the time in a long line, but was able to meet some of the players.

16 votes

Spent the entire time in the Best/Syd line. I sent my children around unattended to get signatures while I waited in the hot sun.

10 votes

Couldn't make it, because I melted while walking up the hill from BART.

47 votes

104 votes | Poll has closed

Cal 2009 Position Previews: Quarterback

Avinash — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:00:10 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

4 months ago: California quarterback Kevin Riley smiles during college football practice in Berkeley, Calif., Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. Riley, who went 7-2 as a starter last season, is back and entered as the slight favorite in a three way battle with Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney based on what he did last year. "His experience puts him a step ahead and he has a knowledge of the offense," Tedford said. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Browse more photos »

This is Kevin Riley's position to lose.

Seriously. He'd have to do a lot wrong to lose his grip on the starter position. The quarterbacks behind him have barely any experience, unless you think Brock Mansion running into a pile of high schoolers from Washington State counts for experience. Although there are many kinks he'll have to settle from last season's unevenness, our starting quarterback won't be looking over his shoulder much this season.

Biggest strength of Riley: He doesn't throw interceptions. Okay, he does throw picks, but at a far less rate than his predecessors:


Quarterback (season)	INT %
Aaron Rodgers (2004)	2.532
Joe Ayoob (2005)	5.518
Nate Longshore (2006)	3.448
Nate Longshore (2007)	3.385
Kevin Riley (2008)	2.715
Nate Longshore (2008)	2.439

As you can see, Riley doesn't throw many interceptions. His sample size is of course smaller (only threw about 2/3rds as many attempts as most of the others). But you can see the percentage of interceptions he throws harkens back to the Aaron Rodgers days in terms of its low percentage, and we can only hope that given a full season he can replicate those numbers (and let's be fair to Longshore, he brought his INT numbers well down too).

Biggest weakness of Riley: Unfortunately, there might be a big reason as to why Riley never threw picks: He didn't throw many completions, period, to either our team or the opponent. As pointed out in an earlier post of what concerns you about Cal football, these passing stats creeped up, and a great majority of these numbers were put up with #13 under center.

National rank in yards per attempt from 2004 to 2008: 10th, 47th, 21st, 39th, 86th
National rank in passing efficiency from 2004 to 2008: 5th, 65th, 32nd, 52nd, 72nd

National rank in completion percentage from 2004 to 2008: 7th, 101st, 52nd, 40th, 104th

It's not entirely Riley's fault; Cal was on its third quarterback coach in three seasons, its receiver corps outside of Cameron Morrah were entirely green in experience, the offensive line fell off from its stellar 2007 performance, Tedford jerked back and forth between him and Longshore, which no doubt put added pressure on the sophomore. Nevertheless, there isn't much doubt that Kevin struggled with his mechanics, struggled to release the ball early (partly due to receivers not being where he expected them to be, but also partly because he missed them).

Less pass, more run the key to success? Perhaps that's why I found what The Bear Will Not Quit said at the end of last season very intriguing.

I could see Tedford and Cignetti moving more toward the Big 10 model with Riley, game managing, limiting turnovers, and getting the ball to playmakers, but focusing heavily on the run. Riley is never going to be a 250+, 3 TD per game guy. He might have days like that, but it is clear he is not ever going to sit back there and pick defenses apart with laser beams as part of the game plan.

Interestingly enough, we have done it before. Focusing heavily on the run was the model for our 2004 success.

Now, Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks in California history, and at this point its sacrelige to compare him to someone who barely completes half of his passes. But as great as Rodgers was, he would never have been successful without Arrington and Marshawn shredding huge yards on every play. Pac-10 defenses, having to deal with both a dominant run attack and a superb pocket quarterback, were eviscerated all season long. As you see below, for every two Rodgers passing plays, the Bears ran the ball three times in 2004, flourishing in BOTH running and passing production, and the ratio of yards practically balanced up (the largest number for each category is in bold, the smallest number is in italics).


Year	Rush Att	Pass Att	R:P Ratio	Rush Yds	Pass Yds	R:P Ratio	Rush YPA	Pass YPA	R:P Ratio
2004	509	331	1.538	3081	2828	1.089	6.05	8.54	0.708
2005	483	321	1.505	2823	2312	1.221	5.84	7.20	0.811
2006	427	413	1.034	2111	3292	0.641	4.94	7.97	0.620
2007	441	443	0.995	2168	3129	0.693	4.92	7.06	0.696
2008	435	397	1.096	2421	2467	0.981	5.57	6.21	0.896

California Rushing/Passing Comparison, 2004-2008

You can probably tell from these tables that Cal focused more on the passing game from 2006-2008, with Dunbar, Tedford, and Cignetti all trying to use variations of spread and pro-style schemes to make the quarterback the focus of the offense. This was probably too much for Longshore to handle, as he was required to throw around an average of a hundred passes more than Rodgers had to.

If there's any parallel to the 2008 season, it's 2005, where dominant running was undone by inconsistent passing. Pac-10 defenses loaded up on the box and dared Cal to beat them with the pass. They couldn't.

Let's see if Tedford is hoping 2009 parallels 2004, where a dominant running game can leave Pac-10 defenses reeling, putting Riley at ease in the pocket to flow into the offense...and we can revive that offensive magic once again.

This all falls apart (not the season, but my preview)...if Tedford names Mansion or Sweeney the starter. I have no info on Mansion or Sweeney, so I'll turn to some of Hydro's analysis of them from Spring Practice (this is only snippets of his analysis, click on the link for the rest).

Brock Mansion: Despite the Cal fan consensus that Mansion is a QB who will take off and run the ball (this idea spawned from Mansion's highschool highlights), I can't remember Mansion taking off once. I could have sworn I read a quote from Tedford a few weeks ago where he described Mansion as a more traditional dropback passer (Note: I can't find that quote. I could be mis-remembering things and be wrong. Does anyone else remember one of the media outlets quoting Tedford saying something like that?), and right now, I'd have to agree that Mansion seems to more of a dropback pocket QB.

Beau Sweeney: First off, let me say that I thought Sweeney looked like the best QB today. Note that I am saying the "best." I'm not saying he did "great" today, but merely that he was the best out of Riley, Mansion and him. Overall, I would describe his performance as "good." He was decisive. He got the ball out on-time and was rarely, if ever, caught looking too long down the field. He seemed to have that "internal timer" of aware QBs who know when to run when the pocket is breaking down and/or nobody is open. Sweeney consistently eluded defenders, escaped collapsing pockets, and even scrambled for (positive) yards.

In Part 2, I'll sit down with two of the top Cal football analysts to discuss the development of Kevin Riley, and a more indepth look at the mechanics of the quarterback position.

Poll

How comfortable are you with Kevin Riley this season?

Very comfortable

78 votes

Comfortable

161 votes

Nervous, but okay

157 votes

Not really comfortable at all

22 votes

I want Mansion or Sweeney to start

4 votes

422 votes | Poll has closed

CGB Meme Invitational - Elite 8! Brock Mansion Party Yacht Regional Action

TwistNHook — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:00:10 -0000

We enter the brave new world of the Elite 8. This is for the Brock Mansion Party Yacht regional championship! Who will be the regional champion? Brock Mansion Party Yacht? Or Danzig? Here is the info on the bracket. Find out more after the fold and then vote, vote, vote!

Party Yacht got a bye to the second round wherein it crushed Marshawnthusiasts love Longshore. Brock Mansion Party Yacht then evicted Twist Evicts Grandmothers.

Danzig is so amazing, he even crushed rising star "Carp's Armored Dog."

Danzig then took out Anguish Ape.

So, there is the backstory. Things are getting interesting, because high seeds are starting to fall. Okanes already fell in the UC Eugene bracket to a Cinderella seed. Can Danzig upend the Party Yacht? It's not going to be easy, but if there's anybody who is good at confusing and hard things, it's Danzig!

Danzig (2)

via www.sjsu.edu

What to say about danzig? Little is known about this enigmatic gentleman. The Patron Saint Of Awesomeness, he offers little about his personal or private life. He's in the financial sector, somehow. Somewhere. Is he in Europe? New York? Cote d'Ivory?

But he offers so much! He gives us endless videos! Like this one:

Endless awesomeness. We even donated money to the band in his name.

Basically, he's da man! Also, he might be a sentient robot ready to snap at any time. Let's hope not!

Party Yatch (1)

On the left side of the main page, there is a little area for a tagline of sorts. I originally wrote something like about crafting the statue of Longshore. This worked because a)people seemed to think we were irrationally infatuated with him and it owned the criticism and b)he isn't very mobile. Then, Riley became QB (briefly), so we changed it to "the Hall Of Riley." So, I started to think about doing it for other QBs. Like Beau Sweeney's Cajun-Style Family Fun Foodeatery! And for Brock Mansion, I selected a line about him having a party yacht. This is the earliest ref I can find of it.

It blew up from there. It even got it's own theme song:

It was a fairly simple joke that just exploded. So, think about that next time you sit near the Statue of Longshore while eating at the Beau Sweeney's Cajun-Style Family Fun Foodeatery in the Hall of Riley on the Brock Mansion Party Yacht. PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poll

Who wins? Brock Mansion Party Yacht or Danzig?

Brock Mansion Party Yacht

43 votes

Danzig

35 votes

78 votes | Poll has closed

What Concerns You About Cal Football? (2009 Edition)

Avinash — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:00:20 -0000

via farm4.static.flickr.com

Concern. That's the state of mind a Cal football fan can find his or herself in during the interminable offseason. There's some giddy anticipation at the potential of great stars breaking out and showing new moves--Darian Hagan this past season, Jahvid Best the year before that, Desean the year before that. Some of us even dream of the great upsets, of going undefeated, of cheering the Cal band on down Colorado Blvd. Boredom and a lot of free time can do that to you.

However, while those positive thoughts run through our minds from time to time, worry and apprehension can supplant them fairly easily. As in, "how will the Bears break our hearts this time?" There is always something that keeps us from feeling completely confident going into the next season, like a wide receiver tripping inches from the end zone, or a bizarro penalty or huge ref call that swings the game the other way, or (of course), the horrifying pick-six. There are several troublespots going into next season, and I'm sure we can identify others if we try hard enough. Behold the power of pessimism!

Quarterback. Obviously the biggest issue going into next season, and a possible trouble spot for the FIFTH consecutive season.

(Discuss your biggest concerns going into the 2009 season in the comments.)

via imgs.sfgate.com (Link to Big Game photos)

In 2005, we were touting the talents of Nate Longshore, but we were probably uncertain as to how good he would be (and even less enthused about Joe Ayoob when Nate went down). 2006 & 2007 we went in with Longshore, but we weren't quite sure what to expect; Nate was a serviceable QB both seasons with occasional flashes of brilliance, but ultimately did not develop further. In 2008 we suffered through a toss and turn season of "Who's the starter?", a season that led to relative unease everytime the Bears went under center.

We are also probably suffering from Aaron Rodgers hangover syndrome--not only do our quarterbacks look lamentable much of the time, but against Rodgers they look even worse. A look at three basic stats shows us the steep drop-off since that glorious season.

National rank in yards per attempt from 2004 to 2008: 10th, 47th, 21st, 39th, 86th
National rank in passing efficiency from 2004 to 2008: 5th, 65th, 32nd, 52nd, 72nd

National rank in completion percentage from 2004 to 2008: 7th, 101st, 52nd, 40th, 104th

Stats from CFB Stats

That last stat is particularly worrisome and something we'll have to keep our eye on in 2009. Tedford's quarterbacks have always been seen as great, but outside of Rodgers he has not developed a quarterback that he has recruited. They have yet to both learn and execute the complicated systems in Tedford's playbook, much less the simple things like completing a pass. If Kevin Riley gets out of the box and struggles again...the Tedford QB guru image will begin to take sharper dents.

Special teams. ALAMAR!!!

via assets.sbnation.com

Would you like some disturbing special teams trends?

20.52 (2004), 20.19 (2005), 22.38 (2006) 21.97 (2007), 20.48 (2008). These have been the average amount of yards Cal's special teams coverage has given up on a kickoff. We have never been ranked higher than 52nd nationwide in any of those five seasons. I'm not sure if this directional kickoff thing is working so great.

Our kickoff return average is even worse, going year by year from 2004 onward....

21.73 (34th), 19.93(75th), 20.52 (52nd), 21.1 (60th), 20.4 (82nd); again, frustrating numbers the past four seasons, especially the slippage the past three. And this is WITH Best involved in the kickoff game.

Add in the struggles with finding a solid kicker since Schneider, and you have a constant subject of worry for Cal fans going into this season.

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

(HT to Bears with Fangs)

Linebackers. Zack Follett, Anthony Felder, Worrell Williams are gone. Now, while linebackers may be the most interchangeable component of a defense and more easily replaced than say a key secondary man or a defensive linemen, we're still losing about one-fourth of our team's tackles and one-third of our team's sacks. We have to be ready to adjust.

Our 3-4 defense was really good because we were very good at stopping the run and maintaining pressure on the quarterback as well as guarding against the deep ball. Against the short and medium range throws though, our linebackers had more trouble adjusting because their strength was not typical pass coverage.

This might not be as huge a concern this year. Mike Mohamed was the best linebacker we had in pass coverage. We are going to miss Follett's pass rush though, and we're not totally sure whether Kendricks is ready to step into the spotlight (Worrell Williams might be sold on him, but are you?). We wouldn't be too surprised if Cal's run D and sack totals slip this season, so we'll definitely need more consistency on offense...and hence the quarterback.

Long, deep breaths everyone!

Everything. Hydro sounds like the Bluest of Bears here:

As for next season, I’m not drinking the preseason top-15 koolaid. I think we’re about a 7-5 to 9-3 team again. More towards the 7-5 range if our passing doesn’t improve, and more towards the 9-3 range if our passing improves. If everything really comes together next year, perhaps 10-2, but the likelihood of everything coming together rather than one or two things is less likely so I’m not betting the bank on a 10+ win season.

It's like Hydro is trying to reverse jinx the 2009 Cal season into unprecedented success! Right Hydro? RIGHT?

So guys, what's your biggest concern going into 2009 and why?

Poll

What concerns you the most about our 2009 Cal football team?

Quarterback

226 votes

Running backs

1 votes

Receivers

32 votes

Offensive Line

17 votes

Defensive Line

0 votes

Linebackers

10 votes

Secondary

0 votes

Special Teams

11 votes

Coaching

7 votes

NOTHING. GO BEARS!

29 votes

333 votes | Poll has closed

Cal Coaches Tour 2009 - Pleasant Hill Report Part I

ragnarok — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:30:11 -0000

ragnarok: Last year, Cal Athletics debuted the Coaches Tour, a series of meet&greet/Q&A sessions with Football Head Coach Jeff Tedford, Basketball Head Coach Mike Montgomery, Athletic Director Sandy Barbour, and perhaps a guest appearance by another coach or two. We were there last year, and as you'd expect from such a winning formula (Tedford + Monty + Sandy + free BBQ = AWESOME!), we had a great time, and learned some interesting tidbits as well.

Thus, when the 2009 Tour dates were announced, it was a no-brainer that the CGB crew would make it out to at least one of these dates. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed. The BBQ was just as tasty and Monty's wit was just as sharp as last year. Here's how things went down:

TwistNHook: I got there at about 4:45PM. Before Tedford!

The place was packed, but that was just because they didn't let people in early. So, a huge line formed in a smallish area. I think there were fewer people there this year. Most likely due to the fact that it cost 20 bucks as compared to zero last year.

But it was STILL really popular. Hell, it was so popular that opposing coaches were showing up:

Plus, they had a free DVD of the 2008 highlights. Is it up online on YouTube or something? We're working to get it up there. I might mail it off to Danzig's celestial kingdom for him to get it up.

Hydro and I quickly ran over to grab some food. Hot dogs. Slider-style burgers. Soon, we were joined by Calnet and PaleoDan. Then, Rags showed up with AndBears and OskiWeeWee not too far behind. While people were milling about, Sandy Barbour got up on stage to announce that Cal Women's Tennis had defeated Notre Dame to go to the National Finals against Duke. Well, that's good! She was leaving the next morning at 6 AM to fly out to Texas to watch it. Whenever a Cal sport is going for a National Title, she is there. That's the sign of a great AD!

ragnarok: It's the sign of a great athletic program that our teams are playing for national championships so that Sandy has the opportunity to fly out and see them. If memory serves me, didn't she leave the morning after last year's event to go see a team compete for a National Title? Was that also Women's Tennis?

TwistNHook: Given my extreme lack of women's tennis knowledge, I'll defer to you on that question.

In any case, they had a side mock-up of the planned Memorial Stadium renovations for the West Side of the bowl:

ragnarok: Yeah, and they also had some demo models of the new seats that they're going to be installing in these premium donor sections of the west side. I copped a squat in one of them, and let me tell you, they are swanky!

TwistNHook: Then, it was time for the speeches to begin. First, it was announced that somebody had brought their silver Lexus to the valet but accidentally taken their keys. Monty joked that it couldn't have been him, because he isn't paid well enough to own a Lexus. Remember this story for later!

Sandy was back up to give an overall picture of Cal sports:

Things are good, it would seem. She went through all the different sports and many of them are doing well. Swimming kicking butt. Track doing great. Crew winning left and right. Some other assistant coaches were there, such as Jay John (who may or may not be the evil twin version of Supreme Court Justice John Jay) and this one girl who I swear I went to high school with.

Sandy noted that every sport hit the mark in the APR. That the graduation numbers are doing great. She said that Cal was just one of 11 schools in the country to play in both a bowl game, and in both the men's and women's NCAA tournaments, and of those 11, just 2 finished in the top 10 in the NACTA Director's Cup: Cal and Texas. Big, big, BIG cheers for that. Sandy is a very personable speaker. She is funny. She gave credit where credit was due. She joked about how she didn't have to talk about judges and injunctions and trees anymore. BIG cheer for that! Hallellujah!

ragnarok: One other interesting item that Sandy mentioned was that while Football and Men's Basketball are still the two big revenue sports that fund the rest of Cal Athletics, Women's Basketball is getting close to turning a profit, too! The team will be young next year, but with a large (7 member) recruiting class that is ranked anywhere from 1st to 3rd nationally, they are going to be very, very talented, and the future of Cal Women's Basketball is bright indeed.

TwistNHook: The first coach to speak was the Women's Swimming Coach, Teri McKeever:

Women's Swimming, if you weren't aware, won the National Championship this year. Here is a video of them celebrating, including inducing Sandy to jump into the pool with them.

Coach McKeever made it sound like the National Title was very unexpected. Like she just looked up before the final race and realized "Wow, we are winning." Apparently, the National Championship came down to the final race when Cal was just a point or so ahead of Georgia. But noted superstar Dana Vollmer lead the team to victory! Coach McKeever spoke about how she almost ruined the championship with some sort of coaching move. To be honest, my knowledge of swimming was not sufficient that I could follow completely. I think she raced some people in the semis that nearly didn't get Cal to the finals, but I'm not entirely sure. She seemed very humble.

It was noted that she swam at USC. As a family of McKeevers that swam at USC. They offered her a job to coach their team. But she turned it down to stay at Cal. Now, that's impressive!

ragnarok: Yeah, Sandy Barbour has not only done a great job hiring new coaches at Cal, but she's been very successful at retaining the successful coaches that we already have on staff. Keeping Tedford and Joanne Boyle when other schools came calling was obviously huge, but it looks like keeping McKeever away from her alma mater was another big coup.

TwistNHook: Next up was Coach Tedford. Last year he spoke last. I wonder why they switched him with Coach Montgomery. Perhaps because Coach Tedford, while an engaging speaker, tends to give the coachy answers as compared to Montgomery, who shoots from the hip. Then again, Coach Tedford did make fun of Monty a bit:

Coach Tedford praised his athletes for their academics. He noted that they are the #2 Pac-10 team for the APR and had the most All Academic players in the Pac-10.

In specific, he said that Alex Mack was one of his favorite players, especially for the academics. He said that they were very excited when Alex Mack won the Draddy award (the academic Heisman). He actually made a slight reveal when he said he was very happy Mack returned for his senior season, partially because Mack would help repair some chemistry that had "fizzled" the year before. Nothing new, but interesting to hear Coach Tedford himself admit it.

He started to talk about individual players. Jahvid had a nice and productive spring. Riley also had a nice spring. As did Beau Sweeney. Mansion, he said, really "stepped it up." He said he'll name a starter as he gets closer to Fall Camp.

He spoke highly of Bryan Anger, which produced a big cheer. He joked how concerned he was that people were cheering for the punter!

Then, he started to complement us. Yay for us! He said 3 out of the last 5 seasons, Cal has been undefeated at home. We've only lost, IIRC, to OSU and USC over the past half decade at home. So, that's pretty impressive.

HydroTech: Woah, woah, woah, slow down there, Twist. Give somebody else a chance to talk. You are missing a lot of stuff. Like when Tedford said Miami had a lot of tradition and that upon seeing the Miami players before the game he said they were "good looking guys" and the Bears were in for a "long night."

He spoke on next year's schedule, too. Tedford said this year the schedule is more in our favor although still a difficult schedule. He mentioned the fact that we'll get USC early this year and how they are changing QBs.

Further, Tedford expressed his pride in Alex Mack for winning the Draddy award and for coming back for all the right reasons. Tedford said that throughout spring ball he was hoping to sustain no injuries. Tedford said there is a lot of noise outside of his office. And he was happy that it wasn't people banging drums or yelling.

ragnarok: Yeah, the sound of heavy machinery must be a beautiful sound for him to hear. Compared to last year's event, Tedford just seemed so relieved to finally be moving forward on the SAHPC, to not have any more hippies in trees, and to finally be able to really sell recruits on the future, and not just on dreams on paper. He also was quite relieved that his team made it through Spring Ball relatively unscathed (I think Tad Smith was the only major injury sustained, and Tad is expected to be ready to play come Fall Camp.

Anyway, we've got a lot more to talk about at this event, including Mike Montgomery's speech, the Q+A session, and some great tidbits from the end of the event. We'll continue in Part II soon.

2009 Spring Depth Chart

HydroTech — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:31:18 -0000

Well, I meant to do a spring depth chart post, but then culinary school finals ambushed me. In the mean time, fellow Cal Football blogger Ken Crawford over at Excuse Me For My Voice beat me to the punch. Nevertheless, I'll continue on with this post despite my tardiness.

Here are my thoughts regarding the 2009 Cal Football post-Spring ball depth chart (the depth chart is available to view here):

No QB named the clear starter.

via blog.oregonlive.com

What does this tell me? The QB job is still pretty wide open. However, Riley is listed at the top, followed by Mansion then Sweeney. What does this tell me? This is the tentative standings between the three QBs. What else can be inferred from the depth chart? Well, it looks like experience is definitely giving Riley and edge over Mansion, likewise Mansion's (albeit limited) experience is giving him a slight advantage over Sweeney. ESPN writer Ted Miller put it pretty accurately when he said that Riley is the clear front-runner but he could easily lose his job too.

Does Tedford need to name a QB now? No. I've perused other Cal sports boards and I've heard some talk of how Tedford has lost his mind by not naming a starter. Quite frankly, that's straight silly talk. Naming a starter now accomplishes very little. At the most, it may instill some confidence into the named starter. However, naming a starter now, this early, will breed complacency. The starter won't push himself as hard as he would when he knows his job is at risk. The backups won't push themselves as hard when they know they can't win the job. Furthermore, naming a starter now, after spring ball accomplishes nothing. Some people think that naming a starter now will allow the starting QB to work on his timing with his WRs. However, this really isn't true. Right now it's summer. The coaches can't work with the players. The players are conditioning and don't really have rigidly structured practices. During the summer the players will get together and practice among themselves but not all players are here during the summer. Some are in school, some are home. With as much as 1/2 the team gone during summer, and the players having mildly organized practices (as opposed to highly structured fall camp practices) are they really going to get a lot of quality reps together? No. In other words, a "starting" QB really won't do much else differently than a non-starting QB. So why name a guy a starter and just have him get complacent?

Finally, I think some Cal fans have been complaining that USC and Pete Carroll named a starter prior to their spring game and thus Tedford should be able to do it too. Well, Tedford pretty much did. Riley was essentially the starter for our spring game since he worked with the first team. Does Tedford need to make a public announcement so it's official?

The most compelling reason why Tedford hasn't named a starter is because with all of Cal's QB problems last year, Tedford wants the most information possible before he makes his decision. Naming a starter now, without seeing the QBs' performances during fall camp (the more important camp), would be premature.

The Battle for Flanker

In the Emerald Bowl, Jeremy Ross played exclusively as Cal's flanker WR in base personnel. Now the depth chart is showing Nyan Boateng in that spot. Perhaps the senior finally showed enough to earn that top spot? It's still early but it's possible there could be an upset special and Ross wins it back.

The Battle for Split End

Towards the end of last season, Verran Tucker played split end WR almost exclusively. With all that experience on the field you'd think he'd be an easy write-in for the starting spot at split end again. I guess not. Sophomore Marvin Jones, with little game experience, is at that top split end spot. Again, it's still early, but a seasoned WR with lots of starting experience loses his starting spot to another player who was mostly injured all of last year? Either Tucker is slipping or Jones is that good.

Who Will Be the Top 3 WRs?

This is a fairly important question. Cal's top 3 WRs get the majority of the snaps on the field - perhaps upward of 90%. So who is it going to be? Tucker, Ross, and Boateng have the most experience so you might think it'd be them. However, we all saw sophomore Alex Lagemann blow up in spring ball. Right now he's penciled in at the #1 slot position. When Cal goes to its 3 WR sets (11 personnel), if we assume the top players at each WR position see the field then the top three will be Boateng, Jones, and Lagemann. That leaves out experienced WRs Jeremy Ross, and Verran Tucker - and puts the more inexperienced Jones and Lagemann on the field. Do we want more inexperienced WRs on the field again another year? Is the talent that Jones and Lagemann bring to the field worth more than the experience that Ross and Tucker bring? Cal could have a Rose Bowl season next year if its passing game comes together (and assuming the running game stays dominant and the same goes for the defense). I'm not exactly sure that having more inexperienced players on the field is the greatest way to get that passing to improve. The alternative is that Cal adopts some sort of 5 WR rotation with all the aforementioned players rotate in frequently. It will be interesting to see what happens with the WR situation when fall camp ends.

via imgs.sfgate.com

Hagan Locks Up A Starting Spot From the Classroom

Darian Hagan has been out most of the spring working on academics. Most of us figured Chris Conte had a chance to steal a starting spot. It doesn't look like that is going to happen. Frankly, I'm not surprised. While Conte has shown improvements from his shaky freshman year, I still think Hagan has superior coverage skills as well as being better in run support too. The fact that Hagan still sits #1 at his CB spot despite being mostly MIA speaks volumes about what the coaching staff thinks of him.

Ted Miller of ESPN has been saying the secondary might be the best in the Pac-10. Well, he might be right. We all know Syd'Quan Thompson is a stud and an NFL talent. We all know Darian Hagan is great too (he's got two years remaining too!). Actually, I think Hagan is underrated and should have made Miller's Top-30 Players in the Pac-10 list. And with Sean Cattouse coming on strong and pushing Brett Johnson, and Marcus Ezeff being his stud self, our secondary could be wicked good again. Of course, let's not forget that a secondary's success also relies on the linebackers, and defensive line too.

Tad Smith Locks Up A Starting Spot From the Training Room

So Tad Smith breaks his Scapula, looks to be out perhaps through opening kickoff and set to lose his presumed starting spot to Anthony Miller but then he's still #1. Hmm... okay. I think it's safe to say that unless something crazy happens in the fall camp that he's still going to be #1.

via imgs.sfgate.com

Mychal Kendricks to Will and Devin Bishop to Buck

The biggest change in positions this spring was Mychal Kendricks moving from Buck (weak outside linebacker) to Will (weak inside linebacker), and Devin Bishop moving from Will to Buck.

I think a lot of fans are a bit hesitant about this move because Kendricks doesn't have prototypical size (6'0" 230 lbs) however I don't think that's a big concern. Former Cal middle linebacker Anthony Felder was 6'2", 233 lbs. Former Cal middle linebacker Worrell Williams was 5'11", 240 lbs. Both of those guys were very productive at their positions despite Felder being a bit under the prototypical weight of a middle linebacker, and Worrell Williams being under the prototypical heigh of a middle linebacker. Are we really going to make a big deal out of a Kendricks being perhaps 10-20 pounds lighter than the prototypical MLB? Or the fact that Kendricks is perhaps 2-3 inches too short for the prototypical MLB? I don't think we need to or should.

What matters the most is player production. The coaches feel that Kendrick's production is maximized at Will and that Bishop's production is maximized at Buck. I see nothing wrong with their decisions despite having Kendricks, who is only very slightly undersized, at Will.

Poll

Which position do you think has the fiercest competition for earning a starting spot?

Quarterback

43 votes

Wide Receiver

120 votes

Linebackers

36 votes

199 votes | Poll has closed

2009 Spring Game Recap

HydroTech — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:14:20 -0000

Here are my thoughts from today's spring game practice:

(1) Defense is further along than the offense. This isn't entirely unexpected. Our defense is probably more talented than the offense and they have more experience returning than the offense. The defense got the best of the offense throughout the day except for perhaps 5 big offensive plays. Runs were getting minimal gains. Passing was limited to mostly short hitches. Few deep passes were completed. Lots of pressure was getting to the QB from blitzes.

Speaking of blitzes...

(2) Gregory seemed to bringing a lot of pass rushers. This wasn't a more passive defense out there today. Instead the defense was fairly aggressive. Quite frequently the defense attacked with 5 to 6 pass rushers and was able to pressure the QBs and sack the QBs. Could this be a clue into the defense's position on the conservativeness/aggressiveness spectrum? I think so.

(3) Riley looked just "okay." If my memory serves me correctly, Riley was working with the second team today. His performance today was just okay. He didn't really stand out. But he wasn't horrible. His most memorable play today was probably an incompletion. On this particular play, he had Boateng open in the south-east corner of the field. Boateng was running towards the south-east corner and his defender was a good 10 yards away from him. Riley saw him open, unleashed the throw, and it fell short of Boateng. This wasn't an issue of arm strength, but merely that Riley mis-estimated the power of the throw as well as Riley perhaps was just trying too hard to not miss the throw because Boateng was so open.

I discussed Riley's performance today with CBKWit, and we both seemed to agree that Riley didn't quite seem as decisive with the ball as one of the other QBs (I will get to this later). Riley seemed to be holding onto the ball a little longer than he should. By "longer than he should" I mean that nobody was open so you should either tuck it and run or throw the ball away. It appeared as if Riley was looking and looking and looking and looking.... waiting for somebody to get open. Understandably, if nobody is open you probably shouldn't throw the ball to a receiver. But as I said earlier, at some point, you have to tuck it and run or throw it away.

Today was my first time seeing Riley in action since last season. I've read the practice reports from Okanes, and BearTerritory.net, etc., and everyone has made it sound like Riley was the best QB of the bunch thus far. After reading that, and seeing Riley's performance today, I was disappointed. Maybe the media has hyped up Riley a bit too much in the past few weeks, or maybe Riley just had an off day, but he certainly didn't live up to the expectations that I had set after reading about how he has consistently out-performed the other QBs this spring.

(4) Mansion looked "okay". I wish I could say something more about the guy since he has an awesome party yacht and the media has made it sound like he's been surpassed by Sweeney, but I can't really say Mansion did great or really stood out today either.

I really don't have any memories of him today - not good ones at least. The one bad memory I have is Mansion's interception. The offense was working a mayday situation where the offense is down by two points and starts out about mid-field. There are only 49 seconds on the clock. The QBs must lead the offense to a field-goal or touchdown. On one particular play, Mansion threw a deep ball to a WR on a deep post. The 40 yard (estimated) pass was a beautiful spiral that was overthrown by perhaps 3 to 5 feet. The ball was just high enough to be outside of the jumping reach of the WR, and in perfect position for Cattouse to intercept the ball - which he did. Was that throw a bad throw? Well, I think it was a low probability throw. The WR wasn't really that open. Cattouse had over-the-top coverage and was staying with the WR. I believe there was an underneath defender in the general area too. It was a tough throw. Mansion missed the throw but not by a lot. If the pass was only 3 to 5 feet shorter, that could have easily been a touchdown too.

Actually, one good memory I have is a great throw by Mansion to WR Alex Lagemann on a seam route. This was early on in the practice and was a pretty decent 20-25 yard gain or so.

Despite the Cal fan consensus that Mansion is a QB who will take off and run the ball (this idea spawned from Mansion's highschool highlights), I can't remember Mansion taking off once. I could have sworn I read a quote from Tedford a few weeks ago where he described Mansion as a more traditional dropback passer (Note: I can't find that quote. I could be mis-remembering things and be wrong. Does anyone else remember one of the media outlets quoting Tedford saying something like that?), and right now, I'd have to agree that Mansion seems to more of a dropback pocket QB.

On the other hand....

(5) Beau Sweeney has some pocket elusiveness and escapability. First off, let me say that I thought Sweeney looked like the best QB today. Note that I am saying the "best." I'm not saying he did "great" today, but merely that he was the best out of Riley, Mansion and him. Overall, I would describe his performance as "good." He was decisive. He got the ball out on-time and was rarely, if ever, caught looking too long down the field. He seemed to have that "internal timer" of aware QBs who know when to run when the pocket is breaking down and/or nobody is open. Sweeney consistently eluded defenders, escaped collapsing pockets, and even scrambled for (positive) yards.

Someone on Twitter asked us during the practice whether Sweeney had good zip on his ball. It appears as he does. I do remember a few plays in particular where Sweeney threw some absolute bullets at WRs. Also, Sweeney threw a beautiful 40+ yard deep bomb touchdown to Ross. The offense was driving north. Ross was on the east side of the field. Sweeney recognized man-coverage on Ross and no safety help. Sweeney dropped back, and threw a perfectly placed ball into the back north-east corner of the endzone where Ross caught it after using his speed to put about 4 yards of separation between him and his defender. All the while, Ross was looking right into the sun for the ball. That was perhaps the best offensive play of the game right there. The throw was beautifully placed.

Sweeney also had a great little ad lib shovel pass on a scramble. On one particular passing play the pocket broke down. So Sweeney escaped to his left, was about to run but then saw he was getting cut off by approaching defenders. Having not passed the line of scrimmage yet, Sweeney shoveled the ball back to his right towards the interior of the field and across the line of scrimmage to an open receiver for a small. Although it was a small gain, this play showed Sweeney's pocket presence (ability to feel when the pocket was breaking down), his escapability (his ability to escape a collapsing pocket), his vision (for seeing the open receiver), and his ability to ad lib.

We did tweet (a "tweet" is the name for a status update on Twitter) that Sweeney was intercepted. On this particular play, he was actually hit while he was throwing which caused the ball to pop up and prime for intercepting. Indeed the ball was intercepted and returned for a touchdown with some great blocking by the Cal defenders. I can't remember who on defense it was, but someone absolutely laid out an offensive player who was attempting to run down the defensive ballcarrier. Anyways, the main point here is that Sweeney's interception wasn't the case of a "bad throw" or "bad decision" but more of a "back luck" type of play.

(5) Anger looked good. He was booming punts. Nothing new here. I suppose it's ironic how his abilities are so spectacular, but not at all surprising at the same time since we know what he's capable of.

(6) Kickoff depth looked "good." I wouldn't say it was great because they weren't going into the endzone. In fact, Ragnarok reminded me that only the opening kickoff went into the endzone (via the leg of Tavecchio). But the rest of the kickoffs were at around the 5 to 10 yardline which was good. None of the kickoffs went out of bounds.

(7) Seawright looks shaky. Perhaps he still needs more time to recover from his injury but today he missed a PAT. He did make an 11 yard field goal later on but I noticed that he didn't seem to quite have great height on that particular kick. The height on that kick wasn't so low as to be alarming but it didn't seem to have the elevation that is ideal. With low kicks there is always the possibility of a block.

(8) Tavecchio's range on field goals is probably at most about 30 yards out. Today Tavecchio had the chance to attempt a 52 and 50 yard field goals. The distance I am giving here is actual yardage which means the distance from the ball to the back of the endzone. In other words +17 yards from the line of scrimmage. Why 17 yards? Well, the endzone is 10 yards deep and the ball is placed 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage for field goals. So if the ball is on the 35 yardline, the actual distance of the kick is 52 yards (35+17). Of course, this is just the straight line distance and doesn't account for the height of the field goal cross bar which is 10 feet high. So in reality, to make a field goal from the 35 yard line, you really have to be able to kick the ball around 60 yards (35+17+extra distance for height of cross bar).

Tavecchio missed both the 50 and 52 yard field goals. The distance appeared too long with his balls falling short as well as off-target. So in other words, should Tavecchio be our starting kicker, Cal will need to get the ball to the 30 yardline at minimum to attempt a field goal that isn't too long.

(9) Less new stuff. As you all know, we can't post pictures of formations from closed practices. Also, we can't post pictures of formations from Spring Game either despite it being an "open" practice (remember the CGB spygate incident in 2008?). Nor can we describe formations on the internet (remember the BearInsider.com incident in 2006? Or was it 2007? I can't remember).

So here is where I now get vague. I'd love to just show you a picture of what I saw. But I can't. I'd love to draw it out for you on photoshop, but I can't. So let me just say this:

(a) I saw one new formation today.

(b) I saw less "Cignetti" stuff from 2008. A lot of the "Cignetti" formations from 2008 were gone.

(d) 12 personnel (double tight end sets) does appear to be making a return.

To me, from viewing today's scrimmage, I think our offense is reverting back a little bit more towards the "pro" side of the pro-style/spread-offense spectrum. I came to this conclusion from observing what formations were used; examining the particular plays which were called out of the formations; and by comparing these formations and plays to the plays which Tedford himself has called before in the past. Furthermore, the new formation I saw today is very much a traditional pro-style formation.

I remember at last year's Spring Game practice, there was a ton of new formations that Cignetti was tinkering with. Some made it into the regular playbook and some didn't. The spring is the time to experiment with new stuff so you can decide whether to implement it into the regular playbook. Because I saw so little new stuff today, I can't help but conclude that Ludwig isn't bringing in a lot of new stuff or looking to change a lot.

If you remember my Spring Football Quick Hitters post, you'll know that I theorized that Tedford might be wishing to return to a slightly more pro style offense. From what I saw today, I see this as early validation of my theory. But it still is early. It's just spring. It isn't fall yet. The season hasn't started yet. Things could change. But I wouldn't be surprised if the offense we see in 2009 is more of that "Tedford's Offense" that we saw in the glory days of Aaron Rodgers.