Keenan Allen Presents Keenan Allen: The Keenan Allen Story! The Cal Wide Receivers In 2011

TwistNHook: Oddly, the focus on wide receivers (and tight ends) has changed over the season. Earlier in the season, it seemed like they were bailing Zach Maynard out. They seemed like the focus of our offense. Then, as Maynard's struggles intensified in the middle of the season, the coaching staff cut his role back. All of a sudden, everybody was in love with Isi Sofele, C.J. Anderson, and the running game. The WRs seemed like a second thought as Cal steam rolled over teams like Washington State and Oregon State.

LeonPowe: It was odd in the beginning because it lookedlike we might have the best receiving pair in the league (I'd argue now that we're second behind USC) - especially as KA21 was leading the nation in yards/game (or was it receptions?) over the first 3-4 games. Odd because we were not very happy with the passing part of the passing and catching portion of our offense.

Kodiak: With KA and Jones being so dynamic, I could see where it would make sense to get them the ball as much as possible. However, during the early/mid portion of the year, Maynard just wasn't ready to do this on a consistent basis, particularly when the better defenses in the conference schemed to take them away.

OhioBear: The WRs were a strength of the offense. If Zach Maynard had played the whole season like he did in the last two games of the year, our WRs would have some pretty gaudy numbers, or at least would have had even more opportunities to show how dynamic they are.

Berkelium97: At the start of the season our receiving game consisted of a boatload of Keenan, a heavy dose of Marvin, and a sprinkling of Calvin/Miller. Things did not change much by the end of the season and this will produce some concerns heading into next season. With the departures of Marv, Calvin, and Miller, we will be needing to replace a large amount of talent. While I don't doubt that we have talented players waiting in the wings, I saw very little this season to give me complete comfort heading into next season.

Keenan Allen is a world-class athlete, but we're going to need to find someone to start opposite him as well as a third (and occasional fourth) option. Bouza had a couple of nice receptions during the Big Game, but that was the only time most of us heard his name this season. I don't remember seeing Harris at all. One of these guys will have to step up. Treggs could do good things next season, but he'll only be a freshman. It would be nice for Clay to return, but the odds of that seem low at this moment.

I am more optimistic about the TE situation, however. We had a great luxury in that we actually had a healthy stable of tight ends this season. We finally were able to use some two- and three-tight end sets, a staple of the old Tedford playbook. Although Miller will graduate, Hagan was solid as a pass-catching tight end in the final few games. Hopefully he can take on a Cam Morrah-esque role next season. Ladner is a big 'un and has potential for solid blocking, as do Rodgers and Wark.

Finally, it's worth noting that the biggest question surrounding the tight ends going into next season is whether Genyk will still be their coach...

TwistNHook: Spencer Hagan really came on at the tail end of the year, making many key catches. He seems really skinny to my untrained eye, however.

HydroTech: Hagan is an interesting guy. He is like a quasi wide receiver slash tight end. Sometimes he lines up on the line of scrimmage in a three point stance like a tight end. Other times he's split out wide and running routes down the field like a wide receiver. I guess you could say that he is a "tweener".

OhioBear: Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Hagan played WR in high school.

Kodiak: Hagan did play WR in HS. He switched to tight end after last season, and put on an extra 20 lbs or so of muscle. Still a bit light to consistently set the edge against DEs, but he got better during the year and pretty well blocking on the perimeter.