Faraudo recently spoke with cornerback Stefan McClure, who is coming back from a horrific knee injury. A strong return from McClure will do wonders for the Bears' depth at defensive back. In addition to the knee injury, he had microfracture surgery on his knee (which was news to me).

"It was a full everything — I think they call it the terrible triad: the ACL, the MCL and the meniscus. I got all of them," McClure said after practice one day last week.

He then required microfracture surgery in May last year, further delaying his return.

"There’s nothing I could really do about it. It just takes six months for the bone marrow to come back," he said. "One of those things where I had no control — just had to sit there, couldn’t walk on it for six weeks.

While he is only permitted to practice in a limited fashion, he's had a chance to test out the knee.

McClure said he was feeling "probably 85-90 percent" last week.

"It’s just not quite where I need it to be to be out there 100 percent. Just strength. Certain movements kind of get it once in a while. I trust it when the play goes on, but after the play, I’ll go, `Man, I just didn’t have that same power that I had to accelerate out of a break,’ " he said.

"I feel that’s just more repitition, driving that foot into the ground and firing those muscles because I haven’t done it this aggressive in a while."

"I feel 100 percent sure I’ll be able to play. Once you have surgery your body has a different type of 100 percent," he said. "As long as there’s no pain, I’ll be good to go.

"Anytime you have surgery, it’s not going to feel the exact same, fresh like it was before. Once I accept that but keep working to get it back normal, then it’ll be pretty good."

Football

• Nam breaks down Monday's practice position by position and provides a preliminary depth chart.
• Coach Ingram challenged his RBs to improve and they have responded well.
• Dr. Saturday picked up the story on the broken helmet from Monday's practice.

Basketball

• Lindsay Gottlieb was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year! Brittany Boyd, Gennifer Brandon, and Layshia Clarendon were named to the all-Pac-12 Team while Boyd and Eliza Pierre earned spots on the all-defensive team.
• Jay Bilas FINALLY included Cal in his top-68 rankings. The Bears sit at 44th.
• Cal is 42nd in the latest RPI rankings.
• Cal moves up to a 9-seed in the latest bracketology. The Bears would face off against NC State in Philly (South Bracket). Cal's chances to make the Sweet 16 fell slightly (since they'd have to defeat 1-seed Georgetown to do so) to 12.2%. The chance of making the Final Four is 1.2% and the odds of winning the tournament grew to 0.1%.

Rugby

• Cal played a rare Monday night game and defeated Penn State 100-0. Since the Witter scoreboard doesn't go beyond two digits, the final scoreboard said 0-0. That probably made the Nittany Lions feel a little better.

Baseball

• Cal had 20 hits in 13-2 win over Houston.
• Cal's road trip to Texas came to a disappointing end when Rice scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Bears lost 1-0.

Golf

• The women's team is second after two rounds at the Juli Inkster Spartan Invite.
• The top-ranked men's team holds a 22-stroke lead after the second round of the Fresno State Lexus Classic.

Swimming and Diving

• The two-time defending NCAA champion men's team holds the top spot after day two of the Pac-12 Championships.