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Injury updates:
- Adrian Lee was expected to be back today, but did not participate in practice, and was sporting a walking boot on the sidelines instead, as he recovers from a sprained ankle. After practice, Coach Dykes said that he thought Lee might be back tomorrow. Joel Willis saw some reps in his place at 2nd team cornerback. On the reps I watched of Willis, he looked understandably rusty - burned badly on a post-corner by Chris Harper, Willis then faced that same route the next play and closely stuck to Kenny Lawler. For right now, Coach Dykes plans on having him play at corner first, but with an athlete like Willis, he could see time elsewhere, too.
- Jacobi Hunter also did not participate. No update was given on him.
- Brennan Scarlett met with a doctor earlier in the day about his hand, but was not yet cleared to participate, as he was still seen in a red jersey. If Scarlett does not take contact before next Saturday, Coach Dykes anticipates that he will still play against Northwestern, as he has practiced plenty, conditioned, and gone through all the preparation - just without contact.
- Sione Sina came to practice in pads and participated a little - but not in any team periods. He then broke off for conditioning later, and based on all that, he doesn't look like he'll return just yet.
- Khairi Fortt saw increased time with the 2s today, and based on the way he has progressed the last few days, looks like he'll be ready to go next Saturday.
- Jason Gibson was not in pads, and was held out with a slight hamstring injury.
- Avery Sebastian is "ahead of where [the team] thought he would be", and did some running/field work, although unpadded. Still, the sight of him running up and down the steps of Memorial Stadium just 8 days after his injury has to be encouraging.
- Of course, none of the injured players were standing around - today, they climbed the stadium steps with chains and weights, and also pushed/pulled weighted sleds around the field.
- Although the injury report looks quite lengthy, Coach Dykes said that "I'm not concerned about any of it," as many of the injuries are of a temporary nature, one or two week nature, like Fortt's or Lee's.
Some highlights:
- Deandre Coleman broke up several runs and recorded a sack at practice. He hasn't always looked dominant - always quietly solid - but today was definitely one of his more impactful days at camp.
- Coleman was joined on the first team by Viliami Moala, while Mustafa Jalil took reduced reps. Don't read into that too much, though. Coach Dykes said after practice that it didn't really matter whether Moala or Jalil worked on the first team: "they're both going to play and see significant playing time...backups are going to play just as much as starters do."
- Stefan McClure had a fantastic day on Tuesday, picking off two passes, and showing some strong agility and pursuit. One of the picks came off of Austin Hinder in the scout team period, but the other was a gift from Zach Kline in 7-on-7s, when the redshirt freshman threw a fade route that went awry. Last week, Kline had a pick in a similar situation, but this play unfolded a bit differently - instead of staring down the defender directly and throwing it right to him, this time, Kline actually waited for things to develop. Unfortunately, as the play developed, McClure stuck with the receiver stride for stride, leaving very little, if any throwing room - and then Kline threw it anyway. McClure sensed a ball was coming and turned, only to see it land right in his hands.
- Kline then threw another near interception against the scout team D, when Ray Davison batted a pass into the air at the line of scrimmage. Chris Harper managed to catch it before it hit the turf. He got away with one, there. Needless to say, it was not one of Kline's better performances this fall.
- Chris Harper came down with a sideline grab with Isaac Lapite in coverage, and Jared Goff at quarterback. His tightroping skills in that area of the field have been very impressive, as this has been one of a few similar catches made this camp.
- I didn't spend too much time watching Goff specifically - as mentioned yesterday - but he once again avoided any negative plays, and slung the ball around with general accuracy, raining short completions in all the team periods. One odd moment of note was when he missed Chris Harper on a slant so badly the ball landed in the dirt. When that's what stands out from your quarterback, you're usually in a good spot overall.
- What I did try to spend my time watching was the defense - and one thing I picked up there was that Damariay Drew seems to be handling himself just fine. Several times during drills, Drew came up from the safety position to fill the gap very, very quickly, indicating a growing comfort with his new responsibilties, as well as some good athleticism. However, I also saw a play in which he made a "would be" tackle, but got a talking to from one of the coaches afterwards. [I believe that this was because he took the wrong angle or wrong gap, but still made the play anyway.]
- One other funny moment: David Garner broke up a pass from one of the quarterbacks [possibly Kline, but don't quote me on that], but knocked Bryce Treggs to the ground going for the ball. Garner immediately stuck both hands in the air, like an NBA player insisting he didn't commit a foul.
- Lasco continues to take a majority of reps down at the goal line/short yardage Bone, for those keeping track.
- The defensive ends continue to be mixed and matched - there have been looks with Kragen and Camporeale at first team, with Chris McCain and Dan Camporeale at first team, with Chris McCain lined up on the strong side...
- You may have heard already, but Rick Neuheisal was at practice, along with some of Pac-12 Networks' staff. He met with the Cal beat writers before practice, but evidently, I wasn't invited, because I didn't hear about it. #notenougheditorialintegrity #theyknewaboutmyinstatebias
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