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.
- 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.