After spending most of the spring learning the offense, Zach Maynard is becoming very comfortable with the offense. On an unrelated but intriguing note, during yesterday's practice Tedford mentioned that Josh Hill will be a "secret weapon" for the defense--one whose position Tedford did not want to divulge.
Tedford did, however, praise starting quarterback Zach Maynard, who continues to improve on the field. On Monday, his arm strength looked to have improved, as he was putting more spin and velocity on the ball.
"He's always been real crisp throwing the football, but his decisions are quicker. When your decisions are quicker, your timing's better and so, he's getting the ball out really quick, he's done a real nice job," Tedford said. "He's very accurate throwing the ball. He throws all the balls really well. He can throw the deep ball, he can throw the comebacks on a line, he's got touch for the intermediate stuff, so he's got all the balls. Now it's a matter of just keeping him protected and making sure that everybody else around him does their job."
After a bit of a slow start to his first fall camp, Maynard has looked progressively more comfortable in the pocket.
"Zach's having a very good camp. Every day we're out here, the more he gets comfortable with the offense and what we're doing and repetition," Tedford said. "It's something he hasn't had. He only had 15 practices in the spring, and that was his first look at [the offense]. Now, you can tell, it's just getting easier and easier for him.
"He's got ice water in his veins. He doesn't get riled up about too much. He's a calm customer, and he's got good focus on what he's doing and I think he'll take that same mentality into the game."
After the jump the Bears are named the most overrated team of the last five years, Brendan Bigelow may redshirt, and Monty's team notches a pair of wins in Europe.
Football
- PollSpeak.com finds the Bears to be college football's most overrated team of the last five years(when you compare preseason ranking to final ranking).
- Crumpacker recently visited the SAHPC and was very impressed with the care put into seemingly minor aesthetic details.
- Senior safeties Sean Cattouse and D.J. Campbell have embraced new DB coach Ashley Ambrose. Ambrose's NFL experience has had an important impact on how much players learn from him.
- With 11 seniors on roster, Cal is tied for the third-most seniors of any Pac-12 team. Consecutive years of stellar recruiting classes ought to make the transition easier once the seniors graduate.
- At Monday's practice Tedford did not say much about what the coaches discussed in their Sunday meeting. The team practiced on Evans Field to prepare them for the dirt-grass transitions on AT&T's field.
- Brendan Bigelow may redshirt, as he is still adjusting to both the game and his now-healthy knees.
- Sean Cattouse vows never to let Andrew Luck--or any player--repeat the steamrolling he received in last year's Big Game.
- Cal alum Matt Giordano (drafted in 2005) has signed with the Raiduhs.
Basketball
- A 76-74 win over Uppsala gives the Bears a 2-0 record during the European tour. Despite several turnovers in the final minutes (and 25 overall), the Bears managed to hold onto the victory.
- BearTerritory has some individual stats from Monday's win.
- The women's team received a commitment from forward Mikayla Cowling.