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Your day five report, follows the usual disclaimers.
[As always, not intended to be a complete report.]
[Cover photo borrowed from Matt Soderstrom. He will have more photos for Saturday's practice! For now, enjoy these from Friday, courtesy of my good friend Michael Rollins.]
Quarterbacks:
As it turns out, the Klindergoff is not down to two just yet. Judging by what happened Friday, it appears that the coaches were simply reducing Hinder's reps on Thursday in order to focus on Goff and Kline. Friday, though, it was Goff's turn on the "Odd QB Out Carousel", and Kline and Hinder took most of the snaps instead, which they shared just about 50/50.
I wrote yesterday that a case could be made that Austin Hinder was falling behind. Friday, that case became much clearer - what transpired made it very apparent Hinder is behind.
Though I do not have - and have never had - a complete play by play of practice, I usually am able to record most of what goes on, so what follows after this is a mostly complete sequence of Austin Hinder's day. I will indicate where plays are missing. All yardage totals are approximations.
In the 11-on-11 period that opens most practices - a period that usually consists of about 4-8 plays - Hinder saw two reps, and went after Kline.
- Handoff for Bigelow going left, run of 15
- Handoff for Lasco, run of 6.
After this, the team broke up for positional drills, before returning to 11-on-11 for a third down conversion period, in which the goal is to, well, convert the third down. Hinder was up first, and working with the first team, he got five opportunities to convert a third and ten. They went as follows:
- first attempt at 3rd and 10: pass to Daniel Lasco complete for 8 yards, no conversion.
- second attempt at 3rd and 10: sacked by Mustafa Jalil after Antoine Davis flushed Hinder out of the pocket
- third attempt at 3rd and 10: scramble short of the first down, no conversion
- fourth attempt at 3rd and 10: deep pass down the right sideline nearly picked by McClure, but dropped
- fifth attempt at 3rd and 10: sacked and stripped by Todd Barr. Gabe King recovered.
For fairness, below are Jared Goff's three tries during this period, where he worked with the 2s. Goff saw most of his time during 7-on-7, but unfortunately, during his turn, I was watching the offensive and defensive lines work. Nevertheless:
- first attempt at 3rd and 10: pass to Khalfani Muhammad complete for 12 yards, converted
- second attempt at 3rd and 10: sacked and stripped by Kyle Kragen, who got around Matt Williams. Kragen also recovered the fumble.
- third attempt at 3rd and 10: sacked by Kyle Kragen, who beat Steven Moore at left tackle.
[Zach Kline did not participate in this period.]
I also did not get a full chart from Hinder for today's 7-on-7 period, but he did play better there, throwing touchdowns to Bryce Treggs and James Grissom during his turn, although he did, at one point, hold the ball long enough to take a sack, too.
However, I was able to get Hinder's plays during the session-ending 11-on-11.
- Incomplete, deflected at the line by Deandre Coleman
- Incomplete to Jackson Bouza, thrown behind and tipped. Near pick.
- Hard count draws Gabe King offsides, fade to the left end zone incomplete to Bryce McGovern
- Handoff to Daniel Lasco, 12 yard touchdown
- Handoff to Daniel Lasco, tackled for loss by Chris McCain
- Handoff to Daniel Lasco for 3 yards
- Handoff to Bigelow for about 5 yards, tackled by Johnny Ragin.
- Handoff to Bigelow for about 5 yards.
- Sacked by Jacobi Hunter, with pressure from Marcus Manley.
- Complete to Jack Austin, deep throw up the left sideline for about 35 yards. Coverage by Adrian Lee.
- Handoff to Jeffrey Coprich for 4 yards.
- Handoff to Khalfani Muhammad, tackled for a loss by Deandre Coleman
Beyond the raw results of the plays themselves, which, you will notice, are largely negative, Hinder just appears panicked and uncomfortable; so much so that he has taken more sacks than either Goff or Kline, even though his legs are his greatest asset. Watch Hinder play at any recent practice, and there is a smack of desperation at times, as he tries almost too hard to make something happen.
Given all this, as well as his thoroughly unimpressive stretch between Wednesday and Thursday, and there is enough data to see a trend of poor play from #7. Coach Dykes has not officially eliminated anybody yet, and said nothing after practice about eliminating anyone, but at this point, it is extremely hard to argue with this statement: the 6'4" Coloradan is the third best of the Klindergoff trio.
Zach Kline didn't have a particularly fantastic day himself, and was really just average - but average was still comparatively better than Hinder. Though he did nothing special, Kline completed a large percentage of the passes he threw on the day, and for the most part, kept the ball safe. He did throw one interception to Adrian Lee, although from my vantage point, it might have come on a miscommunication with his receiver. As limited as his mobility might be, Kline even managed to escape a sack and throw a bullet to Kenny Lawler for a first down in 11-on-11s.
Notes and Observations:
- Saturday's practice will be in shorts. Coach Dykes said after practice that Monday will probably be the first time the team goes in full pads.
- Injury updates: Bryce Treggs has a "mild" ankle sprain and will be day to day. Avery Sebastian is also day to day, as he deals with a bone spur in his heel. Nick Forbes did not dress. He was spotted after practice in a long sleeved shirt and track pants. [He looked quite a bit like a coordinator.]
- The defense spent time before practice working on various blitz looks. One look that kept popping up was the ends dropping back into coverage. Just something to keep an eye on. This may prove to be popular with Chris McCain and Antoine Davis specifically, as their freakish wingspans make them nightmares to throw over.
- Speaking of defense, Coach Dykes felt that they definitely got the better of the day overall: "We were a little sloppy offensively. It wasn't the offense's best day. I thought the defense had a better energy about them than they've had, and they challenged the offense. The offense didn't respond the way that they've responded so far in camp. I wasn't really blown away by anybody's performance much less the quarterbacks. Really, anybody. Just not a good a day offensively as we've had."
- For those wondering what happened to Matt Cochran - who was the starter at the end of spring - he has not been playing more because Chris Adcock has impressed the staff greatly at center, a "pleasant surprise". Coach Dykes also said that both Adcock and Cochran have "snapped the ball well", a statement supported by the fact that there have been very, very few through five days of practice. [I asked this question. Sorry for my pre-pubescent sounding voice. Can't help it.]
- Some of the freshmen are beginning to move up the depth charts. Today Johnny Ragin, Jacobi Hunter, and Trey Cheek saw time with the 2nd team at the practice-ending 11-on-11 session. Of these three, Hunter will probably have the greatest importance - especially if Viliami Moala does not return any time soon. Coach Dykes said after practice that Ragin is a guy who has "caught everybody's attention, to a degree."
- Gabe King keeps "doing some good things", and a fumble recovery on Friday certainly helped.
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- Trevor Davis continues to be a strong performer in practice. He will immediately help out the wide receiver corps when he is eligible next season.
- Kenny Lawler, on the other hand, had a few bad drops - one in which he was completely wide open, and another, more excusable one, when he got one hand on an off target deep pass by Kyle Boehm.
- Adrian Lee and Isaac Lapite have had a couple of good practices in a row. As mentioned above, Lee picked off Kline in the practice-ending 11-on-11 session, on what could have been a route miscommunication. Lapite forced a fumble for the second consecutive practice, and actually got Richard Rodgers to drop the rock twice on Friday.
- Another Rodgers note: when I was leaving through the north tunnel after practice, I overheard a coach, who I believe was Rob Likens, harassing him about his butterfingers.
- Brian Treggs and Hardy Nickerson were spotted in attendance. Tarik Glenn was also in attendance.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Former cal bear Tarik Glenn spoke with the team post practice <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GoBears&src=hash">#GoBears</a> <a href="http://t.co/fCLYmGm2iV">pic.twitter.com/fCLYmGm2iV</a></p>— Cal Football (@CalFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/CalFootball/statuses/366019488400957440">August 10, 2013</a></blockquote>
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- I need to tweet less. Yesterday was the second time I got locked in Twitter jail. As in, the second time in five practices.
- I will not, and will never include a list of QB completions/yardage/TD. Don't ask. My notes are a pretty decent representation of these already, but to get a complete list would force me to pay attention to only one thing in practice, which is not what I am there for. Plus, I don't get to cover every single play that happens during 7-on-7 anyway. I don't tweet that fast, and I have to look around at the defense, too.
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- CGB will be talking to Freddie Tagaloa and Khairi Fortt on Saturday, and running those interviews in the days after that. Get your picks in for who we should talk to Sunday! [Khalfani Muhammad is an early favorite.]
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