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Cal football spring practice: Projecting the offensive depth chart

How will things shake up going into the release of the spring depth chart?

By Avinash Kunnath
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

NOTE: These are predictions based on spring performance and last season. Nothing guaranteed, but just the current speculation.

Quarterback

1) Jared Goff. I think he has a decent chance to be the starter.

2) Chase Forrest. Forrest sounds like a reliable enough player to plug and pass. I doubt he's going to light up the scoreboard or anything, but he should be fairly reliable.

3) Ross Bowers. With Luke Rubenzer trying out this year at safety, that allows Bowers to crack up to the three deep. I doubt he will actually play barring emergency; Dykes wants to start stacking up depth and avoid burning redshirts. Expect Goff to play all meaningful snaps and Forrest to close things out.

Running back

1) Daniel Lasco. Our steady number one option. Expect Lasco to get a healthy amount of the snaps, but I expect the Bears to platoon a lot more this season than they did in previous years. There's a lot of running backs to choose from and no need to fatigue out any one runner. But Lasco's pass-catching and pass blocking make him the obvious three tool back who deserves starter's snaps over any of the others.

2) Vic Enwere. Feels like Enwere will get his fair share of snaps this season--he's just too physically impressive to keep off the field. I'd have to guess that Lasco would get around 40-50% and Enwere gets 20-30%, with 20 to 40 percent of the rest of them.

3) Tre Watson. Watson feels like he's pencilled into that three spot with Enwere's massive leap between fall and spring, and I think he will hit the top two at this point in 2016. He should still be able to see plenty of action, especially on secondary series and when Cal needs someone to attack opponents in space.

4) Khalfani Muhammad. Muhammad is still probably the fastest running back we have on the roster, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him in some separate packages that allow him to operate in space.

5) Lonny Powell. Power. Powell is ready to go. He might be a freshman, but you don't keep someone off the field who is guaranteed to pick two to three yards with the right blocking.  He's going to see the field early.

6) Jeffrey Coprich. Coprich has been bouncing around between running back and slot receiver this spring, so I expect him to see some playing time. Proud of all you're doing in the community, which goes way beyond football.

Fullback (BONE)

1) Ray Hudson. The rotation is crowded, so I could see Hudson spending a lot of time rotating between fullback and inside wide receiver. Definitely a valuable rotation member, it's just hard to get him playing time with the wide receiving corps we have out there.

2) Bradley Northnagel. This man has done everything.

Outside wide receivers

X: 1) Trevor Davis, 2) Jack Austin, 3) Chad Hansen

Z: 1) Kenny Lawler, 2) Maurice Harris, 3) Erik Brown

There might be some additional shaking up when the freshmen arrive, but for now let's stick with the depth here. Davis replaces Chris Harper as the permanent starter on the outside. I expect Carlos Strickland to find his way in there come fall.

Inside wide receivers

Y: 1) Stephen Anderson, 2) Darius Powe, 3) Kyle Wells

H: 1) Bryce Treggs, 2) Ray Hudson, 3) Matt Rockett

With Davis and Lawler penciled in at outside, the likelier place for freshmen to get significant playing time is here. Anderson and Treggs are pretty much guaranteed starters, but after that there's plenty of space to shake things up.  Brandon Singleton and Jaylinn Hawkins will be immediate contenders to crack the three deep I'd guess.

Offensive line

Left tackle: 1) Steven Moore (injured), 2) Dominic Granado

Left guard: 1) Chris Borrayo, 2) J.D. Hinnant

Center: Matt Cochran OR Addison Ooms

Bears spotted in Yosemite

A photo posted by Matthew A. Cochran (@mattcochran74) on

Right guard: 1) Jordan Rigsbee, 2) Michael Trani

Right tackle: 1) Brian Farley OR Vinnie Johnson

This unit is still perilously thin. The center situation seems to be working itself out--we'll have at least two competent replacements for Chris Adcock. Even if neither has proven themselves in game action, they don't seem to be mucking up the offense at this point in practice. Playing up to speed will be critical.

The tackle situation is still a total guess. We know Moore is likely to own one of these spots, and Johnson and Farley are the two favorites to win the second edge. But Granado is far from out of it, and there are others to watch.

No worry about guards though. We know who our two are, although there's huge concern if we have to dig deeper into the rotation at any point.

What do you guys think of this depth chart? Pleased? Excited? What positions are you the most concerned about?

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