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Golden Nuggets: Richard, Aaron Rodgers Win Best Play at ESPYs

"Hail to California" wins best play at ESPN's annual award show, and Aaron Rodgers talks to Bill Simmons about concussions.

By cldpc
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Football

Who takes over back of center for Jared Goff in Cal's new-look offense under Jake Spavital?

During his post-spring sit-down with local media, California head coach Sonny Dykes said that he and his staff "threw poor Jared [Goff] to the wolves," because the offensive line was not a strength of the program. Now, though, things are looking up, and whoever steps behind center for the Bears in Sydney, Aus., to start the college football season is going to have a lot of help, from a veteran offensive line, to all three leading rushers returning.

What's not known, though, is who will be taking those snaps. Zach Kline has transferred once again, to Fresno State, and Luke Rubenzer has moved back to safety in light of what is likely a season-ending knee injury suffered late in spring ball by Damariay Drew. That leaves five total contenders.

"Whoever's the best will play for us; I don't care if it's a walk-on, I don't care if it's a fifth-year senior, or a true freshman," Dykes said, cryptically, before the official announcement that Texas Tech graduate transfer Davis Webb would be coming to Cal this summer. "It's better for your program if a young guy wins the job, but in our business, a year from now, it means you may be getting the next coach ready, if you don't win. We need to win every game that we play."

Cal's DeVante Wilson has extra motivation thanks to his fiancée, daughter

Brittany Tull has always believed in following through on something you start, no matter what the circumstances are.

So when California Golden Bears defensive end DeVante Wilson looked at her in the hospital -- an hour after she had given birth to their daughter, Avery -- and told her there was no way he was going to his Riverside Community College football game that day, Tull was bothered.

Wilson owed it to Riverside, his teammates and coaches, and especially himself to go to that game and play his final snaps as a Riverside Tiger, she told him. It was the last game of the season. The game didn't start until 6 p.m. and if he left right then, he could still make the second half.

"My plan was that I was just going to miss the game," Wilson said. "I didn't want to leave my family, but everyone -- even my [now] fiancée -- was telling me that I should go finish my potential last game with my team."

ESPYs

Aaron Rodgers says NFL's biggest concussion obstacle is players themselves

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- To Aaron Rodgers, the biggest challenge the NFL faces in dealing with concussions is the players themselves, with their play-through-the-pain mentality -- even now, with all the information about the dangers of head injuries.

"The biggest obstacle, I think, would be the mindset of players," the Green Bay Packers quarterback said in an interview with Bill Simmons on HBO's "Any Given Wednesday," taped earlier in the week. "They have people who watch every player, there's one up in the booth and then we have a number of doctors on the sidelines watching concussions. The helmets and the pads are as safe as I think you can possibly get them at this point.

"But players feeling comfortable self-monitoring [is still an issue]. And, if you have one, telling somebody about it."

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