Golden Nuggets: Wilcox Won’t Disclose Demetris Robertson’s Status

Football

• Justin Wilcox spoke to the media last night. Unfortunately he could not give us good news on Demetris Robertson, a late scratch for last Saturday’s game, but it seems like he will keep his status a secret for the USC game, so we will probably not find out until Gameday whether he has recovered from his injury... an injury which also is not being disclosed.

(The SF Gate link above has some other good notes as well)

• Here’s video of Wilcox’s chat with the media (Robertson is discussed at 4:03), where many other important subjects are given, courtesy of Golden Bear Report. Both GBR and Bear Territory provide a transcript under a paywall, so I will not be posting that here. I did notice he said that Jordan Kunaszyk will be coming back soon (at 3:45), but it doesn’t seem like he thinks it will be this week.

• There’s also a chat with the Offensive Player of the Game (awarded from the team), RT Jake Curhan, from Ryan Gorcey. This one has video and a transcript.

You won that game with toughness and grit. Does that make it special for a lineman to get a game ball on a day like that: "Like I said, just winning the game is the top priority, but the way we won it, every game we've played this year, that's kind of becoming our identity, is, we're going to play hard and we're going to fight down to the last seconds of the game. I think the biggest compliment I got from the whole game was right after we took the knee in victory formation. One of the defensive linemen -- I can't remember exactly which one -- he said, 'You guys play really hard.' There were some expletives in there, but that's a nice paraphrase. That was basically what he said. He said, 'You guys played really hard, and you guys play really hard,' which is the best compliment we can get as a team, and the best identity we can kind of establish going forward."

• More info on Curhan’s award. Cameron Goode was the defensive player of the game and Dylan Klumph was the special teams award recipient.
• Don’t miss Nam’s novel for Ole Miss! Check it out here.

I like to say that sports fans usually live in yesteryear or those to come, but rarely in the present. (I’m sure I’ve used that line at least twice in my six years in this blog-tweeter capacity.)

At least in Berkeley, that mindset is easy to understand, because it’s been a bit that that third one’s been able to exist untinged by looming dread. While Sonny’s teams gave us enjoyable moments in the individual, the aftermath always hinted at a conclusion no one wanted to admit out loud post-game – that these dramatic wins, some aided by acts of God, some not, and none against teams decisively better than Cal at that moment, were more indicative of the program’s ceiling under him than a step toward anything greater.

Which is what made Saturday night all the more rewarding, and all the more meaningful – it was an four hour assurance that the present is worry-free.

The future too.

• Cal’s defense is leading the team’s “turnaround”.
• Jon Wilner sings praise for Cal after the Ole Miss win... does end the article predicting a win for USC though.
• Even though the headline has Cal in it, ESPN doesn’t give Cal much love in the Power Rankings. They move up from #9 to #8. They justify putting Stanford at #7 ahead of them by asking “who are you taking if they played each other next week?” Well gee, I know who I would pick. I suppose there’s a disagreement there.
• CBS has Cal at #48 in the rankings of all 130 FBS teams, up from #62 last week. When I voted a minute ago, 68% of readers thought it was too low.
• Josh Yuen at the Daily Cal says it is a “blessing in disguise“ than Matt Anderson had a rough game last week. He will hopefully be able to adjust his kicking techniques for conference play, and it didn’t cost the team a win. But he says the same can be true of USC’s Sam Darnold, who may be looking for redemption after throwing 2 INTs in each of his first 3 games.
• Learn about Pappy’s Boys, a group of alumni who played for the legendary Pappy Waldorf and get together to watch Cal games, from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Misc.

• Hance Smith (pitcher, catcher, shortstop) has committed to Cal baseball. He will play at Santa Rosa Junior College next season, and will enroll in Berkeley the following Fall semester.
• Multiple Cal Rugby coaches, players and alumni volunteered at the 9/11 Heroes Run in Lafayette last week. The group led participants as they reached the finish line. The race benefited the Travis Manion foundation.

• While we are on the subject of Rugby, here’s a (week old) update on Robert Paylor.

Van els Óssos!