Roundtables: Spring Football Battles

Spring football is set to begin in a couple months. Which positions are you expecting to have a battle? Which positions are you excited to watch?

boomtho: I expect to see serious battles at:

-QB: even though we have an incumbent in Ross Bowers, he should get seriously pushed by transfer Brandon McIlwain. It’ll be interesting to see how much of a role Chase Forrest plays (given he narrowly lost out on the starting job last year) as well Chase Garbers.

-Backup RB: I’d expect Laird to start (made even more obvious by Tre Watson transferring), but TBD who steps in behind him

-CB, as we’re losing Marloshawn Franklin and Darius Allensworth, and have a number of guys that have shown they can contribute

-A few spots along the DL, given the departures of Tony Mekari and James Looney

-Kicker

thedozen: It will be interesting to see how the WR picture shakes out. Vic Wharton may well be among the top returning receivers in the country. Kanawai Noa exploded for 788 yards last season. Demetris Robertson will be ready to go after an injury-shortened season. Nikko Remigio is an incoming freshman but one of the top 2018 commits for the program. Brandon Singleton and Jordan Duncan should be in the mix too.

Ruey Yen: Given that transfer QB Brandon McIlwan is not eligible for baseball, I am interested to see if McIlwan will challenge Ross Bowers for the QB job. Remember McIlwan, who was most likely not going to earn eligibility, was deeply involved in the QB race until the end. If a potential QB race can raise the game of both McIlwan and Bowers, that is at minimum what the Golden Bears would need to challenge for the Pac-12 crown in the fall of 2018.