Golden Nuggets: Demetris Reveals Why He Missed Most of 2017

Football

A whole lot of football articles today!

• Cal Athletics has some videos of Justin Wilcox and Beau Baldwin speaking after the Bears resumed Spring Ball. I don’t have time to make quotes but the videos are not very long.

• Cal is excited to have Demetris Robertson back. No this isn’t last week’s golden nuggets where he was the headliner as well. This article from the San Francisco Chronicle and Rusty Simmons has some new quotes from teammates, coaches, and the man himself. Robertson talks about what was going on with his lower body that forced him to miss most of last season.

Nobody knew that while Robertson was setting the school’s freshman marks in catches (50) and receiving yards (767) in 2016 he was dealing with severe pain in his upper thigh and hips. After two games in 2017, during which the speedster scored on a 34-yard run and 33-yard catch, he knew he couldn’t keep pushing through the pain.

Robertson was diagnosed with a sports hernia, which was causing a virtual tug of war between his adductor and abdominal muscles every time he accelerated or made a cut.

After surgery to release his adductor longus tendon off the bone and carefully reattach it to the muscle, Robertson set out on an arduous three-month rehab.

“It was hard, tough and sometimes lonely,” he said. “You just come in every day for rehab and do what you have to do every day. You watch your teammates compete every day, and you want to be out there playing football and helping them.”

• Why did Ian Bunting choose Cal? He explains that decision to Ryan Gorcey.

“I felt that there was a good football opportunity at Cal,” Bunting said. “I liked the coaches a lot. I like what they’re doing there. I met a few of the guys there, and they seemed like really good guys, really good dudes. I’m just looking for an opportunity to make an impact, and help the team win.”

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“At Michigan, we were asked to do blocking and running routes,” Bunting said. “They used tight ends in a multitude of ways. We kind of all had to learn how to do it all, which is definitely something that I’m glad I got an opportunity to do.

• You can also see in-depth interviews with high school players Jamar Sekona (defensive tackle) and Tyerell Struges-Cofer (running back) who are both considering Cal.

Misc.

• BASE: Andrew Vaughn was honored twice this week. He is the Cal Athletics Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week and a mid-season All-American by Perfect Game USA!
• FIELD: McKay Johnson earned a Pac-12 honor as he was named Men’s Field Athlete of the Week. His shot put performance down on the farm was spectacular and almost a Cal record.
• WGYM: Toni-Ann Williams, Arianna Robinson and Nina Schank all picked up all-conference honors by the Pac-12. Williams made the list for the all-around, vault, beam and floor. Robinson’s was for vault and Schank’s was for bars.
• WSOC: Congrats to former Bear Miranda Nild for making the Thailand National Team! The World Cup Qualifiers begin tomorrow. Thailand made the Women’s World Cup last time, so its not out of the question she could be on the big stage in 2019.

Go Bears!