Golden Nuggets: Fall Camp Begins

Football

• Fall camp is starting and the Bears are focused on offensive improvements.

Cal’s quarterback competition remains alive, even though redshirt sophomore Chase Garbers, the starter for much of last year, strengthened his hold on the job during spring ball.

Wilcox said he expects UCLA transfer Devon Modster, who made his debut with the program during spring workouts, will pose a legitimate challenge to Garbers.

“It’s a little unfair to judge Devon off just 15 practices,” said Wilcox, adding that Modster’s strength is his ability to throw the deep ball, something virtually absent from the Cal offense last year.

“Chase, who had a really good spring and developed himself, we expect him to continue to improve, as we would Devon. I can’t tell you exactly how they’re going to practice between now and the first game. You expect a lot out of both of them.”

• Cal Bears Maven has five questions to ask before fall camp.

Wilcox has been raving about the improvement Chris Brown Jr. has made, saying he has separated himself from the field at running back position. He no doubt will be the starter in the opener after gained 148 yards last season as a freshman and being the Bears’ leading rusher in the Cheez-It Bowl with 57 yards.

Whether he will be an every-down back or part of a running-back-by-committee approach remains to be seen.

• So far Golden Bear Report has previewed the quarterbacks, the offensive line, the linebackers and the defensive line.
• Will Chris Brown be the starter this year at running back? Check out this spotlight article on him.
• Trace Travers got some nice quotes from Cam Bynum on media day.
• Jon Wilner wonders if 9 AM kickoffs won’t affect attendance much because attendance is already bad.
• Check out Jon Wilner’s preview of the Pac-12 North. I ran out of free article views so I don’t know what it says.
• There’s a rising high school running back getting traction and he’s the cousin of Patrick Laird.
• If you care about the weight and height of the Cal football roster, Golden Bear Report has your covered.
• The Pac-12 Network will come to Cal for the USC game. Last year they were supposed to go to the originally scheduled Stanford game but when that was postponed they did not visit at all.

Misc.

• This essay is a really good writeup of Charmin Smith’s road to the head coaching position for Cal WBB.

But on June 14, before a game against the Las Vegas Aces, Smith received a text message. Gottlieb, by then Cal’s head coach since 2011, had left the program to become an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers two days earlier. Cal wanted to interview Smith for the job.

When she received the offer after the interview, the decision was a no-brainer.

“I loved every minute of my time with the Liberty, and it’s not like I was ready to leave that,” Smith says. “… But when you offer me an opportunity to be back with my Cal family and to be a head coach where it’s my program and to take that challenge on? Talk about growth. This is something I’ve never experienced before, and I didn’t see it as something I could turn down without having a ton of regret and always wondering, ‘What if?’”

“This is literally the best thing that could’ve possibly happened,” Cal senior C.J. West says.

• Jim Knowlton informs the Cal family what has been going on this summer with Cal Athletics, including some summer get togethers.

Looking forward to making this a regular column again, with multiple entries a week after today. Go Bears!