Golden Nuggets: Jon Wilner’s Cal Preview

Football

• Jon Wilner’s Cal preview is your typical “The defense will be great but what about the offense” type preview, but there is a lot of optimism about the team’s long term trajectory and he does predict 7 wins this year including a Utah upset.

Skeptics might argue the Bears are stagnating, that they have traded the no-defense approach under Sonny Dykes for the no-offense style of Justin Wilcox and made no substantive progress within the division. And there is some validity to that case. But we’d argue the style of play and program management in the Wilcox era creates a better chance for success over time — that it fits Cal’s culture and recruiting pool. You can be relevant in the Pac-12 scoring 17 or 20 points per game. You won’t relevant, regardless of the output, if you can’t tackle.

• Bear Territory has some reason to have hope about the wide receivers... and the reason is Jeremiah Hawkins after a great play he made during practice last weekend.
• Although he doesn’t get as much attention as some of his other DB teammates, Elijah Hicks is going to be a big name this year.
• Another Golden Bear Report coaching interview is up. This one is with special teams coach Charlie Ragle and has some questions about his recruiting success in Arizona and New Mexico.
• Cal Bears Maven is doing their best and worst case scenarios for the Bears. So far, the two worst case scenarios (0-2 wins, and 3-5 wins) are online, so later this week there will be the best case articles.
• Check out some players that have surprised people this camp. They could be under the radar contributors this year.
• Take a look back at memory lane, to when players like Keenan Allen and Cameron Jordan shined the last time Cal played UC Davis prior to this August 31.
• Berkeley native Ben Hawk Schrider recently grad transferred to Cal, after playing for multiple FCS teams, and will have a chance to play for his dream school. Find out more about his past here.
• Find out why Kuony Deng has been compared to “The Mad Stork” who played for the Raiders back in the 70s.

Lacrosse

• One of the cool things about Cal is all the cool stuff you’re able to do while a student. There were a lot of things I did in just two and a half years as a junior transfer student. For Eliza Christman, she lived the dream. Her time at Cal included playing for the Lacrosse team, studying abroad in Spain, and writing for the Daily Cal. I just listed three of many things she did here. Really cool!