Cal Football Fall Camp 2019: Notebook #2

After suffering from sun-burns, by mistaking the east bay fog to remain all morning on Friday, and taking 2 days off to recover, I was back in the stands of Memorial Stadium on Monday morning. This time I made the smart decision to sit up in the shade and with a spray bottle of sunblock. I’ve learned my lesson. So let’s get to it. This is my second notebook, but the fourth practice. The numbering is going to be off the rest of fall camp now, MY BAD.

• The Bears were out with shells and shorts.
• The pace of practice started to pick up today, with some more walkthroughs of plays along with some more game speed on play-calling and pre-snaps.
• Nikko Remigio has exploded onto the scene after what I can only call one of the craziest bulk-ups I have ever seen over one summer for an athlete.
• Nikko had some great catches. One over his shoulder from Modster about 35 yards down field, the other was a deep TD throw from Garbers after Nikko worked his breaks superbly to gain just enough separation.
• Makai Polk had the catch of the day. One handed and one footed on the outside. Garbers threw the ball right beyond the reach of the DB and just high enough for Makai’s 6-3 frame.
• The QBs over the two practices I’ve seen has improved in a big part, is that the throws are competitive. What I mean by that is that, balls are catchable, within the catch radius of players, the amount of errors on throws is few to none. Open receivers are no longer overthrown or underthrown with uncatchable balls. This is particularly true with intermediate to long throws. Positive development!

• Ben Hawk-Schrider with a great read on a sweep play, moved his blocker to the spot he wanted then shed the block to get the stop
• Gabe Cherry explodes into the backfield for a would-be sack
• Luc Bequette with a would be sack as well
• Brett Johnson is a nightmare on the defensive line. He got a solid jump off the line on one rep and was unblocked coming off the edge that had Modster scrambling out of the pocket.

• McCallan Castles was targeted often by the QBs. He looks to be a legitimate threat for the team when we need a short to medium distance.
• Devon Modster was impressive with his adjustment and answering with his play. He missed a wide-open Castles on one rep. The following two plays he threw pinpoint passes to Remigio to eat up 10+ yards on both plays.
• Chase Garbers was impressive today throwing to the sidelines. Consistently placed the ball at the right areas for his receivers to make catches.
• Jaylinn Hawkins got the interception during team play today. There were a few in one-on-ones as well.
• Jeremiah Hawkins looks faster, if thats even possible. We saw him in the sweep a few times last season, and I think he looks more comfortable in that route along with working from the slot.
• Kekoa Crawford had a great catch on a fade route, broke a bit further than the defender expected. Modster recognized it and threw the ball perfectly for him to catch.

That’s it from me. I’ll be back with another notebook tomorrow.