Fall Camp Practice #1 Recap

Here's a look around at some of the different fall practice reports.

You know fall ball has started when Jim McGill over at the Bear Insider is bringing quality reports.

McGill spoke glowingly about the freshmen:
"Two of the most-anticipated freshman didn't disappoint with early entrant Zach Kline continuiing the promising development shown in spring practice and Bryce Treggs, who electrified the small crowd with speed, moves and hands reminiscent of, dare I say it, DeSean Jackson, who also wore #1 during is days in Berkeley.

On one play in particular, Treggs put a move on safety Michael Coley, who's back and healthy, leaving Coley in the dust after biting on a fake before Treggs hauled in a pass from Bridgford."

McGill also mentioned freshman tackle Freddie Tagaloa's massive frame, Matt Cochran's improved frame as well as Kline staying behind after practice with the other freshmen wide receivers to practice some routes. All exciting news, especially in regards to Bryce Treggs, as he continues to exceed every expectation placed on him so far from his recruiting process to offseason workouts. It's obviously very early on, but again, I'd be shocked if Treggs isn't in the top three receivers to start by the end of camp.

Nam Le, a contributor for the Bear Insider also has a report up with a few more details.

Penn State transfer Khairi Fortt will probably attend Sunday's practice. Tedford reported that he would arrive into the Bay Area late Saturday. Whether he would immediately slip into a starting position was much less clear: "We'll see. We'll see how it goes. He still has to learn the defense. I think the speed of the game, and all that kind of thing, we don't really have to worry about, since [Fortt's] played in some big time games already, so you don't worry about the 'big eyes' at all. It's just a matter of understanding what we're trying to do here."

It's looking more and more like there's a fair chance that Fortt might redshirt this year. He's still recovering from his knee injury that sidelined him through spring practice, plus the entire matter of him needing to learn Clancy Pendergast's 3-4 scheme at Cal. Given that he has three years to play two for the Bears, it would be a bit of waste of a year of eligibility to try and rush him along and risk further injury.

Some more bits, particularly about special teams after the jump.

Jeff Faraudo of BearTalk includes some bits of info including the Bears' starting five offensive linemen, at least for the rest round of 7 on 7s.

Tedford reiterated that the offensive line will be a work in progress, with lots of interchangeable parts early in fall camp. But here’s the group that lined up with the first team on Saturday: LT Tyler Rigsbee, LG Jordan Rigsbee, C Brian Schwenke, RG Geoffrey Gibson, RT Matt Summers-Gavin.

I completely believe when I hear about that starting offensive line being fluid, but don't be surprised at all to see that be your top five for the opener. A lot of it will depend on the development of some younger players. I continue to hear good things about Chris Adcock, who could potentially slide in at guard or center, and the big wild cards might the development of freshman tackle Freddie Tagaloa and center Matt Cochran. But physically fit the mold, but will need to show a lot of poise and understanding if they look to make an impact as true frosh, something pretty rare for offensive linemen at the collegiate level.

If you're a subscriber to BearTerritory.net, Ryan Gorcey looks to have tons of material and video footage up. Gorcey is honestly one of the hardest working Cal reporters out there, so BearTerritory is certainly worth a look.

Even if you aren't he has a nice writeup about Special Teams and Defense which includes the following nuggets about true freshman punter Cole Leininger:

Leininger regularly boomed drives up into the mist, nearly disappearing.

"Sigh of relief," Tedford laughed. "Through the summer, I've asked some of the snappers, 'Hey, how's the punter doing?' 'Well, coach, he hits them so high.' That was the first kick I saw him kick today. There's no doubt. Day One, no rush, no nothing, not 70,000 fans screaming at him with the clock running down and all the stuff that goes with it, but he's a pretty cool customer. I've really been pleased through the recruiting process, knowing what type of kid he is and how he handles himself and things like that. I was pleased to see that he really has ability."

Special Teams has actually been my biggest concern about this team heading into fall ball, given the Bears have the daunting task of replacing two very good kicking specialists in kicker Giorgio Tavecchio and NFL draftee (3rd round bitches!) punter Bryan Anger. I'm nearly as relieved as Tedford in hearing about Leininger's leg. It seems like it was only yesterday that those taking in spring practice all oohed and aahed when witnessing Bryan Anger's punts for the first time. Here's hoping Leininger can do the same.

Cal Athletics has continued their nice spring tradition of creating a quick video recap of the practice that you can watch below. You can actually see the move Treggs makes on Lowe!



Finally, Doug Drabik at Cal Bears Blog has some video footage of post practice interviews with Coach Tedford and starting QB Zach Maynard.