Questions Heading into Spring Scrimmage

So my spring practice coverage has been “skimpy” to say the least. Despite the most access to practice the media or the general public has had in years, I have yet to be able to make any practices. The reasoning is simple. With work and personal commitments, it’s been difficult to make my way over. It’s difficult to convince my better half to ditch other tasks in favor of attending a Cal practice.

But no more. With Cal’s spring ball ending on Saturday with the Spring Game, I was not about to pass this opportunity up. So I’ll be there, with the aforementioned wife, and we’ll enjoy a long overdue date in Strawberry Canyon to finally see the Sonny Dykes’ coached BearRaid in person.

Here are a few things I’ll be paying attention to.

How will the QBs Perform Under Pressure?

With the three quarterbacks left in the running for the starting nod, (Austin Hinder, Zach Kline, Jared Goff) I’m really interested to see how they hold up under pressure. Now, I use “pressure” in the lightest sense of the word. But you can see it in two ways.

One, how will the QBs do against a defense that has up to this point, largely been working in base packages as they transition from the 3-4 to Andy Buh’s 4-3 scheme? Both Buh and Dykes have indicated that the defense would begin to incorporate more blitzing throughout the week, and we may get a chance to see that up close and personal. Just as importantly, we’ll be able to see how the quarterbacks perform with the added pressure, instead shredding up base defenses as they've reportedly been doing for the past few weeks.

Secondly, how will the quarterbacks do playing in front of what's likely to be the biggest crowd they've played in front of in...ever really. None of the QBs have seen any snaps at the collegiate level. And though the turnout on Saturday will likely be around 10,000 at best, it will still be an opportunity for them to show off what they have in front of the larger general public, and parts of the country, with the game being televised on the Pac-12 Network.

Now hopefully, this won't phase any of them. You want your quarterbacks to play as well as they do on Saturday as they would in any practice. So though Saturday's scrimmage is a far cry from the pressure of playing an actual game, it most certainly be telling if a quarterback completely falls apart under some pressure on Saturday.

Battle in the Trenches
There won't be a lot to take in with the defense's secondary that is absolutely battered with injuries at this point. Kameron Jackson, Adrian Lee, Damariay Drew are all out with injuries, which leaves the secondary pretty much at one deep. This is a unit that desperately needs to stay healthy this fall, and will be eagerly anticipating the arrival of true freshmen Cameron Walker, Darius Allensworth and Trey Cheek this fall, all of whom might be counted on to grow up quickly.

Despite the injuries though, the Bears have stayed fairly healthy at the defensive line spot (knock on wood) so I'll be paying attention to some of the battles in the trenches between the defensive line and the o-line.

But more than anything, the two units severely disappointed last season, so their progress and development will be absolutely critical. Plus, I've been hearing a lot about some of the individual battles getting pretty chippy to say the least, so there's always that.

Tempo, Tempo, Tempo
Finally, I'll be paying special attention to the tempo at which the offenses move on Saturday. Not because I'm necessarily a fan of tempo, but under Dykes and Franklin's system, it'll be a testament to the efficiency of this offense. If the Bears are able to move quickly, it'll show not only how easy this offense has been to digest, but also how focused this year's squad has been in picking up a new system.

I've bought into the bottom line from Dykes which essentially says that the offense is easy to pick up, it's just about executing. Well, the speed will have a lot to say about it.