Thoughts on the Spring Game

Cal’s Spring Camp officially came to an end with the their annual game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. In front of a crowd of about 5,000 an injury-battled squad resorted to playing a point-based scrimmage in which the defense eventually edged out the offense by a score of 28-24.

Clearly, with the nature of the scrimmage, and the sheer number of injuries limiting both squads, it would be difficult and frankly misleading, to try and make too much of the scrimmage. The coaching staff knows this as well, and will have to look at spring ball in its entirety in making all personnel and scheme decisions during the offseason.

Still, there are a few some items that can be gleaned, especially for a fan like myself, who was able to witness Sonny Dykes’ Bears’ squad for the first time.

Quarterback Play
The offense has a whole was had a very uneven day (more on that later), but the quarterback play by and large was inconsistent. All three quarterbacks, Jared Goff, Zach Kline, and Austin Hinder, had their share of good and bad moments.

Austin Hinder showed he’s clearly the most mobile of three, and the best runner as well. He’s a natural fit in a zone-read run-offense, and I’m already convinced he’d be the most durable and comfortable running quarterback the Bears have in the last ten years or so. However, outside of his screen pass to Lucas Grisom that Grisom took to the house after a broken tackle, Hinder was largely quiet in his passing game. No real shots downfield (other than a nice jump ball to Maurice Harris that was called back for offensive PI) and his other passes were uneven in accuracy.

Zach Kline had the biggest passing plays of the day, both of which came on his first drive. On his first passing play, Kline did a tremendous job avoiding the pass rush by literally ducking underneath the arms of a crashing defensive lineman, and scrambled to his right to heave a long pass to a wide-open Maurice Harris. A few plays later, Kline took a designed rollout to his left and dropped a perfect pass into the arms of Maximo Espitia in the left corner of the endzone. Those are the plays that exemplify just how special Kline can be. He’s the best deep-passing threat, and though he isn’t as natural of a runner, he’s got very good pocket awareness and is athletic enough to avoid the pass rush and buy time in or out of the pocket. At the same time, Kline was largely quiet after that drive, and though he wasn’t helped by a few receiver drops, still wasn’t as dynamic for the rest of the day.

My biggest takeaway though is how impressed I was with Jared Goff. I’m not saying he shined the most of the three quarterbacks (though I thought he was the most consistent in moving the chains), but I did walk away hugely impressed with his game. I’ve been very high on Goff as a recruit for a few years now, but he’s looked far better than any freshman quarterback I’ve seen play for the Bears. Most of his passes in the 5-15 yard range were spot-on. He can make the throws sitting in the pocket or on the move. His deep balls were a bit sketchier, but his shorter passes were perfectly placed balls. But more than his play was overall demeanor and maturity for an early-enrollee freshman. He looked simply unflappable and showed a quiet confidence throughout the entire afternoon. His demeanor, and I repeat, his demeanor was eerily Aaron Rodgers like in the way he composed himself and led the offense. I do think Kline has a higher upside in terms of sheer physical tools, but Goff has done nothing to convince me that he won’t be a very good starter for the Bears.

So who should be the quarterback? Heck if I know. Dykes has probably been pretty accurate when he’s said that all have had their moments, but none of truly separated themselves. If you arm-barred me into making a call, I’d say that unless Goff clearly rises above the others, you’d have to name Kline the starter, with Hinder as a backup. While I’m a proponent of playing the best QB, it’d be foolish to burn Goff’s redshirt to make him a backup. On top of that, Dykes has stated that he was looking to see who would step up and lead the team. From everything I’ve seen and some of the whispers I’ve read, it seems like Kline is most poised to be that guy.

Regardless, despite the uneven day from the quarterbacks, I do feel pretty strongly that regardless of who the quarterback is going to be, the play from this unit should be better than what we’ve seen the past few years. There should be some growing pains of course, but the talent, coaching, and perhaps most importantly, the offensive scheme is going to produce much better play here. I mean, there has to be, right?

Uneven Offense
Offensive Coordinator Tony Franklin called it “ugly” and though I wouldn’t go that far, it certainly wasn’t pretty. Some of the issues were self-inflicted. Errant passes, drops, formation penalties, missed blocking assignments, etc.

But I do think that before people go and already calling this offense a complete failure just yet, it’s worth remembering two things.

First, I think this offense will look infinitely better once the coaching staff settles on a quarterback, provided he’s the right one of course. But it’s so difficult to find a rhythm as an offense, when you have to wait two series before getting back on the field. Everyone from the players to the coaching staff knows this, and this is why I think the staff will settle on a naming a starting a quarterback early on in fall camp, probably after the first week. You can’t continue to rep three quarterbacks. Once the QB is named, and the coaches start developing the offense to that QB’s strengths, I think we’ll see far more consistency from the offense.

Second, don’t forget how many playmakers have been out of spring ball. Our starting guard, wide receiver, tight end, both runningbacks have all been held out of contact for the spring, and you have to think the offense, particularly the running game will look better once they’re back in the fold.

Battered Team
Speaking of the injuries, the end of spring ball couldn’t have come soon enough. This team is absolutely decimated with injuries, to the point that the scrimmage had to be cut early because the defense was down to three linebackers. The injuries were far more extreme on the defensive side of the ball, where the Bears were literally playing with their third string cornerbacks. The number of potential starters out of pads on Saturday was a bit disconcerting to say the least.

Fortunately, none of the injuries should hold players out of fall camp, and everyone should *fingers crossed * be healthy for the season. However if the Bears run into the same gamut of injuries they last season, we’ll be in a world of trouble.

Defense, Not Too Shabby
All spring we’ve read about the offense completely steamrolling the defense, but with the addition of some blitz packages, the Bears looked far more polished than the offense than the new BearRaid.

In fact, it was more of the Bears’ strong defensive play at the line of scrimmage that stood out to me. You could naturally point to the struggling play of the offensive line which I’ll touch on in a little bit, but in all fairness, having both Deandre Coleman and Mustafa Jalil manning the interior is a lot to handle. But Cal’s defensive front seven got constant penetration at the line of scrimmage, holding Cal’s running game to minimal yardage and pressuring the quarterbacks as well.

The most concerning area on the defensive side of the ball were the missed tackles however. Cal’s defense let Grisom score on the aforementioned screen because they whiffed on the tackle, while there were a number of other whiffs. You can only hope that it’s attributed to nerves and a desire to make a play which leads to a brainfart in technique.

All things considered though, given the number of injuries on defense and the absolute lack of depth on this side, I thought the Bears defense held up well. A few defensive players that impressed me? Avery Sebastian, Deandre Coleman, and Jalen Jefferson. Pretty impressed with those three.

Offensive Line Still Needs a Lot of Work
We knew Cal’s offensive line was going to be a work in progress, but I was hoping for a better showing than what we saw. The offensive line did much better in its protection after the defense scaled back on their blitzes, but there were times when the defense line straight up pushed oline players way back into the pocket.

And finally, everyone has probably mentioned this, but some of the snaps were way too high. Not to bury players, but I do think Matt Cochran fared far better in this quarter. Let’s put it this way, when your 6’4 quarterback has to jump to corral in a snap, then your snaps are too high. If Cochran can continue to be the more consistent snapper and quarterback the offensive line, it’s hard to see him not sealing the starting job.

Coaching Staff is Winning So Far
And while this wasn’t completely evident during the game, I have to say that this coaching staff has done everything you could have hoped for so far.

They’ve instilled immediate accountability in the classroom. I’ve been delighted to read reports about Sonny Dykes sitting in on the same classes as their players, and holding the entire team accountable for individuals missing in on classes with the team have to run up-downs after practices.

Nick Forbes was interviewed on the Pac-12 network and described Dykes to the effect of “he means what he says and says what he means.” It’s that type of accountability and discipline that this team needs.

Then, you consider what they’ve done in continuing their ties with famous alumni, and there wasn’t a more evidence of this than when Marshawn Lynch got on the field for a faux touchdown. A little fun for the fans, but a creative way for connecting this new regime to the success that Cal has had in the past.

In addition to the fairly smooth transition of the new offense and defense, you also have to credit the overall transition this coaching staff has made. You just get the sense that Sonny Dykes is a man who knows exactly what he wants and where he wants the team to be. He exudes this quiet confidence where can demand greatness from his players without have to resort to being overbearing or slimy.

Hey, we’re in the offseason, so this is all we have to base our judgments on. And so far, I like what I see.