Spring Practice Wednesday, 4/16/08

Practice notes from Wednesday, April 16th. The defensive Bears are behaving offensively; Cal fans hope for some balance.

Trends:

Now at the halfway mark through the spring practices of 2008, several trends have emerged:

1. The defense is ahead of the offense,
   
   
2. Riley continues to mix the occasional poorly thrown pass in with many good tosses,
   
   
3. The O-line is a work in progress and Coach Michalczik has his work cut out for him,
   
   
4. Tad Smith and LaReylle Cunningham catch almost everything thrown in their direction, and
   
   
5. Bryan Anger sure can crank out the boomers - but the occasional shanks continue.

Defense:

D-line penetration into the offensive backfield has been a consistent factor this spring, and pressure from DE's and blitzing LB's has often forced hurries or tuck-and-runs. Both Cameron Jordan and Charles Johnson registered sacks, and Zack Follett would have injured Brock Mansion on one play had he not slowed his jailbreak rush into the backfield.

TE's Ernest Owusu and Scott Smith also caused problems for Cal's pass-blocking schemes.

Rulon Davis played several downs in the middle as a defensive tackle, at least once stunting to penetrate a gap.

Scott Smith also played DT in a series.

Run defense was impressive as well with most runs stopped after minor gains. Keith Browner delivered a bruising fumble-inducing hit, but the loose ball was recovered by the offense for a lucky first down.

Offense:

Riley threw well in various play-action drills when a defensive rush was absent.

In the 3 periods of 11-on-11's, Riley's highlights included several well-thrown balls out of play action that resulted in touchdown completions to Nyan Boateng and Cunningham.

But Riley also threw a pass into tight coverage that Syd'Quan Thompson turned into a pick-quick-six.

As has been the case since Nate Longshore's muscle pull, Riley took his reps with the first team and normally faced the first team defense. As noted above, that defense frequently dictated play and Riley had few opportunities to create any separation between himself and Longshore, his competitor for the starting slot.

Brock Mansion enjoyed his best practice to date. He benefited from extended reps as he took snaps for both second and third team offensive plays.

Mansion's throws were crisp and he displayed good escapability skills, several times turning broken plays into positive yardage.

Michael Calvin made the catch of the day on a falling one-handed grab on a sideline heave by Mansion - even if he was out-of-bounds.|

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