Five issues facing Cal, Stanford as season approaches
BERKELEY >> Cal ended the 2019 football season with a three- game win streak, a bowl victory and the promise of even more success to come.
Then the world turned upside down this year because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. For the Golden Bears, it has meant trying to breathe life into the same goals despite a litany of changes that have hit college football hard.
Cal began its “training camp” more than a week ago at a time the Bears had once expected to be preparing for the season’s sixth game Oct. 10 at USC. In a year that the season was postponed then reinstated, the team is urgently preparing for a Nov. 7 opener against Washington.
The Bears, 8- 5 a year ago and picked second by the media in the Pac-12 North, are scheduled to play a seven-game, conference- only lineup that promises to be different than any season since the school first fielded a football team in 1882.
The protocols include daily rapid-response antigen testing for the novel coronavirus, including on game days. It involves practices limited to 75- player groups, restricted access to the locker room and no use of the indoor weightlifting facility. Then there are the game days at Memorial Stadium without spectators.
For coach Justin Wilcox, the usual camp concerns are part of a more complicated puzzle.
Here’s a look at five pressing issues facing Cal before the season begins:
Staying healthy, Part 1
Before taking the field each day, players have assigned times for getting their nose swabbed. “That’s not the best way to start your day,” senior center Michael Saffell said, ” but that’s the new normal, I guess.”
Practices have been split into two groups whose time on the field overlaps. The larger 75-player cohort practices at Memorial Stadium. With about 20 minutes left in the session, a 30-player group does stretching and special-team work on the adjacent Maxwell Family Field. When the larger group exits, the other cohort completes its session on the main field.
Team sessions are limited in duration with a long list of safety protocols implemented.
The players have handled the changes, Wilcox said. “Just the agility they’ve shown to roll with it, stay positive and keep at it has been really impressive,” he said.
Staying healthy, Part 2
The other factor is getting ready for a football game. Part of it is strength and conditioning. Another piece is the “callusing” that players must acquire during camp before engaging in a physically demanding game.
And the Bears must get it done in a condensed amount of time without the usual summer training that precedes camp. Not every player was at the same place in terms of conditioning when practice started last week.
“Just the unique nature of the past two months, we’re not there yet,” Wilcox said. “Our goal is to build it over the next month so we can hit our stride in November.”
Expect change
Despite months of detailed preparation, Wilcox understands the virus can trump everything. “The one thing we’ve come to expect is things aren’t going to go according to plan,” he said.
Plans would have to be reworked whenever pandemic-related events force it. “It’s tomorrow, next week, two weeks . . . there’s going to be adjustments we have to make and we have to approach those with the right attitude,” Wilcox said.
Filling unexpected holes
Cal returns every player that started on offense in the Redbox Bowl. It also had eight returning defensive starters before three-year starting defensive end Luc Bequette transferred to Boston College because Pac-12 leaders decided not to have a fall season. Also, outside linebacker Tevin Paul opted out.
But Cal got a break when cornerback Camryn Bynum — perhaps the team’s best defensive player — returned to the team after announcing his departure to prepare for the NFL.
The Bears will shuffle defensive line players to fill Bequette’s spot, including the possibility of moving nose guard Brett Johnson to the outside position. Braxten Croteau is a leading candidate to replace Paul.
Overcoming distraction
Despite all the obstacles, the Bears are determined to make this a special season. “We’re going to look at it in a positive way,” Wilcox said. “It’s really easy to start talking about what you can’t do.”
Bynum didn’t return to the team to dwell on the negatives. “I don’t think we should lose a game,” he said.