Connections run deep

SEATTLE — Expected to choose between a quarterback in football and a goalie in playoff hockey, Cal sophomore Ross Bowers was recently asked to name the most important position in all of sports.

The Bears’ quarterback went way outside the box.

“Does it have to be a position on the field?” Bowers said. “If not, I’d go with a head coach or a strength and conditioning coach (in college football). The strength and conditioning coach establishes the culture of a program, along with the head coach.

“It’s probably 50-50, but we spend more time” with the strength and conditioning coach, he said.

That much was obvious Saturday night when Cal’s first-year strength and conditioning coach, Torre Becton,

returned to Washington, where he helped guide the Huskies in the weight room from 2011-15. One after another, Washington players crossed the 50-yard line to greet Becton during pregame warmups.

Washington went to a bowl in each of Becton’s seasons in Seattle, and many credit him with developing the foundation for last year’s team, which won the Pac-12 title and finished No. 4 in the nation.

He brought that kind of energy and focus to Berkeley, where he started to make his impact immediately after being hired in January. One morning at 6 o’clock during winter conditioning, the wild turkeys were making a ruckus on Tightwad Hill, but Becton made sure the players were locked in for their on-field drills.

“It was like turkeys were being slaughtered up there or something. It was weirdsounding stuff up there on the hillside,” Cal offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said. “… He could have bombs going on around on him, and he’s going to stay dialed in to what’s going on down here.”