Cal, Stanford picked to place 3-4 in Pac-12 preseason poll
After an abbreviated 2020 season in which Cal struggled through a coronavirus outbreak to play four games, the Golden Bears were picked to finish third in the Pac-12 North Division in the annual Pac-12 media poll released Tuesday.
Stanford, which completed six Pac12 games in 2020, is projected to finish fourth.
The Bears were selected to finish behind conference favorite Oregon and division rival Washington after winding up in last place a year ago.
Stanford is the projected to finish one spot behind the Bears after winding up in third a year ago.
For the second consecutive season, Oregon is the preseason favorite to win the North (38 of 40 first-place votes) as well as the Pac-12 conference championship game.
The 40-member media panel selected the USC Trojans to win the Pac-12 South for the second year in a row with Utah a distant second place and Arizona State in third.
• Cal and Stanford had just one player each selected for first- or second-team preseason All-Pac-12 honors.
Stanford senior defensive end Thomas Booker was a first-team AllPac-12 selection both as a defensive lineman and as an all-purpose special teams player. The Cardinal also had five honorable mentions: junior running back Austin Jones, senior wide receiver Michael Wilson, junior offensive tackle Walter Rouse, junior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly and junior punter Ryan Sanborn.
Cal’s only representation on the All-Pac-12 team was offensive lineman Michael Saffell, who recently announced his decision to medically retire from football, who was named to the second team. He announced his retirement after the media voting window closed. Cal senior defensive lineman Luc Bequette, senior linebackers Kuony Deng and Cameron Goode, and senior defensive backs Elijah Hicks and Josh Drayden were honorable mentions.
— Jacob Rudner
San Jose State’s football team will
begin its 2021 preseason training at Humboldt State’s campus in Arcata, just like it did in 2020.
SJSU will arrive Wednesday and practice for a week and a half. They will resume training camp in San Jose on Aug. 10.
An SJSU official said one significant reason for returning to Arcata is that the SJSU campus will host the Mubadala Silicon Valley tennis tournament from July 31-Aug. 8.
Last year’s Spartans moved fiveplus hours north to avoid Santa Clara County’s rules banning sports practices and games amid the coronavirus. A Humboldt State release said the team will live and practice on campus, effectively maintaining a bubble, and use campus recreation facilities while it is closed to avoid interaction with HSU students.
The Spartans open their season Aug. 28 with a home game against Southern Utah.
— Michael Nowels TEXAS, OKLAHOMA REACH OUT TO SEC >> Texas and Oklahoma made a request Tuesday to join the Southeastern Conference — in 2025 — with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey saying the league would consider it in the “near future.”
The wheels are in motion for a monumental move in college sports, but the Longhorns and Sooners are not yet free agents. And it’s doubtful they want to wait until the contract that binds them to the Big 12 for four more years runs out to bolt to the SEC.
It also might not be in the best interest of the Big 12 to have two lame ducks in the conference much beyond the 2021-22 school year.
NFL
RODGERS ARRIVES AT PACKERS CAMP >> Aaron Rodgers made it to Green Bay on the eve of the Packers’ first training-camp workout.
The former Cal star was seen arriving at Lambeau Field on Tuesday morning, the day after NFL Network and ESPN reported the reigning MVP was closing in on a deal that would keep him with the Packers this season. Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, Rodgers would have been subject to a $50,000 fine for every day he held out during camp.
NFL Network reported Monday that Rodgers had told people close to him he planned to play for the Packers this season. ESPN reported that Rodgers and the Packers were on the verge of a deal in which the team would void the final year of the threetime MVP’s contract, perhaps clearing the way for him to leave Green Bay after the upcoming season.
The Packers released quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Jake Dolegala. The Packers had signed Bortles in May, a couple of weeks after the reports of Rodgers’ discontent surfaced.