At minimum very helpful, or a home run. We have all the tools now needed to recruit top FCS talent.

UC Davis is primed for a stud transfer WR who has a brain. I know we've got good players, but we need a playmaker out wide, period.

+1. We should see our two transfer WRs next year. RB Jeremiah Chukwudobe has potential.

A stud DE would be great.

Do we know the full list of graduates?

It'd be nice to get an OLB/DE pass rusher in the portal, though Kennedy is coming back, he'll be stronger and hungrier in 2023. A stud WR transfer who is No 5 or No. 6 on the depth chart somewhere, need top end speed.

LOL. ….. brain part that is.

Soch used to preach that your greatness was here, wish more understood that. TE / DE Jordan Allen could have rocked here, but transfered to SFCC and became a 4 star recruit. Then was buried on the depth chart at Tennessee, had two injuries, then supposedly transfered to Weber State.

Lots of talented players at FBS schools that won't get PT to develop. New top recruits coming in every year. Like Cal transfer McCallan Castles excelling at TE for us.

and who are the transfer WR's?

Probably referencing Crump (SJSU transfer) and Kraut (Arizona transfer). Crump just hasn't performed at the collegiate levels and will be a senior next season so I'm a little bit skeptical there, but Kraut was just a freshman so there is at least potential. I do agree with Finn though that we have to infuse some talent at receiver. We have plenty of guys who are decent, but no one who is a true top tier threat.

Andre Crump Jr 6'0" from San Jose St.
Logan Kraut Fr 6'2" 203# from Arizona

Babbs limited action was a mystery.

I would keep an eye on Stanford players. David Shaw just announced he's stepping down as head coach. Are we likely to snag some guys? No, but there might be some local depth players leaving the program with Shaw leaving.

Maybe Cal could sign Ron Gould for RB coach.

I wonder if Shaw was shown the door?

I am pretty sure there was a good reason for Crump not taking the field. Hawkins and Davis have gone more to playing younger impact players vs the old days in which there was more of a “wait your turn” system. And transfers were pretty much unheard of.

There are reasons players transfer and one of them is not playing where they were. SJSU is not Alabama (for that matter neither is Arizona) so just because they transfer from a FBS school doesn’t automatically mean they are going to play much. Smalley was a transfer who got quite a bit of playing time (and of course Castles). So if you are a transfer and fit into the culture/system and have the talent and level of performance - I gotta believe you will play.

I work with some of their alumni and they really wanted him gone. It was only a matter of time.

Wow, I just learned how David Shaw gave his brother a bone marrow transplant during the season, hid it from everyone, and helped save his brothers life. What character.

https://www.espn.co.uk/college-football/story/_/id/30256985/truly-blood-brothers-stanford-coach-david-shaw-recent-fight-save-brother-eric

Even Smalley didn’t play much his first year.. His stats this year are nearly double those from last year, which corresponds to how much he played.
In regards to playing younger players, they’ve always played young players, if they are that good. It depends on depth at the position. Jim Speck started as a freshmen in 1973 only a year after freshmen became eligible. in Hawkins era he has played Jaylin White, Devon King, Teddye Buchanan, Jake Parks, Chubba Maae etc as new arrivals. Other recent recruits like Rex Connors had to wait a bit, as did his whole recruiting class.
This years team was very deep. When you have guys who’ve been with the program, are veterans and have significant remaining eligibility, it’s tougher for transfers or new recruits , Depth on teams is going to revert to normal in a year or two.
Kraut I think might still show something, as he was essentially changing positions.

Sac St. brought in an incredible coach. We have a mediocre one.

I'm not a football expert, but people in Colorado claimed he's more of a CEO. Soch seemed like a technician, so was Coach Foster.

Only loosely related to this topic, but we were out in CO for Thanksgiving and went to the CU game Saturday. My daughter is hooked and determined to go to CU after making it on the big screen. Only one person jokingly called me out for wearing gear for the wrong team. I joked back, "UC, CU, close enough!"

Man, talk about a dumpster fire of a season. Felt bad for the Buffs.

Hawk is not a mediocre coach. If you actually believe that state the evidence that supports it! Of Which there is very little. IMHO

I was impressed by the defense this year. I would say only 1 game was lost by the defense (Montana State -and sort of ignoring the Cal game that wasn’t terrible as a side note). The offense “lost” the Weber State game and needed an extra score at both South Dakota State and Sac State. The real gelling of the offense came a bit too late - and I think the injuries and solid defense of sac state were the difference. I thought the Aggie D played very well. As others have noted, a better downfield passing game aided by a big strong wide receiver would help.

good pic. When we lived in Colorado in the mid-90s the Buffs were tough. I remember some of the classic big-8 games vs Nebraska. They were 11-1 in 1994.

I also remember that Sac State beat them once and of course Montana State beat them one year under Hawkins. The interesting thing about that is that the Ags demolished Montana State that same year in Bozeman.

Colorado was Montana States opener, Davis blowout of Montana State was game 3 and would have been more shocking if Montana State hadn’t lost to Chadron State in game 2.
Montana States coach was a folksy guy. Here is his comment after the Chadron game:
A considerable amount of credit, Kramer said, goes to Woodhead, who dominated the game and allowed Chadron State to hold the ball for 11 minutes in the third quarter and 36 minutes of the game. "He's good," Kramer said of Woodhead. "He's really good. He reminds me of (Walter Payton Trophy candidate) James Noble of Cal Poly, and we haven't beaten Cal Poly since Robert E. Lee was marching north."

I’m hiring for janitors. $17/hr health/pension/union. If anybody wants to repost on the sac forum. Good role for a “general studies” major.

There used to be a Tshirt which had a person holding a broom which said something like “my cleaning lady got her BA from Sac State.”

I used to work at a restaurant and we had a bunch of Sac State people come visit. I really wanted to trash talk but it wouldn't have worked in my case.

And at the Cal Poly Game they would chant “You will work for us”. Kind of tasteless,

I hate the whole "state school" chant. It's just dumb since we're all public schools. I get they are trying to infer a UC is better than CSU but it really is major dependant. In several cases, a Cal Poly degree in architecture or engineering is just as impressive as the same degree as that of a UC. They teach hands on and as we know, UC is mostly theory.

A poly degree is rock solid. Now slac, well, that’s something else.

Just looked at the conference and overall stats for big sky. UCD allowed the fewest points in both conference and overall. And also just barely second to Montana State in league point differential.

My take away is that the defense was actually pretty darn good this past season and the differentials in the beat downs gained the the near first place rank in point differential.