It's still a little bit early, but we might as well get this thread going as the beginning of the season is right around the corner! The Aggies have a brutal start to season and it is entirely possible that through the first 5 games we end up with 1 win. Before we get through the entire meat grinder though, we have to begin with Cal.
The Golden Bears finished last season with a record of 5-7 with wins over Sac State (42-30), Colorado (26-3), Oregon State (39-25), Stanford (41-11), and USC (24-14). Cal is going to have to do without last year's starting QB Chase Garbers, who is now with the Las Vegas Raiders. Garbers threw for 2531 yards with 16 TDs and 8 INTs and added 597 rushing yards with 4 TDs. It is believed that Purdue transfer QB Jack Plummer is going to be taking the reins this season. Plummer played in 9 games the previous season at Purdue and threw for 864 yards with 7 TDs. Other notable returns for Cal's offense includes RB Damien Moore who ran for 535 yards with 6 TDs and WR Jeremiah Hunter with 388 receiving yards with 1 TD. In addition to losing Garbers, the Bears are losing their leading rusher and 3 of their 4 leading receivers from the previous season.
On defense, Cal is returning their top tackler in S Daniel Scott who had 82 total tackles with 3 INTs and 1 forced fumble. They additionally are returning ILB Muelu Iosefa who finished the season 55 total tackles with 6.5 TFL. The Bears defense allowed 136.8 rushing yards per game and 229.5 passing yards per game last season. Special teams wise, Cal is returning both their previous punter and kicker in Jamieson Sheahan and Dario Longhetto.
All in all, I expect this to be a loss just like I expect us to lose most FCS vs FBS match ups but as we've seen in the past the expectation doesn't always match the reality.
I think the big questions for the Aggies going into this game are:
1. Who is going to start the game at QB and will we see multiple QBs throughout the game? (not counting Trent Tompkins gadget plays). Regardless of who is ends up being, I hope that we have a guy actually WIN the job and lead this team through the season.
2. Who steps up in the receiving game with Harrell and Vaughn gone? Castles and Hutton are returning but will we get someone to step up and be a true #1 receiver. Our last 1k receiver was Doss (1334) in 2018 and the next closest to 1k was Harrell (896)... also in 2018. Having a game changer out wide can really help to open up the rest of the offense. Could the transfers in Crump Jr. and Kraut impact the offense or even the return of Babb II who showed flashes before his absence from the roster?
3. On defense who can fill the shoes of Perryman and Rogers? Perryman led the team with PBUs and forced fumbles and has apparently looked fantastic in Washington's preseason practices. Rogers' 9 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, and 8 QBHs is production that will be sorely missed for a defensive line that struggled to consistently provide pressure.
We just need a guy to be the deep threat. Overall, we have a lot of targets in Castles, Gilliam, Hutton, Babb, and the other candidates. The deep threat doesn’t need to be our number one receiver. I’m optimistic about the receivers.
We need depth on the offensive line. We really struggled when we had a couple of injuries. Remember the Cal Poly game when we couldn’t block that little guy?
On defense Rogers is the big loss because he could put pressure from the middle. Suani was improved in that regard at his lower weight, but he doesn’t have the reach. (I see we added a JC transfer who was a three star in high school Uilisoni Amone).
You have to like our depth at DB and Linebacker. Big decisions for the coaches how to use that.
I'm assuming that the PAC12 Network will be televising the Cal game and the Montana game will be on ESPN2 but, the schedule on the Aggie website doesn't show any other games being televised. Will the other games be televised this year?
I am sure ESPN+ will have the games (other than cal). They cover big sky football. I actually will be at the Montana State game with wife. Payed a ransom for a couple of tickets through a third party site. Game is already a sellout. Assume all on the board will be watching that game at home or at sports bar.
I noticed that QB Mitchell Dixon was highlighted in a couple of the last social media posts from the team. He's our physically largest QB by a pretty wide margin. Looking back at high highlights, it looks like he has some backfield mobility and a fairly strong arm. I doubt that a couple social media posts truly means anything, but gets the brain thinking a little bit.
Here is a video interview of defensive coordinator Matt Coombs brief comments about defensive players https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ADecljRZX8
Players mentioned in more than passing, shows who’s on his mind.:
DL Chubba Maae, Zach Kennedy,
Inside Linebacker Teddye Buchanan, Cole Hanson, Smalley, Mouisset, Evan Tattersall
Outside Linebacker Cam Trimble, Nick Eaton, Jackson Cloyd, Cade Peacock
Safety Chris Venable and a bunch of guys
Corner Jehiel Budgett, Devon King
They have a solid QB.
Young skill players, but talented.
O Line questions.
Trouble scoring points.
Poor offensive play calling; 21 PPG production.
Solid defense.
Depends how you count.
We lost these guys who started games for us last year:
Perryman, Duncan, Scharteg, Rodgers, Nixon, Lamson, Rodrigues, Harrell
On the other hand we lost five guys who started almost every game,(Lamson missed a couple games due to injury)
Harrell, Lamson, Perryman, Duncan, Rodgers.
But you could say we return 17 18 starters if you count the guy who filled in for Lamson I suppose.. Rachow, but that was due to injury.
Injury Update: "Brett Johnson, DL, 6-5, 300, R-Jr., 4th Season At Cal (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista HS)
— A 2022 preseason All-Pac-12 second-team selection of the Pac-12 Coaches and Phil Steele, while he was a third-team pick by Athlon..." just suffered a lower body injury and will be out for the year.
Even if it a four deep at least it might have some new names
I’ve said this before but the guys who were true freshmen last year really didn’t get on the field. So we’ve got two classes of recruits we haven’t seen.
it previously had been indicated on the ESPN app as Pac-12 network but doesn’t show now. When I look on my sling subscription it does show on Pac-12 Bay Area as “new” from 4-7:30 EDT. The description is old and is for the 2019 game - which adds to the confusion but it does list as “new” and at the correct time - so I am pretty sure it will be aired. It is also listed on the Cal football schedule as such.
Pac12 site shows it on Pac12-bay area. Have to check if I have that. I’ll be at the game but might want to watch epic upset, especially if I suffer heat stroke!
What explains the lack of information on the ucdavisaggies.com site?
Complacency because they drew well last year? That was a result of starting 8-1.
Equity because they don’t want the team to outshine women's field hockey? Likely.
I notice sac state has a series of position previews, proving team promotion is possible.
Looking at the "depth" chart (players are listed alphabetically, not by actual depth), I think I could give at least an educated guess on the starter at most positions. QB would be a total shot in the dark and it's interesting that Jack Newman, the transfer from CCSF, is not listed on the roster in the notes... he's still on the website roster that was last updated on the 4th.
Longtime staffer and writer Marc Honbo left athletic comms last Fall. He landed at St. Francis HS in Sac as an ass AD for comms.
We have five Senior Ass ADs, and three full-time comms people. Danielle Shank is the Senior Ass Athletics Director for External Relations. It seems like she has disparate responsibilities - "a focus on revenue generation and fan experience". She played field hockey in college, and is also our sport adm for FH.
Skip Powers is the main comms person for football (Ass Director of Athletics Comms), and comes to us from the SEC (Florida). He also covers about five other sports.
History (and current notes) have shown many errors and omissions in these game notes. In the series history section, they have the 2006 game against Montana State in Bozeman as a loss (13-2) when the Ags routed them 45-0. Don’t they have a fact checker?
Maybe the staff is just keeping Cal’s defensive coordinator in suspense.
Evan Bearden is a DT in the depth chart, and a TE on the roster..
Both the Connor brothers made it onto the depth chart.
Jaylin White not on the depth chart except as a returner?? He started 8 games last season.
I getting pretty excited after watching the presser. Hawk is feels "like this is the best Aggie team ever." Both Hawk and Coach Jackson mentioned that we have great depth at many positions. The best FCS teams are always deep and so it's nice to hear that we have good depth also.
Gilliam and Buchanan are perfect examples of what Aggie Athletics is all about. They're both so articulate and humble and just good people. Players like them make it easy to be an Aggie fan.
Improved depth is never a bad thing, but I think this season rides or dies on if the QB play can take a step forward. It just wasn't where it needed to be last season.