This may be old news as it’s from June, but I just noticed it. Duncan Smith de-committed and is going to Fresno
https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/college/fresno-state/Article/Fresno-State-adds-tight-end-Duncan-Smith-to-2019-recruiting-class-Bulldogs-football-commits--133217385/Amp/

He’s not at Sac State any longer. He was the offensive line coach/ offensive coordinator, not retained at the transition last February. The new offensive line coach there is the father of our two Richardson offensive linemen.
Wulff was the offensive coordinator for Hawkins on USA 2015 football team according to a post here three years ago by aggie6thman;

“One name that might fit the mold and has deep connections with both Hawkins and the city of Davis, is Paul Wulff, the current Sac State Assistant Head Coach, Run Game Coordinator, and Offensive Line coach. Wulff was born in Woodland and attended Davis High School before heading to Washington State to complete his undergraduate education. Wulff was head coach at Big Sky football power Eastern Washington before taking the reins at Washington State where he was released after three years. Since then he has bounced around but has landed back in the region and just completed his first year with the Hornets. Not so coincidentally, Wulff served as the offensive coordinator for USA football in 2015 with Dan Hawkins.”
My guess is he’s just volunteering to stay involved.

If the goal is a top seed in the playoffs so we avoid playing an away game in adverse conditions, then being highly regarded from the beginning is better than being a Cinderella.
Montana, Montana State and Weber all look to be challenges. We’ll need some defensive improvement to sweep those games and earn that high ranking.

We get great press from some of the Montana outlets. We should recruit up there. Pleased to see we got an Idaho commit this year.

big sky kickoff hawkins uc davis
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lh4Qd33djto

Article from Chico newspaper. Says he’ll be safety / linebacker.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicoer.com/2019/06/17/former-pleasant-valley-butte-college-defensive-back-joseph-kurung-signs-with-uc-davis-football/amp/

Is this “signing” for this year or 2020? He’s played for two different JCs.

I think 11-30 is about right. Close to the 10-30 we played Stanford last year.. But Stanford last year was a better team than Cal is likely to be.

I’m surprised about the assumption that Chase Garbers is going to be their QB. I think that guys who've got as much of a shot at the job as he had with his results have proved they are unlikely to be better than mediocre. If I was a Cal fan I’d be hoping to see the UCLA transfer. He’s done ok with his limited opportunities with the Bruins.

Rankings at this stage are like playing pin the tail on the donkey. The logic for us as number 2 is that we return so much of our offense intact. Weber and Montana State have the most all preseason all conference players. But if you were to pick one guy to carry a team Barriere would be a good choice.

The element of surprise only lasts a game or two, until the other team looks at film. If we go into the season ranked high and can justify it with our record we will be higher seeded come playoff time. The Northern Iowa coach says home games are the key in the playoffs so you don’t have to play in miserable weather. We learned that ourselves last year.

Stanford last year wanted a bigger score differential than they came away with, I think their post game comments showed that. We exceeded expectations especially with our defense. But we were lucky to get the one touchdown we got.

I sometimes wonder about the reliability of team stats where one unit looks terrific and the other bad. If the offense can’t score I think the opposing team plays more conservatively leading the defense stats to look better. But I think Cal will regress toward the mean (mediocrity) on offense; in other words get better. The new UCLA QB transfer is probably better than what they had. Their defense will remain good against passing teams. They are going to be a tough matchup for us.

Last year’s class of DBs we’re tall as well; two guys were 6’3”.I think some of the tall DBs may grow into quick agile linebackers.

How does that work? Do players not take cheap shots when the sun’s bright?

Doss wasn’t drafted so being in training camp puts him aspiring for the feat of making a team like the Lekkerkerker brothers, Elliot Vallejo, Daniel Fells, Colton Schmidt who all made a roster. But your point is valid, fewer recently. Being in the Big Sky correlated to less talent than prior?

“Not only does Doss come to the NFL via UC Davis –a feat in and of itself –“
Back in the seventies when the Raiders were Super Bowl champions and contenders they had a drafted wide receiver from UC Davis. At the time Davis didn’t have scholarships and was D2. Martini was one of several D2 non scholarship players to make NFL teams. So now it’s a “feat”for getting a look when Davis is scholarship D1?

I find it odd that UCD has only four running backs, counting a redshirt and a true freshman. One would think they need more than that just for practice. I wonder if they’ll have a walk-on or two ?

It’s relative. Eastern lost a BSC defensive player of the year among four all conference 1st or second team defensive players. That’s greater than what we lost.