Opponent First Look: Cal Golden Bears
Head Coach: Justin Wilcox (Career Record: 32-37)
2022 Season Recap: W-L: 4-8
Week 1 Cal Davis – Win – 34-13 – 268 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TDs – 147 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TD
Week 2 UNLV – Win – 20-14 – 278 Passing Yards, 1 Passing TDs – 92 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TDs
Week 3 @ Notre Dame – Loss – 17-24 – 184 Passing Yards, 1 Passing TD – 112 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD
Week 4 Arizona – Win – 49-31 – 245 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TD – 354 Rushing Yards, 4 Rushing TD
Week 5 @ WSU – Loss – 9-28 – 279 Passing Yards, 0 Passing TD – 32 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD
Week 6 @ Colorado – Loss – 13-20 – 262 Passing Yards, 1 Passing TDs – 35 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TD
Week 7 Washington – Loss – 21-28 – 245 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TDs – 61 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TDs
Week 8 Oregon – Loss – 24-42 – 328 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TD – 74 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TD
Week 9 @ USC – Loss – 35-41 – 406 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TDs – 63 Rushing Yards, 2 Rushing TD
Week 10 @ Oregon St – Loss – 10-38 – 147 Passing Yards, 0 Passing TDs – 9 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TD
Week 11 Stanford – Win – 27-20 – 280 Passing Yards, 1 Passing TDs – 113 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TDs
Week 12 UCLA – Loss – 28-35 – 294 Passing Yards, 4 Passing TD – 67 Rushing Yards, 0 Rushing TD
2022 Offense:
23.9 Points per game, 268 Passing Yards per game, 96.6 Rushing Yards per game, 23 Passing TDs, 10 Rushing TDs
2022 Defense:
27.8 Points per game allowed, 279.5 Passing Yards allowed, 149.1 Rushing Yards allowed, 23 Passing TDs allowed, 19 Rushing TDs allowed
Key Losses from 2022 team:
QB – Jack Plummer – 3119 Passing Yards, 21 Passing TDs, 9 INT, 1 Rushing TD (Transfer to Louisville)
WR – J Michael Sturdivant – 65 Catches, 755 Receiving Yards, 7 Receiving TDs (Transfer to UCLA)
2023 Cal Golden Bears:
Head Coach: Justin Sirmon
Coaching Changes:
Offensive coordinator – Jake Spavital previously Head Coach at Texas State
Offensive line – Mike Bloesch previously Offensive Coordinator at North Texas
Tight end – Tim Plough previously Offensive Coordinator at Boise State
Key Returners:
RB – Jadyn Ott – SO – 2022 Stats: 170 Rushing Attempts 897 Rushing Yards, 8 Rushing TDs, 46 Catches, 345 Receiving Yards, 3 Receiving TDs
WR – Jeremiah Hunter – JR – 2022 Stats: 60 Catches, 965 Receiving yards, 5 Receiving TDs
LB – Jackson Sirmon – SR – 2022 Stats: 104 Tackles, 6 TFL, 3.5 Sacks, 1 INT, 4 Pass Deflections
Impact Newcomers:
WR – Taj Davis – JR – Washington Transfer
RB – Isaiah Ifanse – SR – Montana State Transfer
CB – Nohl Williams – JR – UNLV Transfer
S – Patrick McMorris – SR – San Diego St Transfer
2023 Games Played:
Week 1 @ North Texas – Win – 58-21 – 322 Passing Yards, 2 Passing TDs – 359 Rushing Yards, 6 Rushing TD
Week 2 Auburn – Loss – 10-14 – 160 Passing Yards, 0 Passing TDs – 113 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD
Week 3 Idaho – Win – 31-17 – 114 Passing Yards, 2 Passing TD – 256 Rushing Yards, 2 Rushing TD
2023 Team Preview:
Offense:
The Golden Bears look different on the offensive side of the ball after the arrival of new coordinator Jake Spavital over the offseason. Cal also landed a new quarterback in Sam Jackson V, a sophomore transfer from TCU. Cal comes in to the year with probably the worst QB room in the conference. Last year Cal brought in former Purdue starter Jack Plummer to be the guy but he had a so-so season and departed after one year transferring to Louisville. Now Cal has a pair of transfers battling it out for playing time. The starter is former 4-star TCU transfer Sam Jackson who had only played 52 snaps in his career prior to this season. Jackson will be one of Cal’s fastest players. The Bears hope Jackson’s ability to extend plays will benefit an offensive line that allowed 31 sacks in 2022. The slightly more experienced option is NC State transfer Ben Finley who started the Wolfpack’s final 2 games last year. In 241 career snaps he has completed 54% of his passes for 5.9 yards per attempt with more interceptions than touchdowns. It’s not hard to see why Jackson is the higher upside play. No team has a lower floor at the QB position than Cal given the lack of proven credentials anywhere on the roster.
Compared to the QB room it’s a completely different story at the running back spot which should help carry the offense. The Golden Bears were already in a great spot after true freshman Jadyn Ott burst onto the scene last year and was instantly one of the best running backs in the conference. He ran for 800+ yards at 5.2 yards per carry and added another 300+ yards and 3 TD through the air. They then went out and added quality depth through the portal as replacements for the guys they lost. Cal brought in Montana State standout and Bellevue High grad Isaiah Ifanse who was one of the best backs in FCS over the last few years.
Considering Cal’s most talented receiver from last year, J. Michael Sturdivant, transferred to UCLA it is impressive for Cal to have as good of WRs as they do. From a yardage standpoint they bring back the top guy in Hunter who finished just short of 1,000 receiving yards. They also return Mavin Anderson and Monroe Young who were 3rd and 4th among WRs in receiving yards on last year’s team. Cal also did a great job adding depth through the portal on top of that. Brian Hightower provides a bigger body threat after putting up nearly 500 yards for Illinois last season. Finally, Husky fans are very familiar of course with Taj Davis who caught the touchdown pass on the most important play of last season to tie the game late against Oregon and he’ll be heavily involved in the offense.
The Cal offensive line isn’t a star-studded group but has plenty of total experience. The O line is lead by Center Matthew Cindric, who has 33 career starts, and RG Sioape Vatikani who started 9 games last year as a true freshman. That’s of course the default expectation for freshman OL players. Every member of the projected starting group has at least 7 career starts. LT Matthew Wykoff transferred in from Texas A&M this spring after starting 9 games in College Station last year. Left guard Brian Driscoll started all 12 games a season ago and RT TJ Session started 7 games for Cal last season. The Cal offensive line really struggled last year and none of the offensive lineman are thought of very highly individually. It’s also not a highly recruited bunch as none of them were even at a 4-star level coming out of high school. But experience can be a powerful factor on the O-line and if the group comes together especially in the running game then this offense could surprise some people.
Defense:
Cal had a down year defensively in 2022 allowing 27.8 points per game after four consecutive years in which it gave up fewer than 24 per game. The Bears have made tweaks, and they believe that some newcomers — edge David Reese and defensive backs Nohl Williams and Matthew Littlejohn can be difference-makers. Cal also welcome back versatile defensive lineman Brett Johnson, a hopeful NFL prospect who missed all of the past two seasons after hip and knee injuries. Inside linebacker Jackson Sirmon, who led the Bears with 104 tackles, opted to return for a sixth season. Safety Craig Woodson and corners Lu-Magia Hearns III and Jeremiah Earby add to a secondary that is developing quality depth.
The D line group has been snake-bitten by injuries in recent years and is hoping to finally be healthy. Brett Johnson has been the primary culprit having missed each of the last 2 years due to injury but he was finally healthy in the spring. If he returns to his form from way back in 2020 then he’ll be a big upgrade. It’s somewhat of a toss-up who fills out the rest of the rotation. Saunders, Correia, and Burrell have all played between 360 and 465 defensive snaps and each graded out as below average by PFF. Saunders had the best season last year with 2 sacks but Burrell is the youngest and was the most highly recruited out of high school and has gotten the starts the first 3 weeks. All of them will see plenty of playing time no matter who ends up getting the title of starter.
Cal has some Edge depth returning as Xavier Carlton and Myles Jernigan combined to start 20 games last season. Each tied for the team lead with 4 sacks apiece. Myles Williams was a backup on the outside as a redshirt freshman and made a good impact. The wildcard of this group is David Reese who has pedigree as a former 4-star transferring in from Florida. But Reese has only 1 career quarterback pressure after 5 years in college so expecting him to step in and make a huge impact seems unlikely.
Husky fans as a group weren’t exactly sad to see Jackson Sirmon leave. But he was always a little underrated by the fanbase and was named 1st team all-conference last year in his first season in Berkeley. Besides Sirmon there are definitely some question marks. Cal brought in Clemson transfer Sergio Allen to hopefully fill the hole alongside Sirmon. He is a former 4-star recruit but played just 36 snaps in 3 years for the Tigers so certainly isn’t a sure thing by any stretch.
Corner is one of the deepest position groups not just for Cal but in the Pac-12. There’s not a star among the group. None of them made preseason all-conference teams and only Jeremiah Earby made at least preseason honorable mention. But there are 7 players that would at least heavily compete for a starting spot on most rosters in the Pac 12. The Bears are bringing back 64 career Pac-12 starts in the group which doesn’t include Nohl Williams who transferred in from UNLV where he started 24 games. Starting at Safety Patrick McMorris is a transfer from San Diego State where he was a 2-year starter and has 5 career interceptions. Woodson started alongside Daniel Scott last year and tied for 2nd on the team in tackles while chipping in with a pair of interceptions and pass break-ups. Woodson was on the preseason 2nd-team all-conference list while McMorris was honorable mention.
2023 Starting Lineup:
QB – Sam Jackson – SO – 5’11” 195 LBs – #5
RB –Jadynn Ott – SO – 6’ 0” 200 LBs -#1
WR – Jeremiah Hunter – JR – 6’ 2” 200 LBs – #3
WR – Mavin Anderson – SO – 6’ 0” 195 LBs – #11
WR – Monroe Young – SR – 6’ 1” 205 LBs – #14
TE- Jack Endries – FR – 6’ 4” 230 LBs – #87
Lt – Barrett Miller – SR – 6’ 5” 310 LBs – #62
Lg – Brian Driscoll – JR – 6’ 4” 320 LBs – #60
C – Matthew Cindric – SR – 6’ 4” 295 LBs – #73
Rg – Sioape Vatikani – SO – 6’ 4” 320 LBs – #71
Rt – TJ Session – SR – 6’ 4” 305 LBs – #72
DE – Brett Johnson – JR – 6’ 5” 295 LBs – #90
NT – Ricky Correia – JR – 6’ 4” 335 LBs – #91
DE – Ethan Saunders – JR – 6’ 3” 285 LBs – #99
Sam – Xavier Carlton – JR – 6’ 6” 270 LBs – #44
MLB – Jackson Sirmon – SR – 6’ 2” 240 LBs – #8
WLB – Kaleb Elarms Orr – SO – 6’ 2” 230 LBs – #53
RUSH – Myles Jernigan – JR – 6’ 3” 235 LBs – #33
CB – Nohl Williams – JR – 6’ 1” 195 LBs – #3
CB – Lu Magia Hearns – JR – 5’ 10” 170 LBs – #15
S – Patrick McMorris – SR – 6’ 0” 210 LBs – #9
S – Craig Woodson – JR – 6’ 0” 210 LBs – #2
NB – Matthew Littlejohn – JR – 5’ 11” LBs – #22
