“It’s time. It’s the second day. Expectations are tripled!”
Those are the words that defensive backs coach Randy Stewart used to fire up his players as day two of Cal’s training camp got under way. Those words may even have embodied the mentality of the entire Cal roster — even if tripled expectations were not the reality.
The quarterback battle was under way once again. Zach Kline got the most reps today, as it is the coaching staff’s plan to rotate who gets the spotlight each day. Kline looked good when he threw a couple of pretty passes for touchdowns, but no quarterback has separated himself enough yet to allow the race to become any clearer.
“Hopefully someone will set themselves apart from the others and make the decision easy,” said coach Sonny Dykes after the practice.
No one has done that so far.
With that battle still raging, the attention turns to other areas of the field.
On defense, Chris McCain looked as explosive as ever. McCain is making the move from linebacker to defensive end, and he didn’t seem out of place for a minute. The junior was constantly in the backfield as the defensive and offensive lines squared off near the south end zone. The story was the same in 11-on-11 drills when McCain put pressure on Hinder.
Meanwhile, the linebackers worked on drills that tested their lateral movement. They were without Nick Forbes, who skipped this practice with a nagging, but ultimately not serious, back injury. Dykes says that he should be back in limited action tomorrow.
Brennan Scarlett, the defensive end opposite McCain, also was injured. He had a red jersey on that indicated he was not to take contact from any player, but he did still participate in formations and basic drills.
Khairi Fortt, who was required to sit last year after transferring from Penn State, was the star linebacker on the field. Without pads on, the linebackers were unable to truly shine.
“Khairi is one of those guys that will show up a lot more once he gets the pads on, because he’s a physical guy,” Dykes said.
Regardless, Fortt was excited to finally be back on the field.
“I’m just elated,” he said after the practice. “I’m glad I made the change.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Brendan Bigelow was taking full reps again in practice. He caught a few balls and generally looked about the same as yesterday — like a back who isn’t quite at full speed but still looks like one of the top talents on the field. However, the two practices have started to catch up with him.
“I’m sore — really, really sore,” he said. “But it’s my second day. I can’t expect too much from myself.”
Those words aren’t just true for Bigelow — we can’t expect too much from anyone. Though Randy Stewart’s expectations may have been tripled, it’s unreasonable to hope for too much on just the second day. Ultimately, what was on show was exactly what one would expect — some promising signs, but nothing definitive enough to blow anyone away.
Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org
The post Training camp 2013: Aug. 6 recap appeared first on The Daily Californian.