Cal Football: The Offseason To-Do List for the Golden Bears

The California Golden Bears had a rough go of it during the 2012 recruiting process. For a while there, it was looking like they would have the top recruiting class in the Pac-12. But as National Signing Day approached, their big recruit commits suddenly decided upon other schools.

Things really got bad for the Golden Bears when Shaq Thompson, along with Cal recruiter Tosh Lupoi, left for the University of Washington. Now that California has lost most of its good recruits and the recruiter, there is a lot of work to be done to prepare for next season.

One advantage that Cal has is that most of the starters from last year are returning for next season. They were also able to hold onto one of the best quarterbacks available to be signed, Zach Kline, who could put up a fight for starting quarterback over Zach Maynard for the 2012 season.

In order for the Bears to remain competitive in the Pac-12 North for the 2012 season, a lot of work needs to be done this offseason.

The first thing the Bears need to do is improve at the quarterback position. Whether this means starting with Zach Kline or working with Zach Maynard, somehow, the Bears have to reduce the number of interceptions thrown.

The 1.4 touchdown-to-interception ratio was second-worst in the Pac-12—only ahead of Sean Mannion and the Oregon State Beavers.

Cal will also have to improve on the offensive line. Last year, they gave up 27 sacks, which ranked 74th in the FBS.

The line seems to have improved a fair bit, as the Bears retained several solid recruits. They were able to hold onto three four-star offensive linemen.

If Christian Okafor can help plug some of the holes on the offensive line and prevent some sacks, whoever ends up as the starting quarterback should have an easier time running the offense.

The Bears must improve their running game. They have a good rusher in Isi Sofele, but he is just not consistent enough. Last year, he rushed for over 1,300 yards on more than 250 attempts, but was wildly inconsistent from game to game.

Sofele was only able to string two games together in which he rushed for over 100 yards. If he can become more consistent with his production, this should help provide the Bears with more offense than last year's miserable 28.3 points-per-game average.

The Bears must also step up their defense. They seemed to have solved some of their defensive problems with the recruitment of Shaq Thompson, but he has since switched to the University of Washington, leaving the Cal defense with some holes.

They are still fairly weak at the safety position, although they were able to sign two safeties in Willie Fletcher, and Damariay Drew. If these two can prove to be fast and intelligent, the Bears should be able to reduce the 24.2 points that they allowed last season.

The Golden Bears are already strong at wide receiver, and they continued to build upon that during the latest recruiting period.

They were able to recruit three four-star wide receivers. Darius Powe, Bryce Treggs and Kenny Lawler should be solid backups for current wide receiver Keenan Allen.