Cal Football: 5 Things the Bears Learned from Last Year
Cal Football: 5 Things the Bears Learned from Last Year
California football had its glory days, believe it or not, but now it finds itself in an extremely competitive conference with some of the top teams in the nation.
Like every other team in the nation, Cal had it's share of mistakes this past season, but like they say, you live and you learn.
The only mistake the Bears could make now is choosing not to learn from their past experiences.
Changes are on their way for Cal, but will they be enough to compete for a conference title? Only time will tell, but here's what you can expect.
The Pac-12 Is Good, Very Good
The Pac-12 will arguably have two contenders for the national championship coming into this season and neither one of them is Cal.
The season will likely begin with two Pac-12 teams ranked in the top 5 and neither one of them will be Cal.
USC and Oregon have been running the Pac for a few years now and though Cal has been deemed one of the most impressive programs throughout the Pac's history, it has been dethroned as of late.
In all honesty, the Bears could put together a very impressive team this year and still find themselves in third place at the end of the season.
With the loss of Andrew Luck, everyone expects Stanford to fall off, but the truth of the matter is it will still have a pretty solid team put together when the season starts.
The Pac-12 is a very competitive conference. A very tough spot to be in for the Bears.
Zach Maynard Is Their Guy
Whether you Bears fans like it or not, Zach Maynard will be the Cal quarterback next season. At least at the beginning of it.
He may not have the backing that'd he like, but at the end of last season, Maynard showed great signs of improvement. Of course, he struggled throughout the season finishing with 17 TD passes and 12 interceptions, but the Buffalo transfer did occasionally show signs of a very good QB.
He is loaded with potential due to his ability to make plays with his legs and continues to develop his arm. A lot of Cal fans would love to see true freshman quarterback Zach Kline take the snaps this season. But the sooner they get used to Maynard, the better, because he will be the Bears QB moving forward.
Cal's Defensive Has the Potential to Be One of the Best in the Conference
Let's just look at the Bear's personnel.
Mustafa is a very impressive defensive end prospect. He is 6'2", 285 lbs and was hailed as one of the most impressive defensive freshmen coming in last year. However, he did not quite live up to the hype and will look to be more of a defensive presence this season.
On the other side of the line is Deandre Coleman who performed well when the bright lights were on at the end of the season. By placing these two big guys on opposite ends of each other the Bears will be able to pressure the quarterback without a blitz.
Cal has two talented and experienced cornerbacks coming back in Marc Anthony and Steve Williams. Both showed signs of improvement throughout the season, but the Bears still struggled with a spread offense. These two guys need to work very hard during spring ball and the summer in order to be prepared to bolster a forever-improving Bears defense.
With young talent loaded with potential such as linebacker David Wilkerson coming in, Cal will look to slow down the high powered Pac-12 offenses.Â
The Offensive Line Has Got to Work Harder
Yes, Zach Maynard has the ability to make plays with his legs. But I'm sure he'd rather have adequate time in the pocket to find the open man rather than run for his life with 250-pound beast chasing after him.
The Bears have lost some of their star blockers this past season and will look to find those committed big boys to fill the void.
This is something Cal must focus on during the offseason—protecting their quarterback.
The importance of a good offensive line is often over looked, that is until the QB gets cracked one good time.
The Bears must do everything in their power to avoid that instance and the exposure of a weak offensive line.
Has to Be Able to Rely on Running Game in Order to Win Games
Of course Maynard is working on his arm during the offseason, that's what quarterbacks do. But he must be able to rely on his run game if the Bears want to compete next season.
In the past, Cal has had some very impressive running backs line up behind the QB whether it be Marshawn Lynch or Justin Forrsett. However, this past season starting RB Ise Sofele did not get the job done.
No matter who the Bears decide to play at the position next season, they must be able to produce and make things easier on Maynard, who already lacks your typical college QB accuracy.