5 Young California Bears Who Must See the Field More Down the Stretch

The California Golden Bears (6-5) suffered a 31-28 loss to the Stanford Cardinal (10-1) in the 114th edition of the Big Game.

With one regular season game left and a high likelihood of a bowl game on the horizon for Cal, it is time to finish the season on a good note and make sure they are in a position to succeed in 2012.

Seniors will be graduating, and that means that young players should get some more playing time to get them up to game speed next season. This is the last bit of football for them to play before spring practice starts.

Here are five young players to whom the Bears need to give more playing time to end the season. 

Redshirt freshman Michael Coley has been a stud on special teams for Cal all season long, recording 14 tackles and always being one of the first Cal players to get down the field.  

But he is currently out for the rest of the season with a broken fibula and torn ligaments in his ankle; the injury occurred against Oregon State.

Given his play on special teams, he had started to receive more playing time at cornerback but sadly, he won't be back on the field until the 2012 season.

Brendan Bigelow came to Cal as arguably the most exciting player of the Bears' 2011 recruits.

The running back out of Fresno has blazing speed and has looked amazing at times, specifically during his 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Presbyterian College.

But he has been inconsistent, partially because he sees the field sparingly outside of kickoff returns. The Bears need to play him more to get him into a groove, whether it's out of the backfield, the slot or on reverses.

He can be a huge playmaker once he gets more comfortable.

Defensive tackle Viliami Moala was the other big name from Cal's 2011 recruiting class.

The true freshman out of Sacramento Grant High School was a 5-star recruit, but has only made four tackles despite playing in all 11 games this season.

That means that he has only gotten to play on a few downs in each game.

But veterans Ernest Owusu and Trevor Guyton will both be graduating, leaving a hole that Moala will have to fill in 2012.

It's time to get the 6'2", 320-pound freshman out on the field more often.

Rounding out the three true freshman on the list is cornerback Stefan McClure.

McClure has played well in 2011, filling in and starting for the injured Marc Anthony. In a secondary that had little depth at one point, McClure stepped up.

With the season coming to a close, it's time to reward McClure for his play this year and get him ready for an expanded role in 2012.

Freshman Cecil Whiteside is the third of the three-headed monster linebacker crew.

Whiteside, Chris McCain and David Wilkerson have all played big roles at linebacker for the Bears, and they are all only freshman because of the grayshirts used by Whiteside and McCain and a medical redshirt used by Wilkerson.

But the differences between Whiteside and the other two is that he has started fewer games and is not injured right now.

With star linebacker Mychal Kendricks graduating this season, along with fellow starter D.J. Holt, the Bears will need guys to step up in 2012.

Whiteside's time to shine is now.

Spencer Hagan is currently the fourth leading receiver for the Bears as the backup tight end.

To start next year, he'll be the second leading receiver on the team, behind wide receiver Keenan Allen.

Anthony Miller, the current starting tight end is graduating, and Hagan needs to start getting more snaps to build better chemistry with quarterback Zach Maynard.

All of these young Bears need to become more integrated into Cal's offensive and defensive schemes as the 2011 season winds down. Increased playing time for them will give Cal's coaches a better idea of how they fit, and it will benefit the players with game-time action.

They have all worked hard to this point and now is a perfect time to reward the baby Bears with some extra time on the field.