Defense wins the day in Cal's second scrimmage

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As spring practice continues, it's becoming clear that Cal's defensive unit is going to be stronger than their offensive counterparts - at least for now.

It's not uncommon for an offense to start off slow, especially an offense that is working under a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.  When an offense, still working at coming together, competes against a defense that has had a year to get their system down, the results are usually going to favor the defense.

Saturday was no exception for the Bears.

Once again, Kevin Riley outperformed his teammates at the quarterback position, Marvin Jones was the leading receiver, and the defense came up with big plays to come out on top.

Riley completed nine passes in 16 attempts for 89 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  Sophomore Brock Mansion went 4-11 for 68 yards and a 51-yard touchdown pass to redshirt-freshman Ross Bostock - the first offensive score of the day.  Another redshirt freshman, Beau Sweeney, was 6-12 for 61 yards, a touchdown (a 29-yarder to Nyan Boateng), and an interception.

While Jones didn't catch a touchdown on the day, he did catch four passes for 27 yards to lead the Cal receivers.  Boateng and Jeremy Ross are taking first-team reps., but Jones is becoming the type of playmaker that the Bears need in their passing game.

You watch these big-named teams, and they have receivers who make plays.  We need to have more big plays, and he's making them.
- Kevin Riley on Jones to the SF Chronicle

The offense was plagued with penalties and disorganization, which can be expected for the Bears.  Several players on the line are still getting their game together after missing most or all of last season and others are playing positions that they didn't play much last year.  Odds are that new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and new offensive line coach Steve Marshall will have the offense in order over the summer camp since they've only begun working with the players this spring.

On defense, it was senior safety Brett Johnson who got noticed the most.  He had a tackle for loss and by one account six tackles in all with three pass breakups.  Defensive coordinator, Bob Gregory, liked what he saw on the field from Johnson.

I haven’t seen the film but this was probably Brett’s best scrimmage today.  He did a nice job.
- Gregory on Johnson's performance to Bay Area News Group

Cal's biggest question mark on defense is the play of the linebackers.  So far, Gregory is happy with what he's seeing and he still has four more players coming this summer from the 2009 recruiting class.  With the loss of three linebackers to graduation, the unit is running a little low at the position.

I think they played very hard and I’m very pleased with that.  We’re very thin at linebacker right now, so those guys took a lot of reps. We’re waiting for some of those JC guys to come and give us a little depth but, having said that, I think those guys are doing well. Mychal Kendricks, Mike Mohamed, Devin Bishop, D.J. Holt, Eddie Young, all those guys are having a good, solid spring.
- Gregory on the linebackers

The Bears got sacks from Kevin Bemoll and Earnest Owusu and tackles for loss from Tyson Alualu, Syd'Quan Thompson, Owusu, and Trevor Guyton.  Interceptions were provided by D.J. Holt and Charles Amadi for the defense.

Giorgio Tavecchio missed a 39-yard field goal attempt and David Seawright connected on a 24-yard field goal for the day.  There wasn't much in the way of a running game, with Covaugn Deboskie carrying eight times for 15 yards and Shane Vereen getting five carries for 14 yards.

It was alumni reunion weekend and many out of the nearly 40 former players that came back for golf and a reception on Friday, stayed for practice by starting it off with an entrance between two lines of current players from the north tunnel.  Among the players in attendance were Tony Gonzalez, Andre Carter, Dave Barr, Na'il Benjamin, Hardy Nickerson, Chidi Iwuoma, Justin Forsett, Dameane Douglas, Mick Luckhurst, Desmond Bishop, Zack Follett, Troy Auzenne , Joe Kapp, and Mike White.

There was some good and some not so good.  I thought there were too many dropped balls today. Those are drive-killers.  It's always bittersweet.  When the offense does something well, you're worrying about the defense. When the defense does something well, you're worrying about the offense. There were a lot of great efforts. When we have that, we're going to continue to improve.
- Jeff Tedford's thoughts on Saturday's scrimmage

One thing Bear Backers can be sure of:  The Bears will be improved if Tedford has anything to say about it.