Cal Bears open training camp: The questions to answer before opener at North Texas

By JEFF FARAUDO
BERKELEY — Cal football begins its seventh season under coach Justin Wilcox with modest outside expectations but growing pressure to win.
The Bears were projected to finish ninth in the Pac-12 Conference in the annual preseason media poll, and few people beyond Memorial Stadium envision much more than that.
But after three straight losing seasons — and 13 consecutive years without a winning record in conference play — the Bears should feel some urgency to alter a stale script in the final season of the Pac-12 as we know it.
“Every year, the expectations we have in our own building are extremely high and it’s no different this year,” Wilcox said Wednesday after the team’s first practice. “We know that the margins are extremely thin. So everything that we do . . . it all matters. Because it can come down to, as we’ve seen, a single play.”
Cal lost five games by seven points or fewer last fall, but the bottom line was a 4-8 record that included a ninth-place finish (2-7) in the Pac-12.
Wilcox has five years remaining on the contract extension he received in March 2022, but no Cal coach has suffered four straight losing seasons since Tom Holmoe, who was fired in 2001 following five sub-.500 campaigns.
The Bears make their debut on Sept. 2 at North Texas, then play their home opener under the lights on Sept. 9 against Auburn in a game that will be televised by ESPN.
Wilcox said the noise surrounding the future of the Pac-12 is something that cannot be blocked out.
“That falls into the category of something that certainly matters but we have no control over it,” Wilcox said. “I’m not denying the significance — it’s significant in a major way. However, we don’t have any control over that.
What follows is a look at five matters over which Wilcox and Cal have some control.
Who is the quarterback?
This is the Bears’ biggest question. Sam Jackson V, a transfer from TCU, emerged as the likely starter after showing promise as a two-way threat during spring ball.
But Jackson was a seldom-used third-stringer for Sonny Dykes’ national runner-up Horned Frogs so there isn’t much evidence of what he can do on Saturdays. The Bears added some insurance with the post-spring arrival of transfer Ben Finley, a pocket quarterback who started two games during three seasons at North Carolina State and will get the chance to challenge Jackson for the No. 1 job.
How will the new offense look?
Regardless of which QB takes the first snaps at North Texas, the Bears should look different on offense with Jake Spavital on board as coordinator. After three seasons under Bill Musgrave, who operated a pro-style offense, Cal hopes to be more versatile and dynamic under Spavital, who previously spent one season in Berkeley as Dykes’ top offensive aide in 2016.
Spavital, who has coached 10 quarterbacks that played in the NFL, wants to operate a balanced attack that stretches defenses and creates open space for ball carriers or receivers. Whether the Bears add the dimension of a running quarterback to the mix depends on who Spavital chooses to run the offense.
The O-line can’t be worse, but can it be better?
The Bears’ weak link in recent seasons, the offensive line, got an offseason boost when Matthew Cindric, a starter in 33 games at center or guard, opted to return for a sixth season. Help also arrived in fifth-year transfer Barrett Miller, who started 30 games at guard for Stanford.
Cal ranked 10th in the conference in both sacks allowed (31) and rushing yards per attempt (3.63). It will be up to new O-line coach Mike Bloesch to develop a functioning unit among 20 line candidates in camp.
Is there help for Jaydn Ott?
Ott rushed for 897 yards as a freshman last season, including a stunning 274 yards and three touchdowns against Arizona. Nationally, his 46 catches and his 321 receiving yards were more than any of the seven freshmen who had more rushing yards.
Ott’s success was a likely factor in the offseason exodus of other running backs, but Cal brought in experienced transfers in Byron Cardwell of Oregon and Justin Williams-Thomas of Tennessee. Cardwell, who arrived after suffering a leg injury at Oregon, is out for the season, Wilcox said. Williams-Thomas also is nursing an injury and will be worked into practice when he becomes fully healthy.
Can Brett Johnson fulfill his promise?
Cal’s best defensive lineman in 2020, Johnson missed the 2021 season after suffering a fractured hip in a car accident then tore his ACL in fall camp last year. The 6-foot-5, 295-pound redshirt junior was held out of practice last spring and has not played a game in 32 months.
Johnson, a third-team freshman All-American in 2019, was projected as a potential NFL draftee after his sophomore campaign. “We want to get Brett up to speed,” Wilcox said. “He’s not going to be a guy who’s going to take it easy. But we need to be smart in how we work with him through this month.”