Jan O – I was watching #8 of course . Sure, he didn’t have any spectacular grabs, or any grabs at all from what I remmeber. But then again, Riley never really threw the ball much all practice. Mansion and Smits weren’t accurate at all, so I wasn’t judging Boetang on his catches. What caught my eye was just how smooth he looked on the field. He’s big and strong and looks like he just belongs on the field. I could be biased, but Nyan is a wildcard for us that can turn out to be a huge contributor.

which Nyan were you watching?

I saw and cal blog seconded it that Nyan was visibly frustrated, since he dropped several passes:

http://goldenblogs.blogsome.com/

And, warm ups aren’t going to capture the starting QB position. This is afterall a team sport. The scrimmages are far more telling, and Riley didn’t realy have a chance to do anything, as Tedford ‘n Company had the running game going and going and going. Basically, it was another boring spring practice, which is becoming a Tedford habit. If he wants to attract more than 2,000 people, he must inject some entertainment factor. I suppose that could have been Best, so injuries contributed like they seem to always do in spring.

Let’s hope Riley improves during summer practice, or else, we will see Longshore start due to seniority, if that injury is only minor. By the way, I prefer Riley behind center, but we need to be a little objective on our perspectives. Riley didn’t do much in the scrimmage to convince me that he should start.

I agree with everything else you pointed out with the addition that Slocum will be the power back this year. The lightning (Best) and the thunder (Slocum)?

“I” cares, Go Bears!

Did Boateng get much reps at WR?

– Riley looked good at Saturday’s practice. In warm ups, he looked really solid and his passes had a zip to them. He made some solid throws as he was rolling out of the pocket.
– For the first half ot he scrimmage, Riley threw the ball maybe once or twice. He handed the ball off to Slocum about 4-5 times in a row at one point. Why? I don’t know. I would say Riley played less than 30% of the total scrimmage, as Mansion and Smits got a lot of reps. Riley did have a nice TD throw to Calvin.
– We have a lot of receivers, and they are big.
– Boetang is the real deal. He looks ready to play already. His size and athleticism is evident.
– Michael Calvin also looks solid. He is a very big receiver and looks very athletic.
– Slocum looks like the #2 back (I say #2 b/c Best is #1 in my books). He looks patient as runs in between the tackles well.
– Deboskie lacks experience. He was stuffed a lot. He looks like he’s just running straight and not really waiting for his blockers.
– Boetang & Syd Thomp took turns at punt returners. Thomp had a nice punt return for a TD. Boetang’s returns is reminiscent of Djax…but not in a good way. One play he ran laterally and was tackled.
– We have a good new punter. Anger. He has big booming punts and think he had the loudest ovations throughout the day.

Overall, I’m excited about the new season. As long as Riley has the reins, I’m sure we’ll see alot of TDs to our big receivers. If best is 100%, our running game will be solid with him and Slocum. Our personnel on D is roughly the same except for the safety slot. I’m anticipating a better finish than last year for sure.

GO BEARS!!!

Since there is no where to interact with Stanford fans on this site I will link this article and then add the comment that I am really impressed with Harbaugh and what he is doing over there. It looks as if they are having fun and are believing in themselves.They had one really good quality win last year and a couple of others that were expected but still a win is a win. Me thinks it is a program definitely on the move.

Can we talk about this Amy? Why does McKnight need to drop sociology classes this late in the semester? I thought you passed so long as you put your name on the finals at USC. Guess I was wrong. (20 bucks Amy responds to this by ignoring it, or trying to find some article where a Cal player from 40 years ago was academically ineligble).