Post-practice: Sunday
By Jonathan Okanes
Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 8:17 pm in Training camp.
The Bears held a long full-pad workout tonight, putting the finishing touches on the second week of camp. Technically, there is still one week left. But practically, camp ends Tuesday with the team’s final scrimmage of the fall. Wednesday, the Bears will start preparing for Michigan State.
The highlight of Sunday’s practice was the red zone work at the end. Nate Longshore and Kevin Riley took turns throwing touchdown passes. First, Longshore connected with LaReylle Cunningham, who caught the pass short of the end zone and reached his arm over the goal line for the score. There was some dispute if Cunningham actually scored or not, but recruiting assistant Kevin Parker, standing on the goal line, gave the touchdown signal, much to the delight of the offense.
On the very next rep, Kevin Riley found a wide-open Nyan Boateng in the back of the end zone. Longshore came back to throw a touchdown pass to Sean Young, and what followed may have been the play of training camp.
Riley was pressured out of the pocket, bought some time, then zipped a pass through traffic that hit freshman tight end Anthony MIller perfectly in stride for another score. That was the final play of practice, and it sent the team off for conditioning drills hooting and hollering.
There wasn’t too much else that stood out Sunday. One positive development is that linebacker Worrell Williams (abdominal strain) and safety Marcus Ezeff (thigh bruise) returned to practice. The Bears spent a good amount of time on special teams. Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen, Jeremy Ross, Darian Hagan and Marvin Jones took turns receiving kickoffs. Best, Vereen, Jones and Sean Young were the punt returners.
The Bears have been experimenting using offensive lineman Kevin Bemoll at nose tackle. With Mika Kane and Derrick Hill both out with ankle sprains, Cal has moved Bemoll to the other side of the ball, something they were going to experiment with in goal line situations anyway. Bemoll got the team going when he batted away a Riley pass at the line of scrimmage, and it ended up as an interception for linebacker Mychal Kendricks.
“We have a lot of guys hurt right now at that position so it’s a good time to see what he can do,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “He’s really excited about the opportunity to try to get that done. He’s pumped up about it.”
Cal has a double-day scheduled for Monday, in helmets and shoulder pads in the morning and helmets only at night.
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August 18th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Another former Bear, FB Byron Storer, scored a TD on a 2 yard reception for the Tampa Bay Bucs in a pre-season game against the New England Patriots. The Cal FB he took over for, Chris Manderino is now with the Kansas City Chiefs.
August 18th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’m liking how this QB battle is shaping up. Both appear to be stepping up their game to the point where it’s looking likely that the starter will truly have EARNED it. Good stuff.
August 18th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Who’s telling the truth, JO? And, what’s the point of giving an email account if Amy is correct? Is it time to take out the trash? A funny argument on BearInsider.com that has relevance for this blog:
Kyle Boller Fan (Amy): …I don’t troll scout boards and I don’t post anything Cal related there. I have been posting on football related topics only here. I haven’t posted anything on CC Times blog or any other media blogs…
Jan K Oski: She’s lying, since no one else can post as MoreNCsarecoming on JO’s blog without the appropriate email address (a required entry).
Kyle Boller Fan (Amy): I just posted as JAN K OSKI (by the way, the guy who is posting as moreNCsarecoming is an imposter). See, your argument goes out of the window.