BearTalk

The Bears held a pretty good first scrimmage of the spring this afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Cal ran through drills for about 45 minutes before commencing the scrimmage, which lasted about 90 minutes and included drives starting at different yard-lines as well as assorted special teams work.

 

The scrimmage got off to a stellar start for quarterback Kevin Riley and the offense. Staring at its own 30, Riley led the offense on a quick five-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, culminating with a 34-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Marvin Jones. Riley was 3-for-3 for 62 yards on the opening possession.

 

Riley had a strong day. He finished 8-for-15 for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

 

“I thought today was a solid day,” Riley said. “I felt comfortable. I took care of it and just did my job.”

 

Riley completed his first six passes but then finished 2-for-9 while taking reps with the first, second and third teams. He threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Nyan Boateng during a red zone drill.

 

“Kevin made a very nice touchdown throw, very accurate,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “It was nice to take the first drive and score.”

 

Each quarterback took turns working with the first, second and third unit. Beau Sweeney had a pretty good day. In his first possession working with the third team, he led the offense on an 11-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in a 26-yard field goal by backup kicker Nick Demopoulous. For the possession, he was 5-for-6 for 55 yards.

 

Brock Mansion struggled. His first pass of the day was a 25-yard completion to Alex Lagemann. He only connected on one more throw the rest of the day, and that went for minus-2 yards to Covaughn DeBoskie. Mansion finished 2-for-11 for 23 yards.

 

The defensive standout was cornerback Chris Conte. He made a bunch of tackles and broke up four passes. With Darian Hagan missing most of spring practice to concentrate on academics, Conte is getting a chance to position himself to make a run at a starting job in the fall.

 

“I feel I definitely can be the starter,” Conte said. “I just need to keep on playing hard and have that energy every day. Sometimes I get a little too aggressive. I have all the physical ability and the athletic ability. Sometimes putting it together with the mental aspect takes time. Cornerback is the toughest position on the field.”

 

Tedford said Hagan and wide receiver Verran Tucker will spend the rest of spring studying while the team practices, only to join the Bears at the end of each session to do conditioning.

 

Hagan, of course, started every game last season while Conte, who started three games in 2007, became a nickel back. But defensive coordinator Bob Gregory implied Saturday that the only players that should consider themselves really secure in a starting role are cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson and defensive end Tyson Alualu.

 

“There’s about nine of them that are open on defense,” Gregory said. “(Conte) is having a good spring.”

 

Another focal point Saturday was at linebacker, where Gregory experimented using Devin Bishop and Mychal Kendricks both inside and outside. After using Bishop primarily on the inside this spring and Kendricks on the outside, Gregory said it’s looking more and more like those roles might flip.

 

“I think we’re finding a little bit that Devin might be a little better outside and Mike Kendricks might be a little bit better outside,” Gregory said. “That’s my initial impression.”

 

There are implications here. Whomever goes into fall camp playing weakside outside linebacker figures to get competition from incoming junior college recruits Ryan Davis and Jarred Price.

 

Speaking of junior college transfers, Bryant Nnabufie appears to be coming on at cornerback. He got a handful of first team reps Saturday and could be pushing for playing time this season, along with Conte.

 

“He’s much more consistent,” Gregory said. “He’s playing harder. Last fall, he was figuring it out a little bit. He’s getting better. He’s improving his technique. You can see he’s coming out here ready to practice.”

 

There was a lot of mixing and matching among first, second and third team units as the scrimmage went on, but something significant is Chet Teofilo started the scrimmage as the first team right guard. Teofilo has been in and out of the lineup during the spring as he continues to recover from an ankle injury. Teofilo was a starting tackle last season before getting hurt, but with the return of Mike Tepper, Teofilo may play more guard this season.

 

“Chet is going to stay at guard, but he’s a swing guy,” Tedford said. “It gives us flexibility to be able to move him out (to tackle) if need be. We feel like with his size and athleticism, it’s a good fit for him at guard.”

 

Some unfortunate news on the injury front: The big hit tight end Tad Smith took at Thursday’s practice resulted in a broken scapula. The Bears won’t know how long he will be out until he sees a specialist this week, but Tedford said 4-6 months is what he has heard.

 

Running back Shane Vereen led the Bears in rushing Saturday, carrying eight times for 59 yards. Jones had three catches for 47 yards.