BearTalk

The rains once again stopped just in time for Cal to practice Thursday as the Bears got a good session in preparing for Saturday’s second scrimmage of the spring.

Last Thursday, the Bears did a lot of hitting in the final practice before a scrimmage. There wasn’t as much Thursday, but still some good 11-on-11 action, especially near the end of practice when the team worked on red zone situations.

For the second straight practice, Beau Sweeney got some work with the first team. And, for the most part, looked good doing so. On one play, he delievered a long pass thrown perfectly in stride to wide receiver Jeremy Ross down the right sideline. He showed good accuracy and seems to have pretty good command of what he’s doing, especially for a freshman.

There were bumps in the road, too. On one play with the first unit, he rolled right under heavy pressure from the defensive front and threw up an ill-advised duck off his back foot that was easily intercepted by linebacker Mike Mohamed.

Still, there’s no question that Sweeney has been coming on lately, something that coach Jeff Tedford confirmed after practice.

“Big time,” Tedford said. “He’s got a lot of poise. He’s very accurate throwing the football. A lot of things he needs to improve on only come with reps. Sometimes when you’re only playing with the 3s, the protection is not great a lot of times. You need to give all three (quarterbacks) the opportunity to work with the 1s and 2s.”

All three quarterbacks will get a chance to work with the first team during Saturday’s scrimmage, assuming Tedford employs the same plan as the previous scrimmage.

A couple of other highlights from practice:

–Wide receiver Marvin Jones made a terrific catch in the back corner of the end zone, outjumping the defender to haul in the pass from Kevin Riley.

–Mansion drew some hollers from the offense after juking linebacker Chris Little on a quarterback draw and scoring a touchdown.

–Tight end Anthony Miller made a terrific diving catch in the back of the end zone after Riley threw a ball behind him while under pressure.

In other news, backup center Dominic Galas suffered a sprained left ankle and is in a boot. Tedford said it wasn’t serious.

Cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson was given the practice off to rest because of soreness.

Further clarification on the situation with cornerback Darian Hagan: He and wide receiver Verran Tucker spend practices studying before joining the team at the end of practice for conditioning. But Hagan does practice on Thursdays, so he was out there today manning his usual spot as a first team corner.

I asked Tedford if Hagan and Tucker’s lack of reps during the spring could affect their positions in the fall.

“Their lack of reps give other people reps in front of them,” he said. “If the guys in front of them make that happen, then they make that happen.”