BearTalk

I had a chance to watch one of Cal’s summer workouts Thursday night. The Bears last week began their organized offseason workouts under the direction of strength and conditioning coach John Krazinski. Most of it focuses on weight lifting and conditioning, but it also gives the Bears to work on football-related skills without the supervision of the coaching staff.

While I was interested in watching all aspects of the team, I was primarily focused on one thing: the play of the quarterbacks and the receivers. As I’ve said many times, I feel the passing game is the missing link to what could be a very special season for the Bears. They have the other pieces in place — a strong running game, an exceptional defense — so a productive passing game would make them a complete team.

The Bears just started these workouts – although many players have been working out informally or their own — so it’s hard to expect dramatic progress so far. I didn’t see anything from the quarterbacks or receivers that looked that much different than last year. The receivers took turns running one-on-ones against Cal’s DBs, and many times failed to get open. Marvin Jones did break free for one long pass from Beau Sweeney, but overall I’d say the DBs got the better of the wide receivers.

None of the three quarterbacks looked substantially better than the other two. Kevin Riley said afterward that he feels better than he has throwing the ball in two years because of the mechanical adjustments that were discussed in the spring.

One positive development was the presence of wide receiver Michael Calvin, who was cleared to practice earlier this month and was running routes with no limitations, except for the brace on his knee. It’s been eight months since Calvin underwent surgery for a torn ACL.

“I feel 100 percent physically,” Calvin said. “Mentally, I still have some work to do. I have to trust the knee.”

Calvin said he actually feels better now than he did before the injury because the injury has forced him to work more on his technique. “I think I’m going to come back more polished,” Calvin said.

Nyan Boateng and Jeremy Ross, two of the Bears’ top receivers last season, each acknowledged that the passing game needs to get better.

“It’s a work in progress,” Ross said. “We have a lot of work to do. We didn’t really shine much last year. Last year was everybody’s first year fully playing. I think this year is going to be a lot better. We have one year under our belt. We were inexperienced, but I think we’ve grown so much. I think this is going to be a big year and we’re going to shock a lot of people.”

When asked for a reaction when he hears people say that the passing game is the missing piece of Cal’s puzzle, Ross said: “It’s understandable.”

Boateng appeared to be in his usually sculped, athletic self, but his problem with too many dropped passes continues. He said these summer workouts are much different than last year because the receivers essentially had no relationship or on-field chemistry with the quarterbacks due to their inexperience.

“We were all coming from different spots,” Boateng said. “Now we have one year under our belts, and our coach (Kevin Daft) knows us now.”

Boateng reitereated a story that Riley told during the spring, that Jeff Tedford met with the quarterbacks and wide receivers to challenge them to improve their game.

“Coach Tedford said we weren’t playing up to our abilities,” Boateng said. “He challenged all of us to step up our game. I think we did that at the end of spring. Now we just have to carry that over to the workouts this summer and then have a great fall.”

Boateng also said that new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig challenged the receivers to play better, pointing out that they were a big reason why Cal’s passing game ranked just 83rd nationally last season.

“He said that’s not going to cut it,” Boateng said. “He challenged the seniors to get the troops going. We have it in our minds that we have something to prove this year. We’re going to be ready. We’re pushing each other.”

Cal’s quarterbacks, receviers, running backs and tight ends are hitting the field every Monday for an hour to shore up the offense. Riley stressed that the main focus of summer workouts are to get timing down with the receivers, something he said was lacking last year.

“It helps tremendously because you get a feel for the other guy,” Riley said. “There were some throws last year that went just a little too high or a little too low. The more you work on it, the better it’s going to be. ”

Riley said all the talk of the passing game possibly holding Cal back has served as motivation.

“It makes you want to work harder,” Riley said. “It makes you want to prove everybody wrong. Last year, if the quarteback and receiver play was better, we could have won some more games. I definitely see improvement. We’re getting more comfortable now.”