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Football: Spring practice preview — offensive line
By Jonathan Okanes
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 3:10 pm in Football, off-season stuff.
RETURNING STARTERS: Matt Summers-Gavin, Chris Guarnero, Justin Cheadle, Mitchell Schwartz.
WHO TO WATCH OUT FOR: Brian Schwenke
POSSIBLE SURPRISE: Dominic Galas
THE BREAKDOWN: Despite the fact that four of five starters return along the offensive line, there could be a lot of moving parts this spring. Five players will get a serious look at guard — Summers-Gavin, Cheadle, Schwenke, Guarnero and Galas.
Summers-Gavin and Cheadle are the incumbents at guard, but the Bears aren’t sure that Guarnero should remain at center. So Guarnero, who started three games at left guard in 2008 before suffering a season-ending foot injury, is going to get some looks at guard this spring as well. Same goes for Galas, who also is a natural center but is loaded with potential and could make a case for playing time.
Another reason for getting Guarnero and Galas a look at guard is because the coaching staff is also high on another center, Mark Brazinski. If Guarnero or Galas were to move to guard, that would bump Brazinski up the depth chart into the No. 2 center role.
And then there’s Schewnke, who was such a revelation last season that the Bears ditched his redshirt year so he could work with the offense instead of the scout team all season. Schwenke ended up as the No. 2 right guard and saw some limited playing time.
Another reason for getting more players into the mix at guard is the injury history of Summers-Gavin, who missed five games last year with a sprained shoulder and concussion and missed the entire 2007 season with a concussion.
Coach Jeff Tedford said Donovan Edwards likely will begin spring practice as the left tackle, replacing the departed Mike Tepper. Schwartz should remain at right tackle. “We’ll see what happens through the spring,” Tedford said.
Tedford said it’s probably still too early to expect a contribution from highly regarded redshirt freshmen Charles Siddoway and Charles Ragland, although he said Siddoway is “further along right now as far as being able to contribute. That being said, Siddoway could be in position to compete for the No. 3 tackle job along with Sam DeMartinis and Tyler Rigsbee.
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March 7th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Thanks for the excellent update, J.O. Hard to believe that we’ve already almost rolled around to a new season. I think that the Bears are going to just concentrate on being the best that they can be this year, and not worry about who or what they are supposed to be. I think that this will result in 2010 being a great season. Go Bears! Beat everybody!
March 7th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
I hope that Tyler Rigsbee gets in the mix. He is a Pleasant Valley High School alum, same as AR. His dad is the athletic director at Butte College, and AR’s former coach. Go Bears!
March 7th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
How about giving insight or even ranking the offensive line coach? Cal’s o-line didn’t do so great this past season. No major blow outs but Riley rarely had enough time to set-up and throw and when he did, he usually did quite well.
Certainly not all of Riley’s circumstance is because of the o-line but I don’t think they helped enough either. I think it’s reasonable to think if Riley had more time to even drop into the pocket, and wasn’t hurried and harassed constantly, he would be more consistent and better.
March 8th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Wins – ASU, WSU, pucla, either Stanford or Arizona
Losses – USC, both Oregons, UW, either Stanford or Arizona
Tied for 5th = Nut Bowl
March 8th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Serious question for More NC,
After 4 years, don’t you get tired of posting the same crap over and over again.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:15 am
MoreNCS_are_ignored – troll post blocked
oh, so sad
O line needs to take a major, major step forward this year if the team has any hopes of competing. I too would have liked to see an assessment of Coach Marshall, what he learned, what adjustments he plans on making going forward, etc. Last year was a major step down in the quality of play on the line, which in turn negatively impacted nearly every other area of the teams performance. I think that the perceived upgrades in special teams and defense are great (time will tell on these) but I have not heard a lot – wait, strike that, I’ve heard nothing about a focus on improved o-line play.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:31 am
So 4 of 5 coming back from a mediocre line, or at least a unit that performed in a medicore fashion. We all certainly hope that they take a big step forward and show great improvement. I think that is a good possibility.
I think that the predictability of the play calling didn’t do the line any favors. You could line up a good college defense against a decent pro offense and if you told the defense what the offense was going to run, that offense would struggle at times.
Several Oregon players were quoted in saying they KNEW what Cal was going to run most of the time. To that, I say who didn’t? I’m sure all of the opponents that hammered us last year did.
If you want to see improvement in the line play, and we all do, more creative and less predictable play calling would sure help.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:32 am
going into last year, i kept saying the ol would be a liability for the team in 09. with more experience and hopefully motivation after an embarrassing season, i think there will be notable improvement. receiving corps should be improved as well. there should be no more excuses for riley, which i am guilty of doling out.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Looks like the troll ran out of opportunities to talk trash about Cal basketball over on the SFGate comments sections, so its very ugly head is being reared here again.
Ignore the troll. Feeding it only encourages its anti social behavior and gives it a life it would not otherwise have.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
BlueNGold-
Way to lead by example.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
…I like the potential starting 5 – the OL depth is what needs to be built on as there are always injuries, minor or otherwise…
March 9th, 2010 at 8:37 am
wins: 2003-2005 forfeited
NC 2004- forfeited
PAC 10 Championship 2003-2005- forfeited
Bush Heisman- stripped
2010= no bowl game
2010 TV= maybe
Institutional pride with football on probation= non existent
Kiffin’s chance of success running a clean program = slim to none