BearTalk

Cal basketball coach Mike Montgomery said this morning he’s still not sure whether junior guard Brandon Smith will be available for Thursday’s game at Washington.

He said he’s been optimistic before the past two games, but Smith didn’t score well enough on the reaction test given to athletes who experienced concussions.

He will undergo the test at least once more before Thursday,

Smith suffered his concussion two weeks ago Thursday in the final minute of the Bears’ loss at Oregon State.

– Meanwhile, UW coach Lorenzo Romar has ruled out sophomore C.J. Wilcox — the Huskies’ No. 2 scorer at 15.5 ppg — this week, meaning he will miss games vs. Pac-12 co-leaders Cal and Stanford.

“He’s very doubtful for next weekend,” Romar told the Seattle Times. “We’re hopeful that when we go to Arizona, he may be able to give us something. But he’s very doubtful. I wouldn’t plan on him being able to go next week.

Junior guard Brandon Smith was back at practice today after missing Sunday’s game at Oregon and Tuesday’s practice because of a concussion. Barring a setback, he figures to be available Thursday night when the Bears (13-4, 3-1 Pac-12) face Colorado (11-4, 3-0) at Haas Pavilion.

Coach Mike Montgomery said Wednesday morning he had expected Smith to be ready Tuesday, but Smith still was experiencing headache symptoms after his hard fall to the floor in the final minute of Thursday’s game at Oregon State.

Cal got back to work Friday with its first practice since learning that it will play Texas at the Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl.

Everyone present and accounted for.

Well, except for the coach.

Jeff Tedford spent the day with a group of potential recruiting who are making a weekend campus visit. He will be back at practice Saturday and Sunday.

The mood was upbeat and businesslike. The players were excited to get back to practice after four days off this week, and jazzed to be playing Texas.

The game matches a pair of 7-5 teams, but the Bears aren’t looking at San Diego as a vacation destination.

“We have to win this game,” said quarternack Zach Maynard, who grew up a Longhorns fan. “It’s going to put us in a good position for next season. We’re taking this game very seriously.”

“They’ve been good for a long time and still are good,” added sophomore wideout Keenan Allen, the first-team All-Pac-12 selection. “Neither one of us, in my opinion, should be 7-5. We should be way better than that.

“We lost a couple games early in the season when we didn’t have our mind right. We’re ready to go now.”

Friday was mostly about shaking some rust off. They kept the plays simple and have not begun to implement the gameplan for the Longhorns. Maynard said that will begin Saturday.

Wide receiver Michael Calvin, who missed the Arizona State game after injuring his knee against Stanford, practiced. But Tedford was not around to make it clear whether Calvin will be available for the bowl.

Likewise, no definitive word yet on outside linebackers Chris McCain (concussion) and David Wilkerson (knee). Hope to get an update Saturday.

Cal punter Bryan Anger is officially a candidate for the Ray Guy Award, it was announced today. Anger was on the preseason watch list but the list of 54 official candidates was revealed today by the Augusta Sports Council.

Anger is currently 12th in the nation in punt average at 45.2 yards per punt. That number has been brought down by a handful of rugby punts he has been asked to do this season against teams with aggressive punt block schemes.

The Ray Guy Award is given annually to the nation’s top punter. Anger was a semifinalist for the award in 2008 and 2010.

As I reported in an earlier post, Jeff Tedford said today that the quarterback position will be competitive this week and didn’t name a starter for Saturday’s game against Washington State.

Here are some of Tedford’s comments this afternoon regarding the quarterback situation:

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• The “Greensboro Five” formed an unlikely pipeline to Cal.
• Saturday’s game will provide a reunion for the Kendricks brothers.
• UCLA is facing some tough decisions about redshirts.
• The Bruins need to start better against Cal.

It was only one game, but quarterback Zach Maynard said he felt much more comfortable during Saturday’s win over Utah than he had the two previous games. The question now whether it will be more of the same moving forward or more like the Oregon and USC games.

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As mentioned in an earlier post, the biggest news today was that Marc Anthony will start Saturday at UCLA. Granted, Anthony has been a starter since the beginning of last season, but with the development of true freshman Stefan McClure, it seemed as though Anthony may have a battle on his hands to get his starting job back.

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• Cal coach Jeff Tedford wants his team to ignore UCLA’s plight.
• Jon Wilner gives the Bears high marks for the Utah win.
• UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel is hesitant to play a young quarterback.
• Neuheisel says his team can be fixed.
• Cal’s weekly game notes.
• UCLA’s weekly game notes.

Despite amassing “only” 78 yards during Saturday’s win over Utah, Cal wide receiver Keenan Allen still leads the country in receiving yards per game.

Saturday’s performance lowered Allen’s average to 129.43 receiving yards per game. USC’s Robert Woods, after gaining just 36 yards the previous week against Cal, had a big game at Notre Dame with 12 catches for 119 yards. That puts his average at 128.86 receiving yards per game, just behind Allen.