BearTalk

Defensive end Mustafa Jalil, sidelined the past few weeks by a knee injury, practiced on Tuesday and could be ready to play by Saturday against Southern Utah, coach Jeff Tedford said.

Here’s more on Cal’s D-line issues, plus other assorted notes.

There is nothing new to report yet on the status of OT Matt Summers-Gavin, who is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his injured left knee Tuesday afternoon. Will keep you posted.

A reminder to follow me on Twitter: Jeff Faraudo @Calbearsbang

If recent history is any indication, Nevada could have a rough time of it Saturday against Cal at Memorial Stadium.

According to a blog item from Chris Murray of the Reno Gazette-Journal, the Wolfpack is 0-10 in season openers against teams from BCS conferences (plus Notre Dame), dating back to 1992, when it became an FBS team.

Nevada has lost those games by an average margin of 30.2 points, and its offense has produced a paltry 13.1 points per game in those outings. None of the 10 games was closer than 14 points.

The Wolfpack is 4-23 overall vs. BCS teams in its FBS era, although one of the four victories was a 52-31 rout of Cal (in a non-opening game) two seasons ago.

Here are scores from those 10 openers:

My apologies for being absent from this space for several days — a computer virus shut me down over the weekend.

Attended Cal’s practice Tuesday, and the Bears did situational work in preparation for Wednesday morning’s first camp scrimmage.

Here’s my story from Wednesday morning’s paper, and a few additional notes from practice:

– The coaching staff will use performances at the scrimmage to begin developing a depth chart that determines practice reps leading to the Sept. 1 opener vs. Nevada. For example, coach Jeff Tedford said, the staff wants to identify seven or eight offensive linemen they can count on and who are versatile enough to play more than one position.

– Tedford said linebacker Khairi Fortt, the junior transfer from Penn State, won’t practice anytime soon. He reiterated that Fortt, who had knee surgery in the spring before leaving the Nittany Lions, has nothing to prove and won’t be rushed into action. Don’t expect Fortt for the first couple games. It’s possible he could use a medical redshirt and sit out, but the Bears are nowhere near making that decision.

– The competition for the No. 3 quarterback spot continues, and Tedford again praised the progress of sophomore Austin Hinder. He said the team would travel with at least three quarterbacks, possibly four, depending on personnel needs elsewhere. Reading between the lines, sounds like the coaching staff would like to have freshman Zach Kline on road trips whether he is in line to play this season or not.

About a half-hour before the end of practice Thursday, tight end Richard Rodgers injured his left shoulder while stretching to make a catch on a low pass.

Off came the shoulder pads. Rodgers tossed his gloves to the ground in frustration. His shoulder was taped and he was done for the day.

But coach Jeff Tedford said, “It’s nothing serious.”

The Bears certainly hope not. Rodgers has been one of the revelations of camp (and spring ball), expected to become a significant receiving target.

Tedford would not commit to whether Rodgers will practice Friday, but didn’t seem concerned about rushing him back onto the field. The Bears have 22 more days before their Sept. 1 opener vs. Nevada.

Here’s my notebook for Friday’s paper, including a lead segment on senior running back C.J. Anderson, who has made the improvements necessary to challenge Isi Sofele for the starting job.

– Meanwhile, Cal junior wideout Keenan Allen was named to Sports Illustrated’s preseason All-America second team.

A little late with this — and I’m just heading over to Thursday’s practice now — but here are some highlights from coach Jeff Tedford’s post-practice media session on Wednesday.

The big news is that the Bears won’t get into Memorial Stadium on Aug. 15, as they had expected.

“We’re hoping to be in there on the morning of the 16th, but that’s a moving target,” Tedford said.

They likely won’t be in the stadium permanently until Aug. 24 — one week before the Sept. 1 opener vs. Nevada.

“Again, don’t hold me to that. That’s just what I’m hearing,” Tedford said. “I thought we were going to be in there on the 15th for good, and we’re not.”

There still is lots of detail work to complete around the field, plus a couple big items, including paving the north tunnel into the bowl.

Tedford said he is not worried.

On other topics:

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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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