Senior Allan Bridgford, Cal’s most experienced quarterback, has left the team to decide if he wants to remain part of the program after being told his spring practice opportunities would diminish.
“He kind of got some news from us that he was going to get some reduced reps. Decided he going to take a day or two to kind of assess things some things,” coach Sonny Dykes said.
Dykes said Bridgford will discuss his options with his family over the weekend and report back to the coaching staff by Monday.
Dykes said Bridgford would be welcome to return. “It wouldn’t be a big deal,” Dykes said.
But freshman Jared Goff, redshirt freshman Zach Kline and sophomore Austin Hinder have “kind of distinguished themselves and deserve to get more reps,” Dykes said.
Bridgford started three games last season — the opener vs. Nevada and the final two games after Zach Maynard suffered a season-ending knee injury. He completed 45.6 percent of his passes for 277 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. The Bears did not win any of the three games.
Without Bridgford at practice Wednesday, Goff, Kline and Hinder had what Dykes called “their best performance to date” in Cal’s fifth spring workout.
“Hinder has done some things pretty good, has gotten better and better and better every time he’s come out here,” Dykes said. “I think we’ve all been surprised with Goff and how far along he is for a young guy. Kline’s got a lot of talent and continues to do some good things.
“All of them are dealing with the same thing, which is a little bit of (in)consistency. But I thought today was their best performance by far. I think the guys are starting to pick things up.
“The ball is coming out earlier, on time. The ball is coming out to spots on the field that make sense. And we had some receivers that made more plays today on balls. It’s starting to look more like a semblance of an offense. We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s starting to get cleaner and cleaner and cleaner.”
The Bears plan to scrimmage during a portion of Saturday’s workout, which runs from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Dykes said he anticipates releasing an initial depth chart by Monday.
But he cautioned that it will be very tentative, and said it’s possible spring practice will end March 23 without the starting quarterback job resolved.
“I would think it’s probable. We’ll come out with somebody we think is a starter, but that’s going to be decided in (August) two-a-days,” he said. “So I don’t know if it does us any good to name a starter in the spring.
“If there is one, we’ll name one. If it’s still a tight competition we’ll carry it into the summer. Even if we name a starter, he’ll still have to prove himself during camp. We’ll see how it plays out.”
NOTE: Dykes said that senior safety Alex Logan, who was working with the first defense, will miss the remainder of spring ball with a knee injury. He does not believe Logan will require surgery.
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