Cal opens football practice in brave new world: 5 areas the Bears must sort out

BERKELEY — Cal coach Justin Wilcox called it “the best day of the year.”

The Golden Bears opened fall camp Wednesday and the mood at Memorial Stadium was what you’d expect.

“The energy’s through the roof,” Wilcox said.

Cal, of course, is embarking on a new landscape this season, moving into the Atlantic Coast Conference after more than a century in the Pac-12.

“You’ve got the new players, the new teams, different challenges,” said Wilcox, whose Bears were picked 10th in the 17-team ACC, according to a media poll released Wednesday. “It changes every year, but this year it’s changing significantly. A number of teams that we’ll be playing that we haven’t played before. Same goes for them. It is exciting. There’s a lot of firsts.”

More nationwide change is coming as soon as next season, assuming a proposed settlement in an anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA is finalized and becomes reality.

College athletes will become full professionals as the NCAA distributes $2.78 billion in damages to anyone who played sports as far back as 2016. At the same time, schools will be allowed to pay players in all sports from a yearly pool of $23.1 million.

Wilcox said he’s been assured by campus officials that “we’ll be able to support football at the highest level in order to compete where we want to compete.”

He declined to comment on how the money would be distributed among Cal’s 28 sports teams, noting that athletic director Jim Knowlton and others are wrestling with those issues.

Another outcome of the lawsuit is that football rosters will be limited to 105 athletes, all of whom would become eligible for scholarships. Currently there is no roster limit, but FBS schools can only carry 85 scholarship players.

The change was made to guard against wealthy schools stockpiling too many players, but Wilcox is worried about the effect it will have on non-scholarship walk-ons.

“I have concerns that guys that had gotten opportunities in the past are going to get maybe fewer opportunities,” he said Wilcox. “Guys could still walk on, but the number is going to shrink.”

The Bears currently have 119 players on their roster, including 34 walk-ons.

“We’ve had great success with walk-ons here,” Wilcox said. “How’s that all going to sort out, we’ll see.”

Here are five personnel issues the Bears hope to untangle before their Aug. 31 opener at home vs. UC Davis:

— Choose a quarterback: Returning redshirt sophomore starter Fernando Mendoza remained No. 1 after competing through spring with North Texas transfer Chandler Rogers. But their duel is not over. Wilcox said Mendoza has improved since last season but the Bears brought in Rogers (7,096 passing yards and 53 touchdowns in three seasons at Louisiana-Monroe and North Texas) because he brings experience.

— Establish roles for 43 newcomers: The Bears welcome 20 freshmen and we know a select few of them will find their way into the field this fall. They also brought in 23 transfers, virtually all of whom they expect to contribute. Best bets to land starting roles: WRs Tobias Merriweather (Notre Dame) and Mikey Matthews (Utah), ILB Teddye Buchanan (UC Davis), CB Marcus Harris (Idaho) and PK Ryan Coe (North Carolina).

— Figure out the interior defensive line: Perhaps no position group is as unsettled as this one, where Nate Burrell, Ricky Correia and Derek Wilkins return and transfers Aidan Keanaaina (Notre Dame) and T.J. Bollers (Wisconsin) arrive to shake things up. Ethan Saunders, a fourth-year player, retired from football over the summer following a series of injuries.

— Settle on a pecking order at running back: Jaydn Ott will chase All-America honors but the Bears feel good about the players they have in reserve at the position. That includes Old Dominion transfer Kadarius Calloway, who had 236 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Marshall last season and signed out of high school with Alabama. Others in the mix: Justin Williams-Thomas, Byron Cardwell and Javian Thomas.

— Find a left tackle: Nick Morrow, a 6-8, 305-pound redshirt freshman who played tight end in high school, showed great promise in spring ball. But he has never played in a college game, so expect offensive line coach (and new offensive coordinator) Mike Bloesch to tinker with the spot throughout fall camp.