Episode Transcript
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Oh, the Bears continue to crushit. We have seen to make some
massive s rides under Justin Wilcox,who we're going to hear from in just
a couple of moments. Back insideof San Francisco Studios, My cam and
Yogi Roth with you back in December, you were raving about this class.
Tell me about a lot of thetalent here. Big picture this for me,
just how much of an impact canthis group make on this Cal team
this upcoming season. Well, Kylehas depth defensively now, so you look
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at some of the players, they'regoing to have to compete at really high
level of play, like Maio Sepafor instance, their best linebacker. In
my eyes, they got some defensivelinemen that will compete, but they don't
have to play right now. Defensivelyand on the flip side, offensively,
they got five receivers that can stretchto the field. They got tight ends,
they can move people and get downthe seams. That's what they lacked,
right. They got a new offensivecoordinator, new offensive system, new
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offensive playmakers. I think they'll putup more points, all right, So
some big questions for Justin Wilcox,who joins us right now. The head
coach of the Bears. Coach.I don't even know where to start here,
but I think this new title thatI heard on the radio this morning,
we had a simulcast on Pactrol Network. Yogi was doing the show with
Guy Heybraman on Sirious XM Radio JWtwo point oh. What's the deal with
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this? Two point oh deal?I don't know. That was all Yogi.
I'm not sure what to think aboutthat, if that's good or bad.
It sounds very twenty twenty, soI'll go with it for now.
And I'm just not exactly sure whatit means quite yet. Does it have
to do anything to do with thefacial hair? Like, what is going
on right now? I know that'sI got caught off guard. I was
like, who is this person?Yeah, that's really more just that's my
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sensitive skin and I don't like toshave, so once in a while I'll
have some friends or family members thatmake a comment about how it doesn't look
that great. So I kind ofam over it at this point though.
And the good thing is is thistime of year, we're focused on football.
We're in meetings and offense and defense, and we're working with the players,
and they don't seem to mind.Okay, I'll tell you this one
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if if it's still there, youknow, there's going to be more comments
about that facial hair. But Ido want to talk to you about football.
Biggest change I think to your footballteam has to do with the offensive
coordinator spot. But while when obviouslyleaving the program to become a head coach,
Bill Musgrave comes in explain to mewhy he's the right fit for your
team. Yeah. So, youknow, in this business there is change
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and losing bow and coach Greywood whoretired was one of the best of all
time and Nick Edwards, it wasall great opportunities for them, and I
wish him nothing but the best.And anytime there's change, we look at
it as a chance to get better. And you know, and talking to
some people throughout December and right aroundNew Year's it became very obvious that Bill
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Musgrave was a perfect fit for us. And I've known Bill a long time.
He's got an unbelievable knowledge base interms of offensive football and he's a
really an incredible teacher. And Italked to a lot of people who have
worked with him. I know alot of those people very well and just
what he brings philosophically, and Ithink the fit within our program, the
type of person that he is,the type of teacher he is, the
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way who'll work with our players.He's a really special guy and we're show
we are thrilled to have him.He'll make a great impact on us.
Coach I think of him, Ithink, Angus mclaure, Marcel Yates in
the secondary now. I mean thewhole two point oh thing is like there's
a reset and here comes some newfaces for you that that was the idea
behind that. Oh good, okay, all right, that makes me feel
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better. Yeah, yeah, don'twor. I know you're not a me
guy, so it's not necessarily aboutyou, but about the program that you're
guiding. What's the energy you've beenlike, I know it's been very fracture.
It's only been a week maybe sincehe signed some of those guys as
coaches, but how how is it? It's been great and all those guys
just the type of people that theyare. Aristotle Thompson, who's coaching our
running backs, I've known him forever. Angus McClure, I've known Marcel Yates
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for a long, long time andworked with him and the guys that we
have in our building are incredible andadding some new faces into our locker room
as well with some midyear transfers.With all the returners coming back, there's
a ton of great energy. Theyou know, the work in the weight
room and out on the practice fieldin terms of their strength and conditioning is
going really well. Right now.We're having a chance to get around them
more and more now that recruiting's wrappedup, So the energy is great.
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It's fun to be in meetings.I mean, we've got offense, defensive,
special teams going and we're really allin on football right now, which
is a fun time of year gettingready for spring football with the players.
I'm curious to stick with your currentteam right now. Like we get this
from Roxy Bernstein all the time.I'll Texas the graphic of like Cal National
champions when Chase Garbers finishes the game, because you went undefeated with that last
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year. But on a serious note, him healthy coin dang being a leader
bringing back Cambin. There's the graphingfor you. What is the vibe around
maybe some wins that were left onthe table a year ago, well,
I think we all look at youan opportunity for us to get better,
and it starts with me and thenevery one of our players, And now
is a really great moment for us. There's a ton of momentum, not
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only in the building but outside thebuilding, and it's our time to make
a move. And I think there'surgency when you watch the guys work out.
There's certainly urgency in our staff meetings. There's a lot of excitement,
but we also know it just takesa lot of hard work. And so
what we do from now until youknow, September one or whatever, for
I guess August twenty eighth or wheneverthat first game is is so critically important.
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And we have the right people.We got a lot of returners,
as you say, we got somegreat leaders coming back, and we got
some young guys who are ready totake the next step. But more importantly,
I think everybody is invested in himon the same page, and that's
what makes it so much fun.Coach, I saw the numbers with chess
carvers when he is healthy, andit's obviously a dramatic difference. Do you
bubble wrap him in the offseason?Yeah? Yeah, No, you know,
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Chase did a great job and keepinghim healthy as a priority, and
I think, you know, heis also going to get better as a
player. I mean, Chase hasgotten better and better the more he's played,
and I think that some of theexperience around him is going to help
tremendously. We'll be smart about howwe practice everybody, but Chase is a
competitor and he's going I want toget out there and mix it up,
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but you know, I think it'sit's important to keep your quarterback healthy and
we'll definitely keep that in mind andhow we practice and how we play.
But you know, I don't thinkChase wants us, you know, walking
around not touching them all the timeeither, But we'll make sure we're smart
about it. Love that and I'msure he was just as happy as anybody
with some of the gets on offense. DJ Rogers, Jeremiah Hunter, Tommy
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Christakos. I look at those threeguys and there's others, but as playmakers
that can stretch the field, doyou expect them to come in and not
only compete but have an impact onthis offense? Were Well, we were
certainly going to prepare him for that, you know, there's some talented guys
that are coming in now. Theadjustment, you know, you never really
know until they get here and howthey're going to pick it up and how
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they'll acclimate. But we felt like, especially offensively, some of those skill
positions, the tight end, therunning backs there and the guys that can
come in and provide some competition forour team. And some of those guys
are here now and some of themwill be joining us in June. But
certainly excited about the group as awhole because there are some real athletic guys
and some guys that can make someplays down the field. Coach, can
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you just take us inside what theconversations are like? Not to circle back
on Bill, but in a lotof ways, I'm seeing some of the
film that and the players at Yogi'sreferencing on the offensive side, and because
there is a little bit of areset with a new coordinator. What are
the conversations like when you're doing yourinterviews with potential candidates. Are you telling
them what you want to see fromthe offense and what you think that the
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team can do schematically or are theytelling you what they would bring to the
table. Oh, I think it'sa combination of both and just to make
sure it's a fit on both sides. And you know, there's certain things
that we want to do in termsof personnel groupings, style of play,
run game, pass game, andhow we view that. And you know,
Bill Musgrave has been around a longtime and coached a lot of football.
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He does have a system and alot of those things truly marry up
with how we want to do this. I also think it fits to who
we are as a program, whoare going to recruit the type of players
we want on our team and toleverage you know, smart guys, some
guys with some size. Also havesome playmakers that can get down the field,
be able to run the ball,play action, create some vertical big
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games. So you know, Ithink it's it's a combination of all those
things to make sure it's a rightfit. But Bill certainly checked all those
boxes, and more than anything,I just wanted to make sure that he
wanted to do it, and becauseinitially I kind of, you know,
I wasn't sure that he wanted tocome back to college. I mean,
he's been a coordinator in the NFLfor so long. But after talking to
him and We had a number ofconversations, long ones, and he was
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really eager to do it, andit's been a great fit for us and
we're fortune that he's here. Speakingof being eager, it was fun to
watch Jordan Kanashik heading into that recordsetting season. Then Evan Weaver's turn.
Is coin Dang going down the trackthat those other two linebackers went down.
Yeah, that's you know, Coinhad a great junior years. He's grown
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a lot as a player. Ithink he's going to continue to get better
and better. He can do alot of different things. He's a different
style of player than Evan. He'sa different style of player than Jordan,
but he approaches the game the sameway in terms of meetings, practice,
how hard he works at it,you know, the level of detail that
he brings to those meetings and walkthrough. So I'm really eager for him.
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I think he's going to get betterand better. I know he is
because he's a talented guy who reallycares about his craft. Coach, you
know, Yogi's as creative as theycome. I know coin Dang is his
favorite name to say in the conference. You guys did those awesome commercials on
campus A year ago with Evan Weaver. Get with Yogi on like that next
commercial with coin in it. Idon't know what it is, but something
tells me you can come up withsomething. I'll get our creative team working
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on that. I'm sure Yogi willhave something up as sleeve. But we
got a lot of smart people aroundhere. I'm not sure I could come
up with it, but we gota lot of smart people around here.
They could. Well, you crushedit in that commercial, so best of
luck of maybe we get your sadcard. And you know, if this
coaching then doesn't work out, youknow, you have a career as an
actor, apparently as an extra ifthere's another Game of Thrones remix, which
probably an old joke right now,but if stuff continues, I think it's
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appropriate. Yeah, we'll see coach. Thanks again. All right, thanks
guys. All right, there's alot of reason for optimism around this program.
Take me through this. I thinkon the offensive side is where I
want to go, because that's stillthe biggest question mark. I think what
Justin's proven he can do is leada defense that is as good as pretty
much anyone in the entire country.Garber's healthy feel good about this team.
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Who are the playmakers we should keepan eye out for. I think Christopher
Brown. I mean, he's adude when he's healthy, Mike, there's
an argument that he's the most completeback in this conference. I felt that
watching tape on him last year,but we didn't see it every week,
and he saw it in flashes.He saw it different moments. You look
at Nico Romihio. Now there's competitionat the slat. You know, they
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bring in Justin Baker, a widereceiver from Kennedy Catholic, a big time
high school that spell small as camefrom in the Seattle community. So I
think that they have competitive depth atevery spot, and they have depth where
they can project for the future.Now, I mean, think of what
happened last year on the offensive front. They lost two starters, Like real
dudes. Right here, you seeJustin Baker, a guy that can't dealt
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with everything, writes me you,Mike, Yeah, I think he's his
class president, very organized and diligentyoung man. But he's mature enough to
handle the environment. And when whatJustin said to me, I'm gonna repeat
this one from now until the firstgame we call of them the next season,
when they play um LV, hesaid, quote, it's time to
make a move, like they feelit, like this's a great out.
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They've built the program right. Thisis not a place where you can turn
around tomorrow. Think about his firstclass, I want to say they signed
like thirteen guys because he got thejob. I was like, we can't
quick fix this thing with j Cor mid your guys or go out of
the footprint. They recruited high schools, and they recruited big high schools,
and they recruited guys that can comeplay and develop. May Al Sepa probably
being the most impactful guy even thoughhe's on defense in this class. So
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I really like it. I thinkthis is a team when you look at
their games last year and Chase wasinjured. If they go the other way,
this is a team that might bea double digit win team, you
know. And I don't think whenwe look at them and you look at
their schedule, Jewel, anything's crazy. I mean, they're gonna start the
season off at least they shoot inmy eyes three and oz and then they
get to buy in Utah. Seewhat's up. You know they're gonna have
a lot of juice early on inthe season with a veteran quarterback and a
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new offense. I mean, thinkabout the early stretch of last season,
right to win in SEC Country,a win in Seattle on a Sunday morning,
because that was kind of wild onein terms of mother nature. I
mean, the pieces are there,and I think the one thing people forget
since in signing day, I thinkit's appropriate to bring this up. Just
how everyone talks about Stanford and Iget that, but Cow's the number one
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public institution too, Like they gotsome smart kids and it's a different level
of maturity on that campus and justinthat's been on full display with a lot
of these guys as we continue totalk to them and be hard to score
on, and I think they'll scorepoints and because of that accumun effort.
Yeah, just start thinking about thatcommercial coin done. Yeah, they don't
need me, he said, theydon't need me. Get the full creative
team. I want to rolling.Yeah. Saturday got covered. April eleven,
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Pack twelve Network, the PAC twelveNow app. We got Cow spring
game ready for you to watch.Five