BERKELEY – Cal held its first football practice of the spring Monday at California Memorial Stadium and as usual the excitement and energy surrounding the first official team practice of the calendar year was running high.

"It's been a while," head coach Justin Wilcox said. "This is our second spring so not much is new, and it was great to hit the ground running. There's still a lot of teaching going on so we spent a lot of time on that, but it's accelerated because everybody has been in it for a year."

"I was talking to some of my offensive teammates about how much easier this is just mentally [than last year]," Patrick Laird said. "We can come out here and work on the small fundamental things that we want to get better at, but mentally we know a lot more. We can come out here and not stress [about every little thing]. You can really fine-tune your game that way. That's a big difference."

The Golden Bears had more excitement following the practice when Oakland Raiders' quarterback David Carr spoke to the team. Carr played collegiately for Cal defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach Tim DeRuyter when he was the head coach at Fresno State.

"It's a testament to the coaching staff," Patrick Laird said about Carr's visit. "They have so many connections to so many great players. If they weren't good coaches and coaches that focused on building relationships then those guys wouldn't want to come back."

Carr's message focused on living the lifestyle it takes to be successful, being 'the best you that you can be' and 'picking one thing and dominating it' among other topics.

"It was really impressive to hear him talk," Wilcox added. "He's very self-disciplined person and highly motivated."

"For him to just be able to share his knowledge of the game and his lifestyle was huge for us," Luc Bequette said. "He was really stressing that little things like nutrition and sleep are all that matter. That really spoke to me because that really is something that I need to work on. He really was talking about being the best you can possibly be."

Carr's message about what it takes to be successful was in-sync with thoughts shared by Wilcox and Laird after the workout.

"It's time for us to take the next step," Wilcox said. "Where we finished last year simply isn't good enough. We've got to get better across the board … the entire program has to improve."

"I just want to be a part of a winning program," Laird said. "I want to turn this program into a traditionally winning program. If I could have anything in my senior year at Cal I think it would be to just win as many games as possible."

Cal's next open practice is Friday, April 6 (3:45 pm PT), while the on-field portion of the annual Cal Football Pro Day on Tuesday, March 20 (11 am PT) will also be open to the public.

Cal's full schedule of open practices and additional information on spring football is available online at CalBears.com/springball18.