Bears Scrimmage To Close Out Second Full Week Of Camp

BERKELEY – Eighteen different players combined to catch 32 passes including four for touchdowns to highlight Cal's scrimmage Saturday at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium. The Golden Bears ran just over 80 plays including 30 in a live tackling period that ended the workout.

Three of the four touchdown connections came in the live tackling period including two from quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who found Justin Richard Baker for a five-yard touchdown on his first drive and then finished the scrimmage by connecting with Jordan King in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard scoring strike. The other touchdown during the period came on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Zach Johnson to Chris Rogers, while Kai Millner hooked up with Tommy Christakos for the first touchdown of the scrimmage on a 31-yarder.

Jack Plummer was 12-of-17 for 107 yards as the quarterback of the No. 1 offense and led the Bears on a pair of drives that ended with Dario Longhetto field goals of 23 and 55 yards with the first drive covering 13 plays and 60 yards before the second one was eight plays and 29 yards in a two-minute situation.

"I thought we moved the ball really well, but we've just got to finish drives," Plummer said. "We can't be settling for field goals. We've got to get seven instead of three."

"We moved the ball and now it's about finishing in the red zone, which is a huge emphasis of ours," Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox added. "We'll continue to rep that during practice and create those situations in team periods and scrimmage situations."

Millner was 8-of-13 for 43 yards with the one touchdown and one interception while quarterbacking the second offense. His first drive of the scrimmage went for 12 plays and 50 yards and also produced a field goal by Longhetto of 33 yards.
Mendoza (5-5, 57 yards, 2 TD), Johnson (5-8, 30 yards, 1 TD) and Tyler Jensen (2-4, 19 yards) each got reps with the third offense.

Four of the 18 receivers who had catches shared the team lead with three (Christakos 3-41, 1 TD; Jeremiah Hunter 3-37; Baker 3-33, 1 TD; Mavin Anderson (3-26), while Ashton Stredick had a team-high 29 rushing yards on just two carries.
Three Cal players – Elijah Diaz, Oluwafemi Oladejo and Nate Rutchena – each had a scrimmage-high-equaling four tackles. Oladejo (-4 yards) and Rutchena (-1 yard) also each had 1.0 tackle for loss along with Trey Paster (-6 yards), Nate Burrell (-2 yards) and Ethan Saunders (-1 yard). Both Paster and Burrell also had 1.0 sack, while Collin Gamble had an interception for the only turnover of the scrimmage.

Cal will have Sunday off before returning for their final two open practices of fall camp Monday and Tuesday. The Bears will begin their regular-season practice schedule on Wednesday while continuing preparation for the team's 2022 season that begins against UC Davis at FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 3 (1:00 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Bay Area).

Tickets for the 2022 campaign are on sale now! Fans can purchase tickets directly online by visiting CalBears.com/tickets or calling 1 (800) GO-BEARS (press extension 1). Season-ticket members receive exclusive access to purchase parking for every home contest, as well as to buy tickets for all road games including at Notre Dame and any postseason events.