Today was the real test.

For the first time this fall camp, the Cal football team had the training wheels off, scrimmaging without step-by-step instruction from the coaches.

“It was a lot different. You’re on your own,” freshman wide receiver Kaelin Clay said. “There were a couple of plays that I messed up on, but for the most part I think I did pretty good.”

There seemed to be a general sense of agreement that the Bears did do pretty well – every offensive unit was able to move the ball, according to sophomore quarterback Beau Sweeney, and coach Jeff Tedford acknowledged the ever-improving play of Cal’s electric young wide receivers.

“I thought they did a real nice job today,” Tedford said. “Because they’re all young, you look for when they’re lined up, if they know their assignments. We feel pretty good about their ability to make plays, but when you’re that young and you have a whole offense, it can be easy to get confused over things.”

The media didn’t see much of the scrimmage – just the last few minutes’ worth, most of which was comprised of the field goal unit – so we’ll have to take Tedford’s word for it. Regardless of how they performed, though, there’s no doubt that the competition among the talent-rich receiver corps has excited the quarterbacks who throw to them.

“It’s a good mix,” Sweeney said. “The younger guys are extremely talented, but they’re really raw. I think that they’ll be awesome once they get it down. Mixing them with the older guys, they’re already pushing the older guys … It could be a pretty good combo.”

The scrimmage ran about half an hour over its scheduled time, but the Bears must have passed their test. After practice, the team loaded onto buses for an afternoon at Waterworld in Concord.

“It’ll be nice to get off my feet,” Sweeney said. “I’m just going to hang out in the lazy river and float around it a couple times.”

You Gotta Have Heart

Clay’s been in Berkeley most of the summer, but the Long Beach, Calif., native didn’t get to partake in too many drills. The eager freshman had to wait until he was cleared to play by team doctors.

Clay was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, a condition that he explains far better than this writer, or any Wikipedia article, can.

“The valves (of the heart) are shaped like a Mercedes Benz sign and mine are connected together,” Clay said. “Where the third one’s supposed to be, there’s a little hole where blood leaks out. I just have a greater risk of passing out, so they wanted to take time and make sure everything was alright. Everything is good is go.”

With proper surveillance, it will likely never be a problem and if past performances are any indication, having a heart condition hasn’t bothered Clay athletically. As a senior at Long Beach Poly High, he finished third state-wide in the 100-meter dash and rushed for over 1,000 yards on the gridiron.

Quick Hits

The field goal unit didn’t impress at the end of the scrimmage. Giorgio Tavecchio and backups David Seawright and Jed Barnett (whose first duty is backing up Bryan Anger at punter) all nailed the first attempt, a 31-yarder at the left hash mark. Vince D’Amato hit another from the same distance at the right hash, and then things started to go poorly.

Barnett missed from the right hash. The attempt was backed up to the 28-yard line, where Seawright, D’Amato and Tavecchio all missed. As is tradition, each miss meant another gasser for the team to run after practice, but all that could have been erased with one good attempt.

“It was double or nothing on the last one,” Tedford said.

Tavecchio lined up from 42 yards out and missed, awarding his teammates with eight gassers at the end of practice.

“He’s either a hero or a goat, which is typical of the real thing,” Tedford said.