Cal’s offense, fourth in the Pac-12 overall and third in passing, has chugged along surprisingly well. That has obscured just how shallow its receiving corps are.
Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones have made a very strong argument for being the top wideout tandem in the Pac-12. Helped by Saturday’s career performance, Allen is averaging 122.8 yards per game (third in the conference). Cal pairs that number with Jones’ 93.8 (sixth), which makes it the only Pac-12 team to have two wide receivers in the top 10. (Colorado’s Rodney Stewart is ranked ninth, but he is technically a running back.)
Allen and Jones are also, however, the only two Bears who have totaled at least 100 reception yards this season.
The average Pac-12 team currently has roughly four receivers who have received triple-digit yardage. Arizona’s one-dimensional offense is tops with seven, and a pair of other teams are tied with Cal at two. Those teams are Utah and winless Oregon State, which has a decent shot at being one of the worst teams in the FBS this season.
During fall camp, Jeff Tedford named the top five receivers in the rotation. Let’s track the progress of the other three.
Michael Calvin
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior has been plagued by injuries, including an ACL tear that knocked out most of his 2008 season. During fall camp, he said that those injuries were the only things that have held him back in what has been a thoroughly mediocre career.
In four games this year, Calvin has six receptions and 84 yards. He is easily on pace to break his personal single-season records of 13 receptions and 147 yards, both marks he set in 2010.
Coleman Edmond
Edmond and Calvin were two players who passing game coordinator/receivers coach Eric Kiesau said needed to contribute after underachieving in 2010. Edmond has seen the vast majority of his action on the eight kicks he has returned this year. After adding a noticeable amount of muscle during the offseason, he has one seven-yard catch credited to him. (He did have a spectacular one-handed grab at Colorado that was ruled an incompletion, but two catches on the season can be as bad as one.)
Last Saturday in Seattle, true freshman tailback Brendan Bigelow took all five kick returns and totaled 93 yards. Edmond did not record any stats.
Kaelin Clay
The redshirt freshman, who has taken over Jahvid Best’s old number, is one of the fastest players on the roster. His size and speed made him an ideal slot receiver, and he certainly had a shot at being Cal’s No. 3 wideout. Jones and Allen are both big-bodied receivers who, while fast, aren’t blindingly so. Clay could have given the offense that extra dimension.
Then, he tore his meniscus on the very first day of fall camp. He healed slightly ahead of schedule, but then dropped off the depth chart and out of practices due to unspecified academic issues. Tedford said Clay isn’t ineligible, but he hasn’t traveled with the team.
Food for Thought
If you’ve followed Cal football this season, you’ve noticed that the Bears’ secondary hasn’t exactly been locking down opposing receivers. I don’t remember ever seeing a team win while allowing 284 yards to a single receiver, but take that as you will.
No one in the secondary has truly had a breakout season like safety Chris Conte, an eventual third-round draft pick, had last year. The starters this year are seniors Sean Cattouse and D.J. Campbell at safety, and junior Marc Anthony and sophomore Steve Williams at the corners. Junior Josh Hill comes out often in the nickel.
Cattouse is a physical player who is the unit’s clear leader, and Williams is tied for third in the Pac-12 in both pass break-ups and passes defended. The Bears’ pass defense, though, is seventh in the conference — 11th if you factor out the 28 yards it allowed in the home opener against Presbyterian.
Now for a game of what-if. Keenan Allen was ranked as the fifth-best recruit in his class, and the wide receiver has lived up to the hype. He was rated then, however, as the country’s top safety. Used all over the field in high school — he even punted from time to time — Allen could easily still be a two-way player.
When the five-star recruit was first signed, Tedford said he may be used occasionally in nickel formations. That plan was quickly scrapped after Allen showed off superstar potential at wideout, and to reverse course four games into his second season is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, but an interesting thought nonetheless.
The Greensboro, Calif., is probably much more valuable (and needed) in his current position, but how different would the team look if he were on the field more?
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