Justin Wilcox Discusses California's Opening Week Preparations for UC Davis, Cal's 2024 Season

[Music] all right we are here for the week one press conference with Travers family head football coach Justin Wilcox prior to the season opener here at California Memorial Stadium against UC Davis we'll go ahead and get questions started as always if you have a question go ahead and put it in the chat and we will call on you we'll start with Jeff Fado from Cal Sports report go ahead Jeff Justin I'm not going to ask you the question you think I'm going to ask you I'll uh stead uh you've got a lot of change on your team on both sides of the ball awful lot of new players transfer portal was pretty pretty busy do you have a sense of what your team's going to look like or do you have to really wait until Saturday afternoon to know that I think the true test is you know game day Jeff I have a lot of confidence in the guys that uh returned and then the guys that we added um either through the transfer portal or high school um but yeah there is a process of in terms of getting play playing together creating that chemistry uh I think which is really really important on offense defenses special teams so ultimately the test is is on Saturdays but uh I'm excited for them I'm excited for us and um you know we we'll have a lot of growth uh you know just being out there on the field together for the first time and we'll need to make sure that each and every play Series game that we're out there that we're uh we're getting a little bit better have you ever coached a team with this many new players and how do you think they're developing that chemistry so far I have not uh it's just part of the era that we're in but I think they've done a really good job uh starting way back in January when some of these newcomers joined us and then again in in June of uh working together U on and off the field you know I think guys recognize that they you know team chemistry is critically important just like blocking and tackling is and spending time with each other outside of the building is is key to that and they did a a really nice job of that thank you all right next question will be from Kyle no from the daily cow hey coach uh obviously a familiar face on the opposing sideline this Saturday with Tim plow uh what's your mindset facing off against him and what are you expecting from this EC Davis team well I know Tim well he's a heck of a coach uh heck of a person they're going to be really well coached uh in All Phases of the game uh I know those guys are going to come in here prepared they got good players and so we got a ton of respect for that team and their coaches and uh yeah it'll be a hardfought game I know that and I know our team's going to be excited to play too you know it's uh first game of the year uh first time for a lot of them in a cal uniform so uh it's an exciting time thank you coach all right Jim Miguel from Baron cider hey Justin can you touch a little bit on who you expect to miss this first game um well whoever we've who who have we let you know um not nobody that's uh we're expecting everybody to be prepared and ready ready for action and there'll be some game time decisions a little bit deeper question you're heading into your eighth season um I know you're a competitive guy and and uh a bowl game's the minimum standard for you kind of took some baby steps last year getting in uh to The Independent Bowl and how you address the staff and yourself in terms of accountability and expectations as a staff heading into the season our job is to maximize every opportunity we get to be on the field and you're right it's about winning and uh winning you know comes down to usually a couple small things and we've got to do a better job there than we've done in the past I mean so that's recruiting depth development physically it's schemes it's the players performing it critical moments it's all those things because if you look back in the past few years the the number of one scorer games that we were on the wrong end of isn't acceptable so uh our job is to identify what needs to improve and give the players the absolute best opportunity to make those improvements and how we train them how we prepare them and how we practice and then ultimately it's it's shared responsibility between the coaches and the players that we go out and perform on Saturdays through this month of preparation for the season do you see the steps in the right direction absolutely I mean it's been an incredibly competitive Camp um there's some you know like there is some uh players that are going to step forward when when it goes live and it's game time that I'm really excited to watch and see and um I would say there's you know a number of positions where you know there isn't a real pecking order quite yet in the depth chart and how they perform you know this week preparing uh on Saturday and game day uh that's where the dep chart will begin to to settle more and more is the guys that show up and compete at a high level on game day and so I'm excited to see who that's going to be uh and a lot of guys are going to get those opportunities all right Thomas D from right for California good afternoon Justin you've seen several different itations of this team throughout your time as head coach and you've seen how this group has come together through Spring ball summer workouts and Al Paul Camp why is this the group that's going to make noise in the ACC well again it's comes down to the the smallest of things and it's making the critical plays and key moments um we have some really good players who have who are returning we had some guys last year who got valuable experience and then we added a number of players in the off season that made the position battles uh much more intense so the idea is you want Iron to sharpen iron and the competition to bring out the best in everybody and then when we have the opportunity to make a play in a key moment uh that we make it and the hard thing is you never know EX exactly what when that key moment's coming and so um I think our players done a heck of a job uh preparing our coaches done a great job with them and and now it's time to go play and you know I'm not expecting we're going to aim for Perfection um I'm not expecting it to go perfectly and then we got to continue to improve like I said even throughout this week during the game and each and every game uh following up because that's what good teams do thank you next one will be Jake Curtis from Kyle SPS report be your starting quarterback we will have a starting quarterback I'm not going to announce it today uh I feel really good about the quarterback room um it's been very competitive in there and really looking forward to to watching that position compete what are what are the benefits of not announcing what are the benefits to announcing that's not my question my my question is are the benefits not announcement well um I don't see that it helps our team right now to be honest with you Jake oh one last thing do you foresee more than one quarterback plan in the first half uh it's possible all right we'll go to Steve croner from the SF Chronicle how you doing good how are you good uh kind of a big picture question um I'm not old enough to have seen the past 70 years of Cal football but I seem probably the past 5050 and you were on the staff of one of three teams in the past 70 years of Cal that won 10 games when you were 2004 what are some of the characteristics beyond having Aaron Rogers of course of that team that you could see or at least see develop in this team to make it the fourth 10- win team at Cal in the past 70 years that's a great question Steve um well you know it's hard to dismiss the talent you know when you have Aaron Rogers and Marshawn and that group of guys I mean those guys are you know some of the best to ever play their positions and so uh we had a coach Tedford had a great coaching staff he did a phenomenal job uh and those guys were Elite level players um I think the competitiveness uh was obvious and I thought the uh the offense and defense back and forth in practice I remember how competitive that was and that gives me uh you know you always want to see that you want to see the offense and the defense go back and forth during practice and and see those earn plays and not you know one side making a a really good play because the other side busted you know you want to see earned plays and we talked about that the other night and our last our Friday night meeting uh just the level of earned plays that we've seen in Camp is encouraging now we got to go out and perform on Saturdays that's the ultimate test and that's what we're excited to to do this Saturday all all right we'll go to Cody Henderson from The League winners hey coach um any player in particular that you you know might have noticed in the spring that kind of carried it over into fall camp that has you know sort of stepped into a leadership role for this team yeah you know there's there's been a bunch of them Cody um be hard for me to pinpoint one but I think uh obviously the returners coming back on offense with uh Jaden and TJ those are some obvious ones I think Jack inrees uh had done a heck of a job in the off season um defensively you know again some of those returners but I think one guy that probably jumps out uh more than anybody is David Reese uh David has been here a couple years now and uh he garnered more votes in our team captain voting than than any other player on the team and so that tells you what type of person he is what type of player he is and again to only be here two years and be the highest vote getter in the captain voting is pretty impressive so David would probably be the one if I had to pick one thanks Co you got it next question will be from Joe fony hi Justin sorry to be a little bit old news on this but I'm doing a story this week on kind of the new landscape as we approach opening day so we know what the negatives are about the travel and all that what are the positives about this new conference and the new challenge for you guys yeah well I mean you're exposure over multiple time zones you know we're going to get the chance to play on the E Eastern Seaboard against some great uh programs with great tradition and uh our players and our brand and uh the university uh will be getting exposure to maybe people they haven't in the past and so I think that's a really good thing yeah are the flights a bit longer sure they are but there's nothing we can do to to change the length of the of the trip uh we'll we'll mitigate that through great travel planning but I think it's going to be really cool to go out there and and play against some of these teams that we've never played before and places we've never been before and people are going to get a chance to watch us on TV or in person that have never seen us before so I think that's a really good thing is it a little bit weird that you and Stanford are kind of Kindred Spirits in in all of this now oh I don't know if it's weird nothing really surprises me anymore uh not in this era of college football I think we're both I don't want to speak for them but I I would imagine they feel like we do it we're excited to be a part of the ACC and looking forward to the challenge so you're kind of balancing that with you know a Pack 12 guy yourself you know you played in the conference all of those traditional rivalries that are gone that can be balanced by the fact that it's just kind of a a new world out there and new things for your players to experience Y and I think it's new for everybody uh throughout the country everybody's feeling it it's a time of change in college football and uh got to embrace it and keep our knees bent you know uh it's not done changing uh I'd put it that way so uh we're we're looking forward to it we get to play football uh we're going to play some great teams we're going to have uh new teams coming into our place place too so I I think we're going to make the most of it and our guys are are ready to roll thank you you got it all right we'll go back to Jeff Rado Justin your tight end group has gotten fairly deep uh you've added to it um I'm wondering if what JT Burns status is with your team and in that group yeah JT's done a really good job in Camp he is a hardworking guy uh he has some roles on our team for sure but as you mentioned that room got very competitive with Jack you know Corey diges has done a really good job this Camp he brings a a unique element to that room in terms of his twitchiness and run after catch uh big Jeff Johnson is a tough guy that's got a role for us Ben Marshall's had some really good moments in Camp he's just got to be more consistent and again we love JT and what he brings to the team and his work ethic and toughness and he'll have roles for us thank you all right back to Jim Miguel just you guys were a matching on the offensive line quite a bit during fall camp and uh and obviously rotating at quarterback between Chandler and Fernando are you trying to keep the same starting unit on the field this week to get some continuity heading into the first game yeah we're always trying to keep the best players on the field as long as possible um there's going to be competition at some of these spots that you mentioned and so um more than one player has earned the right to play the game um and to to assume that we're going to have the same 11 uh throughout the entire season you know that that won't happen in college football so we're going to play guys that have earned the right to play and then uh you know it'll be up to them to go out and perform at a high level with our with our help all right we'll swing to Thomas done uh Justin players have leaned on their coaches for advice on how to improve in your tenure as a head coach who have you leaned on in order to Garner advice on whether it's improve situationally or in general who have you in particular gone to for that type of advice oh I have a lot of uh I have a a lot of people that I you know still talk to in the coaching profession and some of them are you know there strategic things that we might get together and talk about or talk over the phone we also do a lot of kind of uh a work on uh situational football um you know you'll reach out to a couple different uh people to do that and there a lot of this is you know how you you know there's decisions to be made you know and how people view uh certain situations and you know the ones that are more simple it's kind of a hundred to nothing you know and then there are things that uh H you have to take some context uh into consideration so kind of talking through those things but I have a a really good group of coaches and friends that I've U made throughout my career and uh we'll get together and chat on the phone it might be be about roster management it might be about uh you know a little bit of everything you know offseason programming but yeah you're constantly growing and changing and if you're not then probably time to seek a new profession thank you all right Matt Maro from Rivals as you look back at the entirety of the offseason where do you feel like is the one or two areas or just areas overall where you feel like you guys have had the most growth over the last several months yeah are you talking kind of on the field position wise or what do you mean on the field just as a team in terms of the areas of of improvement that you guys have had yeah I think the competitiveness um you know the competitiveness during practice and position battles has been more intense uh you know and maybe than previous years with some unsettled spots and uh I think our team speed overall has been improved I think that's been noticeable as well all right we'll go to walk Ruiz from the daily cow hey coach earlier today Kate ulve mentioned you know kind of having or noticing more chemistry within the team and then also feeling more comfortable personally as he's kind of you know known his role for a while now are there any other players that you've seen or noticed that have really emerged as being more comfortable than ass system or just knowing their role for this season well I think guys that have invested their time and been here like kade's been here for over a year now that's what you would expect um and I'm glad that he feels that way he he's he's sure playing like it and uh you know all those things the comfort in the system knowing what to do uh knowing what to expect kind of dayto day all that plays A Part getting older uh growing physically I think all that you hear that phrase you know the game starting to slow down for me yeah I I think that's part of it um ultimately you know the play will the play will tell the the story you know your play on Saturdays will tell the true story and so I'm excited for him I know kade's going to make some big plays he's obviously done that already and then there's a number of other players who are who are a year along who have been in the system who have a better understanding and now all those things well that's got to manifest itself into performance on Saturday so that's what I'm excited to see all right last question will be from Cody Henderson yeah um why should Cal fans be excited for this season well you know like I said this offseason we added a number of new players uh it's been extremely competitive there's going to be new faces uh you know for them to get to know and it's going to be exciting year um we've been too close too many times and now it's up to us to win those close games and uh as I mentioned before that that that comes from a you know all of us doing a little bit better in our own job but I'm I'm really excited about it we got really good guys on the team they're very competitive and they're looking forward to playing and kicking it off this Saturday thanks coach thank you all right thank you guys that'll wrap us up for today and we will be back to Tuesday starting next week for Auburn week thank you [Music] oh