Patrick Laird And Jordan Kunaszyk Spoke About The Upcoming 2018 Season At Pac-12 Football Media Day
Head coach
Justin Wilcox, senior running back
Patrick Laird and senior linebacker
Jordan Kunaszyk proudly represented California at Pac-12 Football Media Day in Hollywood on Wednesday.
Between speaking with numerous media members, the Golden Bears also had a chance to get acquainted with representatives from the other Pac-12 schools. The Bears all agreed that having this opportunity shows what makes the Pac-12 a great conference.
Having the opportunity to get to know other student-athletes that he formerly only knew as opponents, Laird said he thought it was really cool how Pac-12 players can be friends off the field despite being intense competitors on the field.
After taking the group photo to start the day, the Bears were first on the podium to meet the media.
Among the media in attendance that the Bears spoke with, Wilcox appeared live on ESPNU with Adnan Virk, Brock Huard and Todd Blackledge.
Wilcox also appeared live on Pac-12 Networks with hosts Mike Yam and Yogi Roth.
Media day was also a valuable experience for Laird to promote his summer reading challenge. He took full advantage of the opportunity to explain his imitative to many more media members.
"One of the most positive parts about the day was having a great opportunity to talk to a large number of people about the reading program," Laird said. "I spent a lot of the day promoting the reading challenge, spreading the word that it's not too late to sign up and just sharing my passion to read. Some people weren't aware that it's a big passion of mine, so it was nice to share that."
Ever the modest player, during the photo shoots, Laird turned down the opportunity to showcase his touchdown dance, stating that he prefers to only show that off when he scores in an actual game.
For Kunaszyk, however, he was pumped at the opportunity to show off how he celebrates after making a big tackle.
After going back and checking out how his head coach and teammate responded to the same questions he was asked, Laird found something interesting about the day.
"If you read over the things that Coach Wilcox, Jordan and I said, we said the same things about the team culture, making the right decisions and accountability, and none of that was planned ahead of time," Laird said. "We were all on the same page naturally because we represent what our program is all about and the direction we want the program to continue to move towards."
The day wasn't all interviews and photos. The Pac-12 also gave the players a chance to have a little fun and let their personalities come out. Kunaszyk was able to pretend he was his favorite superhero.
"That was awesome," Kunaszyk said. "That was one of my favorite superheroes, so when I saw the mask, I immediately wanted to put it on and do my best imitation of the hulk-smash and flex around for a little bit."
Kunaszyk also made sure the Pac-12 saw that in 2018, the Bears are determined to #EarnIt
"It was really a great opportunity to represent the university," Kunaszyk said. "I had a blast. It was really cool to meet some of the other student-athletes in the Pac-12, as well as the coaches and really share a little about what we're doing at Cal and a little bit about myself. This was a great experience, something I'll remember forever and I'm very grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend."
The Bears also had a chance to take a photo with the hardware that they'll be battling for this season.
Wilcox, Kunaszyk and Laird will have another opportunity to represent Cal on Monday at Levi's Stadium at the
Touchdown Tailgate presented by United Airlines®.
Photos by Juan O'Campo, Kyle McRae and Jared Prescott.
