David Villalobos (Marysville, CA)
How come Deltha O'Neal has had no consideration for the Heisman? He is having a better year than woodson had his senior season and O'Neal is a much better kick returner. Don't you think their is something wrong with college football when his name never comes up in Heisman talk from the so-called college football experts?
Coach Holmoe: As a former defensive player, I know this history of the Heisman and it's generally an award for offensive players. No question that Deltha has had a great season and he's starting to get some notoriety because of his all-around abilities and his great stats. Individual awards are not something we spend a lot of time worrying about. If we win some more football games down the stretch, it's going to translate into more exposure for our players and that may mean more individual awards. That's the main focus: winning football games.
James (Sunnyvale, CA)
Congratulations on a great and exciting season
so far. I have been following the bears since
1995 and haven't seen a player as exciting to
watch since Deltha O'Neal. How hard was it for
the coaching staff to make the decision to move
him to defense and how do you teach a player to
do the things that he does or is it all gifted
ability? Thanks coach and good luck down the
stretch. GO BEARS!!!!!
Coach Holmoe: It was hard at the time, because he was a real threat with the football in his hands on offense. But, at the time he was sharing time with Tarik Smith and Marcus Fields and we felt like he was too much of a talent not to have on the field 100 percent of the time. We felt like Marcus could handle the tailback position and that the best way to get both athletes on the field was to let Deltha play on defense and special teams. Obviously, it's been a very good move for us and Deltha has helped us win a lot of game being on defense. He still needs to learn a lot about cornerback play and he needs to be more consistent, but you can't argue with his great athletic ability and natural instincts around the football.
Phillip White (San Jose, CA)
Coach, first of all, let me tell you what a pleasure it is to talk to you. Thank you for being open to questions and "busting your hump" to provide us with an exciting and entertaining Cal Bear football team. I have been a season ticket holder since 1990 and have enjoyed coming out to the Lair of the Golden Bear. I am a police officer in San Jose and play a receiver spot on our competitive and Police Olympic Flag football team. I've already implemented the sprint out right pass that you threw back to Marcus Fields against BYU...I was wondering if you could suggest any other "quick hitting" pass plays that may work in an 8 on 8 scenario. I know you're busy...thanks for your time. Good luck!...and Go Bears!!
Coach Holmoe: Obviously, it would depend on what type of athletes you have on your team, but why don't you give the 'ol hook and ladder a try. Send the outside receiver on a curl pattern and then take an inside receiver or a running back to follow the pattern so he can receive a lateral on the outside before the defense can pull the flag. Good luck.
Dennis M. Williams (San Francisco, CA)
Many Cal fans have been wondering about the
status of Matt Beck. If Cal were to reach a
bowl game, could he play? Also, since his
injury occurred at the very beginning of the
season, is it possible he could obtain another
year of eligibility?
Coach Holmoe: Matt is now out of his cast and starting to rehabilitate the injury. He's swimming and working with our conditioning coach in the weight room. His availability for a bowl game is doubtful, but not entirely possible. It would depend on when the bowl game was. Obviously, the later the better. Really, it's probably not in his best interest to rush back to play, because he has a good opportunity for a long pro career. He doesn't have any opportunity for another redshirt year, because a sixth year is only possible when a player loses two years to injuries. He was an elective redshirt his first year at Cal, not because he was injured.
J Kinser (San Francisco, CA)
Congratulations on another win this week. My question is, do you think Cal could benefit from power running? What I mean is, do you think you could be successful with two fullbacks in the backfield and pound the ball up the middle where it has been difficult to do recently?
Coach Holmoe: We do have that possibility in our offense. However, we use it primarily in short yardage and goalline situations. Some teams use it in the open field when they have what the believe is a strong advantage in the running game against a defense. With our youth on offense, we don't have that edge right now.
Tom Martin (Sonoma, CA)
What percent of Cal football players graduate at the end of their sports careers?
Coach Holmoe: Your question is a little unclear. However, many of our players who go on to the pros come back in the off-season to finish one or two classes needed for graduation. Pat Barnes was enrolled last spring until the Raiders asked him to go to Europe for the spring league. We always encourage our guys to finish up their classes and get their degrees.
Larry Becker (Irvine, CA)
Several questions regarding the passing game on Saturday versus USC.
1) Boller seems to be very effective when he sprints to the right and throws on the run. Why not do this more, and 2) Toward the end of the USC game, Cal had third and short yardage near midfield several times. Why not catch them off balance and throw the ball into the end zone? Boller has the arm to throw it that far. They wouldn't expect it. They were in man to man coverage. In the worst case, they intercept the ball in the end zone and start at the twenty. What's your reaction. The element of surprise can be very effective. Overall, great game! GO BEARS!
Coach Holmoe: Last week, I got a question indicating the thought that Boller wasn't effective throwing on the run, so it's all in the eye of the beholder. Kyle is inexperienced in that style because he didn't do a lot of it in high school. That means he's still learning the mechanics and isn't as consistent as he will be with more experience. He did make a couple of nice throws on sprint outs against USC. Secondly, I agree with our small lead in the second half last week, we did get a little conservative in third down situations. We did discuss throwing the football and strongly considered it. Every game is different and some games we'll throw in those situations.
Ron Anderson (San Jose, CA)
This question will probably be considered "off
the wall" and if you don't repsond, I'll under-
stand. You do have a program to run...anyhow,
my question is regarding my 10 year grandson.
He started Pop Warner at age 8, played mostly
defense the first year save a few offensive
plays in the last few games. He really got into
football that year. At 9, he was starting
running back, did the punting and kicking and
played all over the offense and defense. At 10
we was the starting QB, and played safety/line-
backer on defense. Now, as we look to next
year, is there anything you could suggest we do
to further hone his skills? I am not pushing.
He wants to learn. He is really beyond what I
can teach him now. There is a QB camp which we
are considering but is that a good thing? I
would really appreciate some help from someone
has been been there (the Niners could use your
help again). Doug (Rhino on the football field)
just might be your QB in a few years. GO BEARS!
Coach Holmoe: I believe playing different sports while growing up is more important than trying to specialize. The most important thing is to develop athtletic skills and that means just playing catch with the football, learning the hand-eye coordination. It means playing basketball or running track. Anything you can do to increase athletic skills. When I grew up, a lot of my summer days were at the park playing catch or a pick-up football game, or basketball. It was all on our own, without any coaches. I'd advise to let the kids have fun at an early age and then at the right age, a camp can be a good tool.
