Alex Bribeaux (Hastings, Neb.)
Hi coach. I'm a freshman o-lineman playing at Hastings College, a small NAIA school in Nebraska. I was all-CIF at Crescenta Valley High my senior year and played with Kyle Boller in an all-star game last summer. I know that you played there as well. What I was wondering is, what is your policy towards walk-ons? I'm thinking of transferring to Cal, not necessarily for just football, because I'm kind of undersized for a lineman, but I would like to keep the option of playing football open, even if it was just as a walk-on role.
Coach Holmoe: Because of NCAA rules, I cannot comment on your specific case. However, in general we love to have walk-ons. It's no coincidence that many highly successful programs such as Nebraska have loads of walk-ons. The issue here at Cal is that the players have to be good students and be U.C. eligible. We encourage players to walk-on to the program and our recruiting office can be of help sorting out the admission process. That number is 1-800-373-4859.
Greg Miura (San Mateo, CA)
We have a family season pass again this year, and my son (now in the first grade) is really getting into Cal football. We go to the railing by the locker room at the half and at the end of each game so he can give high fives, etc. Recently, he saw that another school has kids get the kicking tee after kickoffs. Do you do that at Cal? If so, how does he get name on a list?
Coach Holmoe: I've seen the program at some schools and it's something that perhaps we should consider here at Cal. I'll forward your suggestion on to our marketing staff and see if it's something that we may do in future years.
Tom Anderson (Orinda, CA)
The Cal announcers keep mentioning that Kyle Boller needs to put more air under the ball so the receivers can run under it as it comes down, or that he needs to take something off the ball for certain types of passes where touch is more important that velocity. Do you agree and if so, is this something that you can devise special drills for and work on, or does Kyle just have to "get there" himself. It doesn't take many additional complete passes to make a huge difference in offensive productivity, both in passing and running to move the ball. Thanks!
Coach Holmoe: Our quarterbacks coach Steve Hagen works with our QBs, including Kyle, daily on the mechanics of playing quarterback and throwing the football. Some passes require a bullet-type throw, others require much more touch. Finding the right throw for the right situation is the mark of a good quarterback. I think you'll find as Kyle gets more experience and feels more comfortable in the pocket, he'll make more of those throws. I believe it's more of a comfort level thing than anything he's doing mechanically. He'll continue to get better and better in that area.
John Handlin (West Hills, CA)
Congratulations on a big win against UCLA!
The team really performed well throughout the entire
game. And with the heat and pressure to win it is even
more impressive. My question, over the past 2-3 years as I have
attended the Cal games, we dont seem to be throwing to
the tight ends that frequently. With the tight ends generally
being much taller and stronger than the wide receivers why isnt
there more focus on hitting the tight ends with the short outs
and passes over the middle?
Coach Holmoe: Thanks for the good wishes on the UCLA game. The tight end is an important part of our offense. There are many reasons why our tight ends haven't been a major part of our passing attack. We don't have anybody at the position that is a 4.5 or 4.6 guy and that would translate well into a passing threat. Before the year's over, you'll see our tight ends making some big catches.
Rajiv Batra (Berkeley, CA)
With the team being obivously defense heavy, not only this year but for the last couple, recent statements have been made emphasizing the need for simply focusing recruiting on the offense. I personally see a future paralleling our days with Pat Barnes leading a star offense and no one leading our weak defense. With the "Hit Squad" being so junior and senior loaded, what are you doing to ensure that as the offense matures and improves our defense doesn't fall behind?
Coach Holmoe: That's a great question. In the last three years, we've stabilized things on defense. Sometimes in those years, we were able to sign the key defensive recruits while some of the offensive recruits got away. Last year, it was a big offensive recruiting haul, with players like Boller, Tercero, Igber, Echema and others. One thing we've done and will continue to do is take some players that can play offense and put them on defense. Deltha O'Neal, Lashaun Ward and Atari Callen are good examples. I feel like we've made some progress in developing young players on defense that will be part of our nucleus for future seasons. Ward and Scott Fujita are two of those players. Linemen like Daniel Nwangwu and Wayne Hunter are also examples. Really, it all comes down to recruiting. We can't afford to have any down years in recruiting on either side of the ball or you're going to feel it down the road.
Mike Faber (Moraga, CA)
The other day I was looking at some older Cal football media guides, and reviewing the incoming freshman profiles. That caused me to wonder -- how do you assess whether a particular recruiting class has been a success? What criteria do you use? When do you make your assessment?
Coach Holmoe: Most of the time, it takes most of their college careers to determine the success of a recruiting class. When you look at our fifth-year seniors, you see guys like Matt Beck, Sekou Sanyika, Jerry DeLoach, Pete Destefano, Kevin Doherty, John Romero and Deltha O'Neal. That's a pretty good nucleus. But a great class would be if you had 12 to 15 of those players. While it usually takes time, there is the unusual recruiting class which can have an early impact and our first-year freshmen fall into that category. We have a lot of freshmen making big contributions this year, so it's obviously easy to assess that it was a really fine recruiting campaign.
