Aug. 18, 1997
Vedder Looks Sharp in Contact Drills
BERKELEY, Calif. - The Cal Football team donned pads for the first time Sunday afternoon, going
through a nearly three-hour workout Sunday in Turlock. The Bears took the
morning off from practice and practiced just once in the afternoon at the
practice field at Cal State Stanislaus in 89-degree heat. After the opening
drills, the team competed in 7-on-7 and some 11-on-11 contact drills. The top
offensive play came when quarterback Justin Vedder completed a long touchdown
pass to tailback Brandon Willis, who caught the ball 40 yards downfield, before
scoring. Defensively, freshman Andre Carter was one of the standouts along the
defensive line as he used his quickness to regularly to get sprint around the
corner and reach the quarterback. In the secondary, redshirt-freshman
cornerback Chidi Iwuoma made two outstanding plays, diving to make one pass and
intercepting another.
"I thought some of the guys looked really good out there," said head coach Tom
Holmoe. "The players are working hard and the individual drills looked good. On
defense, I thought we were moving around well and getting to the ball a lot.
There were some errors, as you cn expect this time of year, but I hope the guys
continue to work hard and play hard," The only injury of note came when
freshman tight end Corey Smith sprained an ankle. He will likely sit out a day
or two, mostly as a pre-cautionary situation.
Cal will continue to practice in pads for the remainder of the camp with
scrimmages scheduled for Wednesday at 4:30 and Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
