Sept. 4, 1997
Cal Ready for Houston
BERKELEY, Calif. -- The Cal Football team concluded workouts in Berkeley Thursday afternoon and will board a charter airplane Friday at 11:30 a.m. en route to Houston for the season-opener on Saturday.
There were few new developments during the week of practice, although head coach Tom Holmoe did announce that sophomore Pete Destefano would start at free safety in place of Don Lonon.
Tight end A.J. Kunkle practiced during the week and will make the trip to Houston, although he does not appear to be game-ready in terms of his physical condition. It's likely that Brian Surgener and Reed Diehl will get the bulk of the playing time with Kunkle seeing spot duty. A pair of Cal reserve offensive linemen suffered injuries over the past week with sophomore Kevin Doherty going down with a knee sprain and center Caleb Brown suffering a broken bone in his hand. Both will be out approximately three weeks. It looks like massive John Romero (6-3, 320) will be the primary reserve at center, behind starter Jeremy Newberry. Chris Marie (6-2, 200) will also make the trip to Houston and could play at center if needed.
Linebacker Nate Geldermann reinjured a previously injured knee and will definitely redshirt this season. Surgery next week is probable. Other redshirting news announced by Holmoe -- freshman quarterback Samuel Clemons will not make the trip to Houston as the plan now calls for him to redshirt. That means that Ryan Tollner and Wesley Dalton are the primary reserves to Justin Vedder. The coaches also announced that tailback Marcus Fields will not redshirt this year and is expected to see limited action at Houston.
