Muhammad cornerback attempts

CALIFORN GOLDEN BEARS FOOTBALL
CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL NOTES
● Cal's seven-win turnaround on the field over the last two seasons from a 1-11
record in 2013 to an 8-5 mark in 2015 is tied for the second best in school
history behind only the eight-win improvement from a 2-10 mark in 1946 to a
10-1 record in 1948.
● Cal's turnaround off the field has been arguably even more impressive as
evidenced by a single-season Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 997 in
the most recent data released by the NCAA on April 20, 2016. After successive
one-year scores under 930 in the two years before Dykes arrived on campus,
the past three rates for the football program have been 969, 946 and 997 to
lift the squad’s four-year APR average to 960 – its highest since 2008-09. Cal’s
997 APR for the 2014-15 academic year ties for the highest in the Pac-12 and
the 19-point jump (941 to 960) in the multi-year rate from the previous report a
year prior is the best among the conference's football programs.
● Cal's eight wins in the Golden Bears’ third season under Dykes in 2015 marked
the school’s most victories since 2009. Cal capped the season with a win over
Air Force at the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl with the bowl victory its
first postseason win since 2008 in its first bowl appearance since 2011. Only 17
squads since the beginning of Cal football in 1882-83 have won more game than
the Bears did in 2015. Cal began the 2015 season with five straight victories
to mark the program’s best start since the Bears were also 5-0 in 2007. At one
point, the Bears were in the national rankings for four consecutive weeks (Weeks
4-7) moving as high as No. 19 in the Amway Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the AP
Top 25 in Week 7. Cal’s national rankings were its first since 2010 (Coaches Poll)
and 2009 (AP Top 25). After ropping four of their next five games to teams that
were all ranked in the top 10 at some point in 2015 including top-five foes Oregon
and Utah, with four of those five contests on the road, Cal finished strong with
three wins in its final four contests over Oregon State, Arizona State and Air Force.
● Sonny Dykes agreed to a contract extension through the 2019 season on December
10, 2015. Dykes was named to the midseason watch list for the 2015
Dodd Trophy, making him one of 20 head coaches on the list who were selected
for representing programs with the highest ideals of leadership, scholarship and
integrity on and off the field.
● Cal’s offense flourished again in 2015, setting numerous records including
single-season school marks in passing yardage (4,892), passing yards per game
(376.3 ypg), passing touchdowns (44), total offense (6,879), total yards per game
(529.2 ypg), total touchdowns (63), first downs (341) and first downs passing
(201), as well as a modern-era record for points (493), with all the marks previously
set in 2013 or 2014.
● Cal ranked third nationally in passing offense, eighth in total offense and 17th
in scoring offense in 2015, with all of the numbers second in the Pac-12.
● Cal was the only team in the nation to have six receivers with 40 or more
catches in 2015 – Kenny Lawler (52-658, 13 TD), Darius Powe (47-560, 8 TD),
Bryce Treggs (45-956, 7 TD), Stephen Anderson (41-474, 2 TD), Trevor Davis
(40-672, 2 TD) and Maurice Harris (40-558, 6 TD). The Bears also had three
500-yard rushers – Khalfani Muhammad (87-586, 1 TD), Vic Enwere (106-505,
8 TD) and Tre Watson (89-504, 3 TD) – to become the first college football team
in recorded history to have six players with 40 or more receptions and three
500-yard rushers in the same season.
● Cal also made tremendous improvements on defense in 2015 especially in
the turnover numbers, tying for 11th in the nation in fumbles recovered (12),
tying for 13th in turnovers gained (27) and tying for 23rd in interceptions (15).
Cal was also tied for 25th nationally in defensive touchdowns with three. Cal
tied for the Pac-12 lead in fumbles recovered while ranking tied for second in
turnovers gained and interceptions.
● Cal's 2015 season was followed by a strong offseason that included Jared
Goff becoming only the second player in Cal history to be selected as the No. 1
overall pick in the NFL Draft in April of 2016 as well as the additions of standout
offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital, senior graduate transfer
and Mel Kiper's No. 1 senior quarterback for the 2017 NFL Draft in Davis Webb
from Texas Tech and the nation's top-ranked wide receiver in the 2016 recruiting
class in five-star recruit Demetris Robertson. Webb is on the watch list for the
prestigious Maxwell Award honoring the nation's top collegiate player.
The 2015 Cal offense was one of the best in the nation and set numerous
records as the Golden Bears won a bowl game for the first time since 2008.
● Cal has four returning starters from 2015 on the offensive line that have started
84 games in their career and made 45 of 65 possible offensive line starts in
2015. Steven Moore (team-high 36 career starts), Chris Borrayo (29) and Dominic
Granado (13) each started all 13 games in 2015 while Aaron Cochran made all
six of his career starts a year ago.
● Cal also has its top three running backs returning from 2015 in Khalfani Muhammad,
Vic Enwere and Tre Watson but will be looking to replace Jared Goff as
well as its top six receivers in Kenny Lawler, Darius Powe, Bryce Treggs, Stephen
Anderson, Trevor Davis and Maurice Harris.
● Cal has 11 players scheduled to return on defense in 2016 that combined to
make 65 starts in 2015 but only five that started six or more contests in cornerback
Darius Allensworth (13), safety Damariay Drew (11), defensive tackle
James Looney (11), defensive end DeVante Wilson (8) and defensive tackle Tony
Mekari (6). Defensive tackle David Davis, linebacker Devante Downs, defensive
tackle Marcus Manley, safety Griffin Piatt and safety Luke Rubenzer each started
one contest a year ago.
● Cal returns its starting placekicker in Matt Anderson, who took over the job
as a 2015 sophomore and responded by leading the team in scoring with 104
points to tie for the third-most in school history, making 18-of-21 field goal attempts
to rank tied for third in the Pac-12 and tied for 10th nationally in field goal
percentage (85.7%) while adding 50-of-52 PAT tries. He finished the season on
a tear by making each of his last 10 field goal attempts and 15 of his final 16.
Anderson was also a first-team Pac-12 All-Academic choice as a sophomore and
has earned the Golden Bear Achievement Award from the Athletic Study Center
at the Student-Athlete Academic Honors Luncheon for being the Cal football
player with the highest cumulative GPA for each of his first three seasons at Cal
from 2013-15.
● Cal will open the 2016 season in Sydney, Australia, when the Golden Bears
play Hawai’i on Saturday, Aug. 27 (Noon Kickoff) in the first college football game
of the 2016 campaign at the 83,500-seat ANZ Stadium originally constructed
for the 2000 Olympic Games. The contest will be the third ever in Australia and
the first since 1987, as well as the first ever in Sydney.
2016 CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL INFORMATION GUIDE
1