Bear Injuries

The key to Cal's success this year will be the ability of Kevin Riley and Jahvid Best to stay relatively healthy throughout the year. Both players have had some history with injuries that have limited their success over the past seasons. Last year, Riley had a concussion and shoulder issue which caused Nate to start and play in some games. Jahvid has been somewhat plauged with injuries, including hip, foot, and elbow.

This year, Jahvid has bulked up a bit, and is now apparently healthy after being out of fall camp for a few weeks with a bone bruise on the ball of his foot. There was a concern that it was turf toe, which can linger and cause pain through the season. But it seems that he is healthy at this point. Riley seems to have been fine throughout camp.

Both of those players need to play at a high level the entire year for the Bears to make this a very special season. I could see them going undefeated this year if we get lucky on the injury thing. That being said, we do have good depth at almost every position. Depth that would make this a good season, even with some injuries. Brock Mansion I am sure would be a serviceable backup to Kevin, should he need to be replaced. But he would not take us to an undefeated season. Similarly with Shane Vareen - while he is a fantastic back, he is not going to be the best back in College Football, like Jahvid Best. So there would be some drop-off.

That being said, over time, Cal seems to have had injury issues with the offensive line, the defensive line and with defensive backs. I am pretty comfortable that there is adequate depth at those positions where a loss of two or three players would not destroy us. We also have 7 or 8 receivers who seem to be in the mix for playing time, so that should not be a significant problem. Tight End, where we lost our starter for the year, and fullback could be problematic, and are key positions for the Bears in our running game. We have three guys who are in the rotation for both positions. If one or two go down, we could be in trouble.

So over the year, I would focus on those key injury areas: Fullback, Tight End, and Riley and Best. If we can get though the season with those positions healthy, we should be in for a treat.

GO BEARS!!