Justin Wilcox talks Cal's defensive struggles, facing Caleb Williams, and the USC defense

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of the USC Trojans visiting Berkeley this weekend for a 1 pm kickoff at Memorial Stadium. Here’s a look at what he discussed, including struggles affecting the Cal defense, facing off against Trojans’ quarterback Caleb Williams, the USC defense, and the issues Zachariah Branch presents to opposing special teams units.

Wilcox on facing Caleb Williams

“I do think that highly of him. I’m trying to think of the other ones. You know, Marcus Mariota, playing against him was really, really challenging. I didn’t get to coach against Andrew Luck, but I know that people spoke that way of him. Anyway, he’s really strong. I mean naturally, a really strong guy. He’s got elite arm talent. Very, very accurate. And plays with great calm, really not ever flustered. He can move in the pocket. And you have to play the play on schedule, and then you have to play the play off schedule. Meaning, even if the first initial read’s not there, or if somebody did get some pressure and, moved the pocket or got him out of the pocket, now you have a different play you have to defend, you know, the second half of it. And so all those things combined…I mean, he won the Heisman Trophy. So, he’s a special talent and I know our guys are excited to play against him again.”

Wilcox on Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza

“I think he’s just going to continue to get better and better. One thing Fernando has shown in a short time is the ability to learn from a mistake. He’s the type of guy, usually you tell him one time, or he experiences something one time, that he’ll be able to learn from that and not make the same mistake twice. So he’s got a lot of good football in front of him. He’s still obviously a very young player, but I’m very encouraged by his ability to learn and go into the game and see the game, process what the defense is doing, the decisions that he needs to make with the ball. I think he’s doing a good job there. And I think he’s just going to continue to get better.”

Wilcox on fixing Cal’s defensive struggles

“I think overall, we just have to do a better job making sure our guys are in the right places, they understand what to do, and they know how to do it. And then ultimately, having the confidence and the ability to go out and perform on game day. Tackling really came up in our last game against Utah. So we spent a ton of time on tackling and leverage and making the plays on the ball carrier. We’ve talked a lot about finding ways to get negative plays and/or sacks. We had the opportunity to get sacks in our last game. We didn’t finish them. And that was really due to tackling. So I think if we had tackled better, we had more sacks and the negative plays look better. So I think those things, we’re obviously always looking at scheme. We look at scheme each and every week on what our players are showing that they’re good at — things that maybe are giving our opponents issues, and try to marry those two. That’s something that we always will do. But I would say we have really good coaches. On defense, we’re not playing as well there as we all expect to and that’s a shared responsibility between all of us, coaches and players.”

Wilcox on USC’s defense

“I think they’re really talented. I think one thing to consider, we need to perform better on defense. Also, I think some credit needs to go to some of these offenses. The offenses that you’re seeing are very, very gifted and talented offenses. Very different than a few years ago. Not that they didn’t have good players, but the level of talent has certainly been improved. Our job is to, regardless of who we’re playing, to go out and play good defense. Looking at their defense, I think they have excellent edge players. They create a lot of negative plays on their own, either sacks or tackle for loss. They have a guy inside, number 90, who is a very, very talented, gifted player. I mean, extremely talented. The safety is very, very good. So I think they’ve got very talented players and we’re expecting them to play well.”

Wilcox on Zachariah Branch as a punt returner

“Not just the punt returns, the kick returns. I mean, he’s an elite returner. It takes everybody. It takes the kicker and/or punter and ball placement. It takes the snapper. It takes everybody in coverage. Again, you know, even if you do everything correctly on the grease board and you get the guy clean to the ball, there’s not a ton of people that have made the one-on-one play. So we’re gonna have to take our shots and be aggressive and then we’ve got to have great pursuit to the ball. You cannot stay blocked against these guys because he can make a guy miss. And so it’s a team effort. And it’s everybody involved. It’s, as I mentioned, it’s the cover guys. It’s the snapper if we’re on punt. It’s the punter if we’re on punt, kicker if we’re kicking the ball off and it’s every individual in coverage. It’s the offense, moving the ball so we don’t get backed up punts. I mean, that’s a big, big deal, too. So he’s a very, very talented player, as we’ve seen.”

Wilcox on the end of the USC – Cal rivalry and the Pac-12

“We could have a lot longer discussion about this after the year. Right now, you mentioned it, all we’re focused on right now is putting together the best plan we can, have a great week of practice to go play our best football because that’s what it’ll take to win. Setting that aside, it’s really sad, you know, and kind of shameful the way this whole thing went down. We’re excited to be a part of the ACC moving forward. But I’d love to sit down with you after the season, we could have a great talk about all this because I do have a lot of strong feelings about it. I know for the fans of the conference, of the schools individually, it’s a sad deal. You know, the in-state rivalries are special. We’re excited to play this weekend. And as I mentioned, our entire focus is on that, but I’m more than happy after the season to sit down with you and talk through that.”