Cal’s Evan Rambo eager to follow Stefan McClure’s lead
With McClure gone and starter Damariay Drew out for the season with a knee injury, the safeties’ room is thin on experience.
Rambo, who recorded eight tackles off the bench last season, is already beginning to offer teammates a blueprint for accountability.
In team meetings, when players aren’t paying attention, he reminds them to stay on task.
After finishing last among FBS schools with 367.2 passing yards allowed per game in 2014, Cal was sixth in the Pac-12 last season in pass defense.
Starters McClure and cornerback Darius White headed to the NFL.
Safety Griffin Piatt, who started five games over the past two seasons, retired from football after a series of injuries.
To build depth at safety, head coach Sonny Dykes moved redshirt freshman Malik Psalms from cornerback.
Rambo and senior Khari Vanderbilt (17 tackles in 2015) opened training camp as the first-team safeties.
Defensive tackle David Davis has applied for a sixth year of eligibility to make up for a season he missed with injury while with Washington State.
A lingering back issue has forced reserve offensive lineman Michael Trani to retire from football. …
Wide receiver Greyson Bankhead, who suffered a lower-body injury on vacation this summer, is not with the team.