Back For Year 6, Matthew Cindric Feels Good About His Decision, Cal's Team
Matthew Cindric wondered whether the 2022 Cal football season was his last.
It ended midyear when he tore a biceps muscle and the Bears skidded to a 4-8 final record. Coach Justin Wilcox made staff changes, bringing in Mike Bloesch as the offensive line coach and Jake Spavital as offensive coordinator.
“I wasn’t sure,” Cindric, now 24, said this week. “I definitely had the consideration to be done.”
Wilcox made it clear there was a place for the 6-foot-4, 295-pound center to return for a sixth season. After conversations with both new coaches, Cindric made the call.
"It seemed like a great fit,” Cindric said, noting that he also will finish work on his Master’s degree in sports and education. “That was a huge bonus.”
As much as anything, Cindric didn’t want his final chapter at Cal to be headlined by an injury and a losing record.
“Definitely want to leave on a high note,” he said. “Last season obviously wasn’t what we wanted it to be. Wanted to come back and leave this place better than I found it. Got the opportunity to be a captain last year and wanted to continue that leadership role.”
"He’s undoubtedly the leader of our entire offense, much less the offensive line," Bloesch said.
Wilcox talks in the video above about the process of bringing Cindric back for one last season.
Bloesch came to Cal from North Texas, which happens to be the Bears’ season-opening opponent on Sept. 2 in Denton, Texas.
He’d heard lots about Cindric from returning players and coaches, and was convinced he wanted him. “I tell people all the time the biggest recruit I’ve gotten since I took this job was getting Matthew Cindric to come back."
Cindric is one of six sixth-year players on the roster, and along with wide receiver Monroe Young the only one who began his career at Cal. “Sometimes we look at each other like, man, we’re still doing it,” Cindric said.
He got advice from recent former Cal players — Mike Saffell, Valentino Daltoso, Jake Curhan — to stretch out his college experience for as long as possible. “That was also a big key in coming back, knowing life can wait,” he said. “I have the rest of my life to go to work.”
It’s been equal parts work and fun so far this summer. He appreciates that Bloesch has struck a good balance between the two, and thinks it will benefit the Bears.
“To come back and just be an intense football robot was not going to be very fun,” said Cindric, the Bears' active leader with 34 games played and 33 starts. “So to have that balance, we have fun out here. It’s been a blast to have him as my coach.”
The feeling is mutual. Bloesch said he’s heaped a lot of responsibility on Cindric and knows he’s up to the assignment.
“Just a knowledge of the game,” Bloesch said. “He’s checking a lot of our run game right now — making all the calls, ID’ing all the fronts, checking protections for us.
“At the end of the day, we can’t call perfect plays as coaches. The more we can put on the players to understand schematically, the more success we’ll have. He triggers it all.”
Cindric is embracing Spavital’s new fast-paced spread offense, and said he worked harder than ever over the summer to put himself into the best shape of his life.
“This new kind of spread with lots of options, it’s kind of exciting,” Cindric said. “The last few years I’ve played in that pro-style, West Coast offense, which is awesome in its own right. But the trend of football is definitely going this way.”
Bloesch and Cindric are encouraged by the progress of the O-line and how that unit will contribute to the Bears trying to average better than 24 points for the first time since 2017.
A year ago, Cindric vowed in an interview we did that the offense would score at least four touchdowns in every game. In fact, they did it just three times.
“There were some miscalculations,” he said a bit sheepishly. “I meant for this season.”
Cover photo of Cal center Matthew Cindric (73) by Darren Yamashita, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo