The West Coast 7s kicks off on Saturday and will be the first serious run-out in college 7s for almost all of the 12 teams participating, and they are teams that have high expectations through the season.

Cal is the #1 seed, with UCLA #2, Arizona State #3, Cal Poly #4, and Arizona #5. (The seeds were voted on by the participating coaches.)

Cal winning is certainly not a foregone conclusion, even though the Bears lost only one game in 7s last year. 

“I think we are a little behind where we were this time last year due to inexperience,” Cal Coach Jack Clark said in the team’s release. “We’re hopeful that with time, we can find our footing. We have a few established players, but they can’t play every minute of every match.”

All Americans Jake Anderson, Alex Gletzer, and Paul Bosco have graduated. Harry Adolphus is with the Cal football team, and Nicklas Boyer is playing overseas with the Bedford Blues for a semester. 

So Cal looks to Andrew Battaglia, Cal’s top 7s scorer last year, All American Anthony Salaber, and Russell Webb. Add to that Patrick Barrientes, Lucas Dunne, Miles Honens, James Kondrat, Jesse Milne, Eakalafi Okusi. Former HS All Americans Matt Chipman and Nick Salaber are on the squad, too.

“Tom [Billups] and I are reasonably confident that, with time, we have the makings of a national 7s contender,” Clark said. “But this semester is geared toward our PAC 7s Conference championship. It won’t be an easy task to defend our title – there are some excellent teams in our conference.”

In Cal’s pool is Grand Canyon University. GCU is still a young, newish program, but Head Coach Ryan Kelly likes what he has. 

“We got a scrimmage against Arizona State and we did well,” said Kelly. “We have a lot of athleticism and it’s nice to have a strong returning class of players. Last year we had 11 or 12 true freshmen on the team at the West Coast 7s. This year we have three.”

GCU are missing some key players due to injury, but Kelly is enthusiastic about the speed and skills of the ‘Lopes. 

That Arizona State team GCU played has already got some 7s under their belts. Coach Ian Gregor said he was pleased with his squad’s performance in the Viking 7s at Western Washington University. The Sun Devils take basically the same team that played at WWU, with Ryan Spiwak the lynchpin and leader. 

“It’s all part of a process, and we’re still in the middle of the process,” said Gregor. 

ASU rivals Arizona are there at the West Coast, too, and Head Coach Sean Duffy is unleashing an experienced team with Kyle Rogers and Cesar Davila leading the group and speedster Dante Weeks apparently faster now than he was last year. There are some young players pushing their way in - some freshmen will be used later on, while HS All American players Brian Hannon and Ian Crilley will be at the West Coast 7s. Tyler Sousley is back after a long-term injury, and he will be a good addition.

“We’ve got some nice pieces to add to a team that did well in the CRC,” said Duffy. “So we’re excited.”

UCLA has some young talent added to a program that can win 7s games, as well. While Cal Poly was perhaps one of the surprise teams of last fall.

The second half of the day’s play at the West Coast 7s will be broadcast on USA Rugby TV http://usarugbytv.com/ starting at 1pm Pacific Time.