SB Nation - Lavelle Hawkins

Cal 2009 Position Previews: Receivers and Tight Ends

Avinash — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:00:10 -0000

Read the previous position previews: Quarterback, running backs, offensive line.

Here was Hydrotech after spring practice.

Who are Cal's top 3 WRs? This is a fairly important question. Cal's top 3 WRs get the majority of the snaps on the field - perhaps upward of 90%.

So who is it going to be? Tucker, Ross, and Boateng have the most experience so you might think it'd be them. However, we all saw sophomore Alex Lagemann blow up in spring ball. Right now he's penciled in at the #1 slot position. When Cal goes to its 3 WR sets (11 personnel), if we assume the top players at each WR position see the field then the top three will be Boateng, Jones, and Lagemann. That leaves out experienced WRs Jeremy Ross, and Verran Tucker - and puts the more inexperienced Jones and Lagemann on the field. Do we want more inexperienced WRs on the field again another year?

Several months later, we are reaching a resolution. Whether it's one that puts us at ease is an unresolved answer.

Which wideouts will Cal depend on this season? If you were to rank our receivers in terms of their depth chart position, where would they go?

More about the receivers and tight ends after the jump.

The problem with Cal receivers is that last season their touches were too few and far between. You couldn't really get a feel to each player's individual game. Here's what we can discern:

1) Route running was inconsistent (could this be a symptom of the shifting between OCs?).
2) Receivers greased their gloves and dropped the ball hundreds of times.
3) No clear number one, two, or three was established.
4) Inconsistency at the quarterback position also kept receivers from getting into any sort of groove.

That last part is crucial, because the last time that happened for Cal was in 2005, which feels like the closest Tedford-equivalent to last season (phenomenal running game, haywire passing attack). The next two seasons would be some of the healthiest for the Cal passing game.

The similarity between those two seasons diverge from there. In 2005 the Bears had three clear rising stars who were the top three wide receivers (and they would go onto replicate those performances the next two seasons). 2008, by contrast, will not be as clear-cut. The top six receivers were separated by a total of 13 receptions, and not one Cal receiver exceeded 30 catches. So while the Bears's receivers might be deeper than in 2006, production on that level is not a certainty, as the competition is expected to be fierce for every spot. You could argue that reliance on too few bodies cost us games we could've won.

Depth will not be a problem this time. The issue will be consistency. Will there be a defined pecking order as to who the top receiver is, who will move into the slot, and who can come off the bench and provide capable catches? Who will go where?

via grfx.cstv.com

Tight ends: The Tad Smith injury means Anthony Miller will be starting this season. However, Tedford seems optimistic that the Bears can overcome Smith's absence.

Cal coach Jeff Tedford seemed optimistic that Cal still has enough depth at tight end to make up for the loss of Smith.

"It’s nice getting Spencer back," he said. "Skylar has really stepped up in this camp, thankfully. You have Anthony (Miller), you have Skylar, you have Spencer, you have (Jarrett) Sparks and you have (Garry) Graffort. All those guys are in the mix, and they’ve all done pretty well."

Nevertheless, there is a lack of playing time for each of these guys, no matter who ends up in the one spot long-term. We only know Miller because he caught a prayer throw from Longshore at the end of the Emerald Bowl, and everyone behind him has close to zero experience. In almost every case, this will be Cal's weakest position this season.

So at least here, we'll have to concede the advantage to the Furd.

via graphics.fansonly.com

Coach Daft stepping up? One weakness last season was coaching experience in that particular field, but Kevin Daft seems more comfortable leading Cal's wideouts.

"We know the game now," Cal receiver Jeremy Ross said. "Even Coach Daft is telling us to put a little style in our routes, a little flavor. We can now because we know the game. Out there running routes, we're able to put our twist on things. We're out there confident and ready to get after it."

And just what kind of flavor is Ross adding to his route-running this season?

"You know, a little salt over here, a little pepper over here, a little Cajun seasoning," he said. "You'll see all the ingredients on Sept. 5."

Not many of us have been comforted by Daft's first season, but it wasn't exactly favorable circumstances for him to thrive. Let's see how this season goes before passing judgment on his worth.

The battle of the weight room: Onto the receivers. Nyan Boateng and Jeremy Ross seem to be the two incumbents staying in place. Boateng certainly looked like the most talented receiver last season, in terms of making his cuts and finding his place (it's no surprise that he soon became the favorite target of the precise Nate Longshore). But, like seemingly every receiver for the Bears, he dropped the ball far too much. Ross, while performing pure athletic acrobatics (remember the leaps!), didn't have enough experience to be anything more than semi-reliable.

However, both have shown a great deal of extroverted confidence during practice, and their work ethic in the gym has been impeccable. Who can bench more, sadly, has yet to be resolved.

Charging from the back: Verran Tucker is going to have a tough time catching up with the rest of the flock. Although he performed well in relief for the injured Calvin and inconsistent Young and Cunningham, according to Okanes he was pacing behind his counterparts this spring.

The JC transfer was the Bears’ second-leading pass-catcher among wide receivers last season, but he didn’t practice in the spring to focus on academics. With Jones and Alex Lagemann coming on, and with Michael Calvin expected to be fully recovered from a knee injury by the fall, Tucker’s status as a starter could be in jeopardy.

Speaking of Calvin, there was definitely a lot of great stuff he showed during the early part of the season, as he established himself as one of Kevin Riley's favorite targets. However, he is coming back from a torn ACL, a traditionally difficult injury to overcome for a receiver. So we'd have to expect that like Tucker, he will be coming on the rebound going against the healthier competition. At the moment though, he seems to be progressing better than Tucker.

via grfx.cstv.com

The new faces: Marvin Jones and Alex Lagemann are expected to make huge splashes this season. Of all the receivers on this list, Jones is the most highly touted. Desean Jackson was a huge factor in Jones caming to Cal, and he appears to possess similar potential to the Eagles' rising star.

"Marvin Jones. The sophomore-to-be emerged as the Bears’ top receiver in the spring. This really doesn’t come as a surprise. The argument could be made that Jones was the most talented receiver on the roster last season, but a knee injury limited his true freshman season. Jones is healthy now and looked sharp in the spring. Despite the fact Cal has its top three receivers back from last year, Jones should enter fall camp as the team’s top pass-catching threat."

While both Jones and Lagemann have shown promise that could carry them far, Hydro does offer the warning of giving Jones and Lagemann too much of a prominent role while consigning the veterans to the sidelines:

When Cal goes to its 3 WR sets (11 personnel), if we assume the top players at each WR position see the field then the top three will be Boateng, Jones, and Lagemann. That leaves out experienced WRs Jeremy Ross, and Verran Tucker - and puts the more inexperienced Jones and Lagemann on the field. Do we want more inexperienced WRs on the field again another year? Is the talent that Jones and Lagemann bring to the field worth more than the experience that Ross and Tucker bring? Cal could have a Rose Bowl season next year if its passing game comes together (and assuming the running game stays dominant and the same goes for the defense). I'm not exactly sure that having more inexperienced players on the field is the greatest way to get that passing to improve.

Riley says...Ultimately though, the receiver's value is measured the best by the person throwing the balls to him We give our leading QB the last word:

Riley said Jones has just continued to do what he did during the spring while Calvin, who is coming back from a torn ACL, is getting more and more healthy. "Every week as the summer has progressed, he’s gotten a little more comfortable with his route running," Riley said. "Coming back from an injury like that, you’re going to be a little scared at first on your break. Every week, he’s running routes better. He’s always caught the ball well. Hopefully he can continue to get better. He can be a guy who can really makes plays for us." Riley said Lagemann, like Jones, also continues to build off his spring, although he has been slowed by a toe injury during the offseason."

Of all the analysis above, we can bet this endorsement means the most of all.

Poll

Who will be Cal's number one receiving option by season's end?

Nyan Boateng

82 votes

Michael Calvin

15 votes

Alex Lagemann

10 votes

Marvin Jones

230 votes

Jeremy Ross

9 votes

Verran Tucker

21 votes

Someone else

8 votes

375 votes | Poll has closed

Hall of Fame Round of 64: Brick Muller Bracket, Part III

Avinash — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:19 -0000

Check out the full bracket here.

To check out the original nomination thread, click here.

For those who love the Hall of Fame and want to track all these posts, click here or right next to the timestamp where it says "Hall of Fame".

This post's matchups: Geoff Macarthur vs Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jack Clark vs Lavelle Hawkins

The bottom half of the Brick Muller bracket gets settled today; the top two matchups are in this post, the second two will be posted this afternoon. Polls for these matchups close next Friday, June 19 at midnight. The athlete matchups are above, the athlete descriptions and polls are after the jump. Please read, vote, and debate in the comments!

#3 Geoff Macarthur vs #14 Shareef Abdur-Rahim

via graphics.fansonly.com

Some assorted thoughts on Geoff Macarthur from the grandfather of Cal blogs, Tightwad Hill.

They say it's better to be lucky than good. Well, "they" never met G-Mac. This guy comes out of nowhere to rewrite the Cal record book in 2003, catching 85 passes for 1,504 yards. He has five 150+ yard games and basically wins the Big Game by himself with the greatest stat line in Cal history: 16 catches/245 yards/2 TDs. Then, basking in the glow of All-Pac 10 and 2nd team All-America status and Cal's first bowl invitation in seven years, he fractures his right arm in a non-contact drill. No one touched him. Misses the Insight Bowl win over Virginia Tech.

Oh well, he comes into his senior year a pre-season All-America selection, and opposing defenses are ready. They feed him a steady diet of double teams, and Aaron Rodgers spreads the ball around. Seven different receivers have at least 14 catches on the season, and G-Mac's numbers fall to 57 catches for 862 yards and 7 touchdowns. Plus he plays with a strained oblique muscle for most of the season.

You can read the rest, but most of us know how that story ends. Our commenters can attest to how damned good he became.

JoshinPortland: I remember being blown away by his improvement toward the end of his career. The guy caught nearly everything thrown in his direction regardless of coverage.

Norcalnick: I mostly remember the big game when he caught like 15 balls or something absurd like that. I just started yelling at Stanford: "WE’RE THROWING TO GEOFF AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

I loved that Big Game.

via www.beckett.com

Shareef's one year was a dandy.

Abdur-Rahim later attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, where he maintained a GPA of 3.5.^[1] At California, he averaged 21.1 points per game (ppg) and 8.4 rebounds per game (rpg) in 28 games.^[1] He was the first freshman in Pac-10 history to win Conference Player of the Year honors, and was named Third Team All-America by the Associated Press.^[1] Abdur-Rahim also set single-season freshman records for points, scoring average, field goals, and free throws.

As for Shareef, LeonPowe has this to say .

I’m just going to talk about the player. Back in 1996, 6’10 225 power fowards who could handle the rock, and play a tall 3 weren’t common. Thus "THE FUTURE" (as he was nicknamed) arrived at Cal. As the school’s highest profile recruit since Kidd (and until . . .well me), the first time we saw Shareef (from Atlanta) it was the McDonald’s All America Game. We were really excited getting the #3 prospect in the country . . .until the skinny guy who matched against him blocked his shot about 10 times and basically destroyed in the All Star Game. (That guy turned out to be pretty good himself)

No matter, when Shareef got to Cal – he made an immediate impact. Team with JUCO transfer Ed Gray, along with Jelani Gardner (ugh) and Randy Duck and Tony Gonzalez, ’Reef was able to garner Pac 10 POY honors, along with dropping in over 22 ppg (is that right?)

But more than that, I remember the effortless scoring. Earlier I talked about "The Future" and ‘Reef was . . . a silky smooth 6’9" power foward who could shoot it all the way out to 3 point range, destroy people on the block with a series of spin moves, and half hooks or face up and take defenders off the dribble, Shareef had the smoothest and most polished offensive game of any freshman ever at Cal.

Additionally, with the middle part of the season falling during the holy month of Ramadan, Shareef was destroying defenders in the paint all the whilein the middle of fasts and spirtual concentration.

The thought of Kelvin Cato blocking anything, much less basketballs, is a wild concept. For the only Cal highlights I could find of him, here's NBA draft coverage of Shareef, with Hubie Brown breaking down his game (and you really can't get get enough of Hubie breaking down your game).

For those having trouble viewing the box above, click here to vote.

#6 Jack Clark vs #11 Lavelle Hawkins

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Carp has nothing but great things to say about his coach. Here's his writeup.

Coach Clark, a Cal rugby alum himself, deserves to be up there on the list of integral people associated with Cal. He has guided Cal rugby to 19 national titles since he took over in 1981. He led Cal to an unprecedented 115 game winning streak.

Winning was not necessarily the aim. Rather, it was a by-product of excellent preparation, attention to detail, dedication, and perservearance. He teaches his players to be thoughtful, selfless, and responsible adults. Clark is quick to point out that Cal rugby is completely self-sufficient and is comprised of non-scholarship athletes who earn their keep on and off the pitch.

After all, Clark is accustomed to overcoming incredible odds:
The following month Clark attended a party at the house of an acquaintance in San Francisco and went outside to help break up an altercation. He ended up squared off against a man with a 9-mm Magnum. The assailant, who was under the influence of PCP, fired at Clark, hitting him four times. One bullet shattered his left femur, another the left fibula. At San Francisco General Hospital, heavily sedated and suffering significant nerve damage in the leg, Clark was confronted with the possibility of amputation. One night, while drifting in and out of consciousness, he awoke to a lecture on prosthetic limbs from a hospital counselor. "I called up one of my mates," Clark recalls, "and said, ‘I need you to get down here, and whatever you do, don’t let them take my leg.’"

Clark hung on, enduring a 45-day stay at the hospital and then more than a year of physical therapy. Eighteen months after the shooting he ran a 10K. "When something like that happens," he says, "you’re either going to be a victim or you’re not."

For example, rather than his team do bench press excercises, he has them do pullups:
"We do a lot of pullups because they’re great for grip strength" said Coach Clark. Picture this: if you’re lifting your opponents up into the air by gripping onto their shorts – be it in a scrum, a ruck, or a maul – you have to rely on your gripping, pulling and hoisting muscles.

On top of this, Clark volunteered to coach the USMC rugby team in the offseason.

via www.bigcsociety.org

To honor his efforts, the marines presented Clark with this American flag (above) that was flown over Camp Ripper in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. It is one of his proudest possessions.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Clark on Stanfurd refusing to play Cal in rugby:
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."

via media.scout.com

Lavelle Hawkins Highlights 1 from nick sarkozi on Vimeo.

Lavelle Hawkins Highlights 2 from jamie vades on Vimeo.

rollonubears talks a little bit about Hawk.

2007 sucked. Everyone knows that. Team morale was frighteningly low. During the 6 game period known as the Callapse, it seemed like no one was showing up on a consistent basis. There are 2 main exceptions: Justin Forsett and Lavelle Hawkins. We had a much ballyhooed WR corp that year, being referred to by some as the best top 3 group in the nation. Lavelle Hawkins was definitely not the most talented. Yet he was easily the most dependable. Every single game Hawk did his job. Didn’t have particularly gaudy stats, but he averaged 6 catches a game during that stretch and I know I felt confident that he was going to have at least a solid game every time out. I appreciate Hawk for actually being consistent during that stretch when it seemed that no one else was (sadly, that team proved that bad morale and inconsistency are contagious, as witnessed by the drops. You know which ones I’m talking about). Hawk was one of the few bright spots on that team. He was, without question, the best receiver that year. Thanks Hawk.

Also his TD catch against USC is one of the most incredible catches I have ever seen. He literally flew. His nickname is Hawk for a reason.

For those having trouble viewing the box above, click here to vote.

CGB Hall of Fame Sign Up Sheet

Avinash — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:00:21 -0000

via images.absoluteastronomy.com

Hi, commenters. Yes, you, I'm looking at you. Although not as creepily as you might think...

Despite our best efforts to publish 64 accurate, condensed, proper biographical summaries of our athletes, we've come up a bit short. We've gotten the majority of it finished, but we're going to need your help to finish up everything to have it ready to go by Wednesday.

Remember those high school days. Well they're back! It's sign up time!

The instructions are after the jump.

1) Sign up in the comments to write about a particular athlete on the list below! You just have to write their names...we'll update who takes who on the post as commenters start taking assignments

2) If you want to keep your entries private until the contest starts, email us at goldenblogs at gmail dot com with Subject Line "Hall of Fame"; if you don't care about anyone seeing it before the thing starts, just write it up in the comments with your entry.

3) Personal memories and experiences are what we're aiming for, but if you don't have any memories of them, look for media articles on the athletes and find interesting tidbits or outstanding accomplishments in their lives that are worth sharing.

4) Examples: We don't need you to write up an epic opus like BearStage did for Joe Igber (although we'd definitely LOVE IT); LeonPowe's mini writeup on Mike Pawlawski, ososdeoro's quote on Jocelyn Forest or California Pete's paragraph on Vicky Galindo are the sort of things we're looking for.

So we've split who's left into two catgeories. We're not expecting to fill all of these, but we'd love to get as many comprehensive experiences of Cal athletes as humanly possible.

Need a lot of help with (these are still fairly empty, although I'm sure they could get filled quickly in the right hands):

Rod Benson: norcalnick
Ryan Anderson: rollonubears
Jack Clark: carp
Lavelle Hawkins: rollonubears
Nnamdi Asomugha: R-Rated Superstar
The Play guys (Kevin Moen/Richard Rodgers/Dwight Garner/Mariet Ford): norcalnick (if anyone of you have witnessed The Play live, norcalnick's willing to give this up)
Sandy Barbour
Bob Milano: California Pete
Morgan Beck
Kirk Everist
Mary Meagher
Jeff Kent: norcalnick
Jerrott Willard: LeonPowe
Joy Fawcett: California Pete
Suzi Babos
Justin Forsett
Aaron Rodgers

Need some help with (these are alright and could go as is, although they're a little on the short side and/or many lack personal anecdotes:

Tony Gonzalez
Shareef Abdur-Rahim: LeonPowe
Craig Stevens
Thomas Decoud: rollonubears
Jeff Tedford
Robert Jordan
Dante Hughes
Lorenzo Alexander
Milica Vukadinovic: LeonPowe
Jeremy Newberry
Ed Gray: LeonPowe
Desmond Bishop

For all those who contribute, thanks in advance for sharing the sweetness of Golden Bear history. It's part of what makes CGB such an awesome and special place.

Other than Pedo-Oski, of course.

CGB Hall of Fame Brackets And First Round Matchups

Avinash — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:30:15 -0000

Here are the bracket announcements. Top half first, bottom half after the jump. Discuss in the comments whether we screwed it up like Meme Madness, bracketology picks, whatever.

Also, if anyone wants to write anything about these guys I can include in the matchup previews (anecdotes, stats, tall tales about the athletes, etc.), put them in the comments and I'll include them.

Oh yes, people, you might notice Mark Bingham is not in the poll. That's because he's automatically in! Our first CGB Hall of Fame inductee! (For more on Bingham, check out his story here).

Note: Sorry Ken, you got in Vinnie Strang just a little too late (plus for whatever reason Twist hates his guts and vetoed him out)!

Quick hits on first round matchups. Times on the bracket are unofficial and are subject to change. Click on the bracket images to enlarge them.

Brick Muller Bracket

#1 Tony Gonzalez vs #16 Hardy Nickerson: One of the greatest football players in Cal & NFL history, versus one of the fiercest defenders in California history.

#8 Rod Benson vs #9 Ryan Anderson: Perhaps the best athlete blogger of his time versus a low post monster in his last year.

#5 Sean Lampley vs #12 Matt Biondi: Pac-10 POTY at hoops and led the Bears to a NIT title. The other one just replicated Mark Spitz in winning seven medals at Seoul--five golds, four world records.

#4 Joe Igber vs #13 Will Ta'ufo'ou: The first is an incredible student athlete with kick-ass photos on Life. The second liked knocking people to the ground.

#3 Geoff Macarthur vs #14 Shareef Abdur-Rahim: The primary weapon of Aaron Rodgers versus an NBA journeyman.

#6 Jack Clark vs #11 Lavelle Hawkins: A rugby legend versus a loveable receiver.

#7 Nnamdi Asomugha vs #10 Craig Stevens: One has risen from the ashes of the Holmoecaust to be a Pro Bowl talent. The other blocked, blocked, blocked, and blocked some more.

#2 Deltha O'Neal vs #15 Thomas Decoud: The favorite is a legend to Cal fans everywhere. The underdog blasted Korey Bosworth to other dimensions.

Joe Kapp Bracket

#1 Natalie Coughlin vs #16 Jon Zuber: One of the most decorated Olympians ever versus a well-loved baseball player.

#8 Kevin Johnson vs #9 Jocelyn Forest: A softball player with an amazing story versus a guy who posterized Hakeem The Dream and became mayor of Sac-town.

#5 Sandy Barbour vs #12 Bob Milano: Our current AD versus our greatest baseball coach.

#4 Zack Follett vs #13 Milica Vuckadinovic: Pain Train needs no introduction. Milica was a pioneer, the best women's hoopster until Ashley Walker came along.

#3 Desean Jackson vs #14 Kyle Boller: Perhaps the greatest receiver in California history versus a QB who got it together under Tedford's watch.

#6 Michelle Granger vs #11 Morgan Beck: The most good-looking of the first round matchups. A softball giant versus an offensive volleyball talent.

#7 Kirk Everist vs #10 Mary Meagher: Water battle! He was and is a water polo king as player and coach (national championships in both). She won gold medals at Los Angeles and set swimming records that lasted nearly two decades.

#2 Marshawn Lynch vs #15 Jeremy Newberry: The underdog is the original version of Alex Mack. I hear Twist really likes the favorite.

Onto the bottom half of the bracket!

Pappy Waldorf Bracket

#1 Jeff Tedford vs #16 Angie Pressey. Our head coach extraordinare goes up against one of our most competitive women's volleyball talents.

#8 Joe Roth vs #9 Robert Jordan. Learn about Roth here. Come back. Jordan was a secondary yet critical element on four straight Golden Bear teams.

#5 Vicky Galindo vs #12 The Play Players. I've fallen in love with our 5 seed. I don't know what to do about it. I've even forgotten what happened at the 1982 Big Game. Someone remind me?

#4 Ashley Walker vs #13 Ben Braun. The greatest women's bball player in Cal history, I'd say. The other guy was here a long time.

#3 JJ Arrington vs #14 Brian Hendrick. Arrington perhaps had the best running season in California history, perhaps Pac-10 history, perhaps college football history (I don't know, you could probably find others, but go back and look at that season again). Other was a solid bball player who came just before the rise of Kidd, so he's sort of fallen through the cracks.

#6 Dante Hughes vs #11 Lamond Murray. One was a great great ballhawk, our finest corner since Deltha. The other was a pure pure scorer who finished off much of Jason Kidd's handiwork.

#7 Mike Pawlawski vs #10 Sean Dawkins. You know how football announcers annoy you with intangibles talk and "how he does all the little things to win"? That's what Mike was about. Dawkins made tough tough catches during our time at Cal.

#2 Leon Powe vs #15 Lorenzo Alexander. Welcome to the Show. For those who've forgotten Alexander, he was one of the main forces that drove the early Tedford defenses of 2002 & 2003.

Pete Newell Brackett

#1 Jason Kidd vs #16 Jeff Kent. Both of these athletes have had long, great careers in the pro leagues. Surprising this is a first round matchup, even more suprising it's 1 vs 16.

#8 Joy Fawcett vs #9 Jerrott Willard. Joy is one of women's soccer's finest. Willard enjoyed destroying people.

#5 Desmond Bishop vs #12 Geno Carlisle. Bishop was the anchor of those 2006 defenses. Carlisle bragged that the only person better than him in Chicago was MJ.

#4 Russell White vs #13 Ed Gray. Perhaps the greatest RB in Cal history goes up against a former Pac-10 player of the year at hoops.

#3 Alex Mack vs #14 Suzi Babos. Mack is self-explanatory. Suzi Babos won Cal's only women's singles title.

#6 Chuck Muncie vs #11 Joe Shipp. Muncie nearly won the Heisman in 1975 if it weren't for that dastardly Archie Griffin. Shipp was a versatile talent on the earlier decade Cal bball teams.

#7 Justin Forsett vs #10 Brian Weathers. Forsett was a steady horse who gave great effort on the field.

#2 Aaron Rodgers vs #15 Camille Leffall: Battle of the hair. Rodgers has always enjoyed his unkempt look. Leffall just looks fabulous, with or without the blond highlights and braids.

There you have it guys. Discuss away!

Poll

Just the Elite 8 get in, or should it be wildcard picks?

Just the Elite 8

28 votes

Wildcard picks

17 votes

45 votes | Poll has closed

Meet The Bears: California Golden Blogs Preps Us On Cal

Cory Williams — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:32:43 -0000

Our friends over at California Golden Blogs asked us to exchange Q&A's in the buildup to Saturday. ASUBoyd answered their questions, and they will be posted on their blog later today are now up for your viewing pleasure here.

I penned these questions hoping to better understand our Pac-10 foes. The answers given may not surprise you, but this has turned out to be California Golden Bears 101. And you know we love college courses here at House Of Sparky (at least, we love the girls in our college courses).

A big thanks goes out to TwistNHook, Yellow Fever, and ragnarok for their great responses.

1. What do you chalk up the loss against Maryland to, the jet lag? Unfamiliarity with an ACC squad playing on their home turf? Maryland being a plain good football squad?

Well, the genuine answer to this question is that Maryland dominated the trenches. They continuously got pressure on Riley until they moved into a more preventative D (when our passing attack started to take off). Further, Jahvid Best and Co. had no holes to run through.

On the other side, they ran all over us and Chris Turner had a lot of time in the pocket. That's the simple answer. Win the trench battle and you win the game. Maryland was winning the trench battle for most of it and was dominant for most of it, plain and simple.

As to whether Cal's OLine and DLine under performed due to time changes or humidity, well, it's hard to say. The players themselves won't admit it, as I doubt they'd point to excuses like those, but I can tell you the humidity out there was brutal, and I was just standing around in the bleachers, not trying to play football. For whatever reason, our players sure did look more sluggish than I've seen them in a long time, and that probably contributed to losing the battle up front.

Of course, none of this is meant to take away from Maryland, who is actually a pretty good team and who played a great game. Cal could have won this matchup, but by no means should have won.

2. Losing Jahvid Best is a blow to your running game. How will his absence affect your game plan, and who will fill his shoes on Saturday?

Well, luckily for Cal, there is some depth at RB. Shane Vereen has definitely shown ability and even 3rd stringer Tracy Slocum has some of the skillz that are necessary to pay part of the billz. Certainly, having Best up in this bitch is better than not having Best up in this or really any other bitch. But Vereen can produce.

One problem to note is a key injury to OLineman Chris Guarnero. He had been playing very well from what we understand and is now out for the season. So, losing Best AND a solid OLineman? Could be rough.

3. Kevin Riley vs. Nate Longshore. Longshore was renowned early in his career, and he lit up ASU in 2006 in Berkeley. Now, he rides the pine as Riley tosses the rock. Who is the better quarterback, and did Longshore get treated badly this season?

The problem is that nobody really knows who the better QB is. Many people scream endlessly over this topic, but we don't watch the practices and rarely have advanced game film sessions. Both bring different skills to the table. Many people were excited by the prospect of Riley. He suffered from Backup QB-itis, wherein people love him a ton, because they haven't seen him a lot. Not to say anything negative about Riley, but now that more people have seen him, people are moderately less enamored with him. This is just natural, because no QB can be perfect.

At times this year, Longshore has appeared worse, and at times, he has appeared better. So, neither QB right now is out-playing the other. Honestly, though, I think either QB will play a good (though not great) game, and there's probably 4 or 5 other Pac-10 teams that wish they could have our QB leftovers right about now.

4. Tell us about one Cal defensive player we may not know.

Well, we don't know who you do and do not know on the Cal D. BUT, you might not know the name of Syd'Quan Thompson. He is having a great season as both a punt returner (named special teams player of the week last week) and as a DB. People don't throw his way. He's a shutdown corner out there.

Now, ASU is apparently having some problems running the ball and is relying on the passing game a lot. This means there should be a good showdown between the ASU O and the Cal defensive backfield. SydGOD will be prominent in this battle. And if ASU decides not to throw towards SydGOD at all, they will try the other corner Darian Hagan. He's young and has a lot less experience than SydQuan, but is still improving each week. This will be a good test for him.

5. Losing Lavelle Hawkins and DeSean Jackson to the NFL this year really put the hurt on your receiving corp. Who has picked up the slack in their stead?

Unfortunately, nobody.

But at least TE Cameron Morrah has shown some catch passing abilities. Unfortunately, he's not the blocker that Craig Stevens (now on the Titans) was last year. Other than kickoffs, our receiving corp is probably the weakest area of the team.

6. Speaking of DeSean, what do you think of his performance as an Eagle? Or the touchdown that wasn't in Dallas, where he threw it behind himself while he was still outside the end zone?

As an Eagles fan, I'm not terribly bothered by any of this. It's worth remembering that the only other highly drafted wideouts during the Reid era were Freddie Mitchell and Billy McMullen. Now while I can empathize with Freddie given that I love my hands as well, it would be a gross understatement to say that either of the two was lighting the world on fire.

So for him to start off with two 100-yard games, even if he hasn't kept that pace up, earns him more than a little bit of slack in my book. As specifically regarding the touchdown that wasn't, that honestly didn't bother me much. It would have bothered me more if they hadn't scored on the next play, but I was pretty sure they would. It's just an amusing footnote to me.

And hey, I did get a picture with Reuben Frank of SI.com with my new Eagles DeSean jersey at Eagles training camp this year, and he told me it was the first one he'd seen. That is, before reading the back of my jersey he thought my number 10 jersey was for Koy Detmer. Koy Detmer?!?!? As if!

7. Lastly, what is your prognostication on the direction of the Cal season? What will your record be, and what bowl (if any) will you end up in?

At this point, nobody knows anything about where Cal is. Our RB is hurt. We dont know who the QB is. Lets just throw our hands up in the air and say National Championship loss to Vanderbilt.

About as likely to happen as any other reality, it would seem.