SBNation.com User Blog: Berkelium97

Golden Nuggets: Checking in With Allen Crabbe as He Prepares for the NBA Draft

Berkelium97 — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:25:21 -0000

Allen Crabbe has been keeping a draft diary on NBA.com as he prepares for next month's draft. Here he updates us on his pre-draft training regimen.

Since leaving school, all I’ve been doing is working out at the gym. Right now, I’m working with a few trainers doing two-a-days which include strength training and basketball workouts. We’re really focusing on my ball handing, working off the dribble and creating space. The rest of my workouts are focused on the strength aspect — getting quicker laterally, getting more athletic and explosive. We are definitely making progress, and I feel my body changing. All of this preparation is helping me gain confidence. I recently changed my diet and I am learning to eat more vegetables and stay away from fried and fast food. There aren’t too many options in college, so it was hard to eat healthy every meal, every day. Now I’m eating the right foods and I definitely like the results!

After workouts, I’m so tired that I usually go home, watch TV and catch up on the playoffs. I’m living in an apartment in Santa Monica, about 10 minutes away from my family’s house in Los Angeles. When I get bored, I just hop in the car, drive down the street and I’m there. It’s my first time living alone, so it can get boring pretty fast! My mom does a lot of cooking for me and she’s a really good cook. My favorites are her steak, lamb chops, vegetables and pasta but pretty much anything she makes is great. She always makes sure to send me home with a lot of leftovers!

Golf

Cal set a course record during round one of the NCAA Regional at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club. Despite the solid performance, the Bears only had a two-stroke lead after day one.
Cal's lead climbed to 11 strokes during day two.
The Bears went on to win the NCAA Regional to break the NCAA record for tournament victories in a season. Michael Weaver tied for first place on the leaderboard.
Brandon Hagy was named to the All-District 8's Academic First Team.

Softball

Jolene Henderson's pitching and Danielle Henderson's pair of home runs helped propel the Bears to an 8-1 win over Central Michigan.
Michigan shut out the Bears on Saturday morning.
Cal answered back with a no-hitter from Jolene Henderson in a 6-0 win over Valparaiso. Cal must now beat Michigan twice to advance to the Super Regional.

Tennis

Baseball

Cal lost 9-8 to Stanford.

Golden Nuggets: DeSean Jackson's Father's Drive Created Rifts With Coaches

Berkelium97 — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:26:58 -0000

Early June brings the release of DeSean Jackson: The Making of a Father's Dream, a documentary that chronicles Bill Jackson's drive to put his sons in the NFL. At times Bill's wishes conflicted with those of DeSean's coaches. This led DeSean's relationship with Andy Reid to begin with an awkward conversation.

"Hey, I just want to say one thing," said Jackson, calling together his inner circle. "I was on the phone with Andy Reid. He said, ‘I don’t want your family to be a problem. I don’t want to deal with your dad.’ He said some bad things. I just wanted to let you know. That’s kind of messed up, though."

Jeff Tedford makes an appearance in the documentary and discusses the disconnect between Bill's goals and the team's goals.

With all that manpower dedicated to a common goal, DeSean was able to maximize the immense amount of natural talent that just oozed out of him. That singular focus of developing an NFL player also created some problems. Cal head coach Jeff Tedford worried that team goals were taking a back seat to the individual pursuit of making it to the show. And Bill Jackson was so determined to make that dream a reality, that he at times took his advocacy for his son’s cause too far.

"While I understood what Bill’s motives were he didn’t always go about it the right way," said Tedford. "As far as alienating people or really being loud outside of the locker room and things like that. If DeSean only caught a couple balls in the game, he wanted him to catch 10. He was driven for DeSean to be successful."

Bill could be a handful (Reid obviously had heard as much) but it’s clear that it came from a good place. And ultimately, his plan worked.

He watched from a hospital bed as the Eagles beat the Giants in the Divisional Round to advance to the NFC Championship in DeSean’s rookie year. His son had four grabs for 81 yards in that game. Earlier that day, Bill had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That was January 11, 2009. He passed away May 14 of that year.

The documentary will be released on June 7th.

Football

Wilner compares the Pac-12's OOC schedules to those from the rest of the nation. Pac-12 has the toughest schedules followed, surprisingly, by the SEC.
Uncle Ted checks in on the state of Pac-12 recruiting. Cal currently has two commits.
Wilner predicts the all-conference first and second teams. He expects Deandre Coleman (defense), Cole Leininger (punter), and Avery Sebastian (special teams) to make the first team and Brendan Bigelow (all-purpose) to make the second team.
Former Louisiana Tech strength and conditioning coach Damon Harrington has been hired as Cal's new S & C coach. Former coach Blasquez has become the athletic department's director of strength and conditioning.
With the passing of Chuck Muncie, Faraudo ponders Cal's top running backs.

Swimming and Diving

The UC Regents approved a new aquatics facility. Construction should begin this summer and finish by the end of 2014.

Tennis

Coach Amanda Augustus was named the ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year. Six Bears earned spots on either the Pac-12 or ITA all-conference/region teams.
Christopher Johnson and Campbell Johnson earned the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year award. Johnson was named the Top Newcomer in the Pac-12 and a Player to Watch in the ITA Northwest Region.

Water Polo

The women's team was selected to play in the 2013 World University Games.

Softball

Led by Jolene Henderson on the first team, seven Bears earned All-Pac-12 honors.

Golden Nuggets: Remembering Chuck Muncie

Berkelium97 — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:13:13 -0000

One of Cal's greatest running backs passed away last night. Only 60 years old, Chuck Muncie was fondly remembered by his teammates and coaches.

Muncie's off-field issues often overshadowed his abilities as a versatile big back with great pass-catching skills. He was suspended for the 1984 NFL season after testing positive for cocaine and later spent 18 months in prison for selling cocaine.
Bartkowski, who played quarterback for 12 seasons in the NFL, called Muncie "one of the most likable, nicest guys I've ever been around, which I think was his downfall.

"It was a strength that really became a weakness. I don't think he ever met a stranger."

Muncie got his life back in order after his NFL career ended and established the Chuck Muncie Youth Foundation, which counseled young people and gang members on decision-making.

"I'm a very selfish person," Muncie told the Los Angeles Times in 2008, "and I like to feel good. One way I could make myself feel good was by helping other people. I learned, over a period of time, that was something that worked for me."

"This is a real loss because Chuck Muncie has done more for more people than any athlete than I've ever been around," said Mike White, who coached Muncie at Cal and later was head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

Rest in peace, Chuck.

Football

Aaron Rodgers has helped generate nearly $1 million in proceeds for the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer Inc.
Steve Williams talks with Chargers.com about how excited he is to have Keenan Allen as a teammate.
Jon Wilner caught up with the Pac-12 Networks president to discuss developments during year two. The network will air a weekly show dedicated to football as well as much more local content on its regional channels.

Basketball

Roger Moute a Bidias has signed with the Bears. The three-star, 6' 7" forward is the fifth member of the Bears' 2013 recruiting class.

Softball

The Bears were placed in the Ann Arbor regional. They will have to battle Central Michigan and potentially the winner of Michigan-Valparaiso.

Baseball

Despite outhitting ASU (again), Cal lost 7-10 to the no. 13 Sun Devils.

Track and Field

Ray Stewart ran a lifetime-best 13.43 in the 110m hurdles to win the Pac-12 title.

Golden Nuggets: Jack Clark Reflects on the 2013 Season, Looks Ahead to the Future of PAC Rugby

Berkelium97 — Sun, 12 May 2013 05:06:12 -0000

With the 15s season in the books, Jack Clark looks back on last week's championship game during an interview with CalBears.com.

Let's go right to the Varsity Cup final and work backwards. It was hosted by BYU in Provo on South Field. Wasn't that always an advantage too insurmountable to overcome?

"Yes and no. We almost won, so insurmountable, no. An advantage? Of course. The Varsity Cup universities had intended the final to be played at Rio Tinto Stadium close to Salt Lake City, but we had a scheduling conflict with Major League Soccer. Before the scheduling conflict arose we were in partnership discussions with Rio Tinto and they have the capabilities to bring lots of added value beyond the facility itself. We also wanted the Utah market. It is a mature rugby market and of the size where a college rugby championship can actually take center stage. Therefore, the right decision for the Varsity Cup was to move the venue to the BYU campus and the decision proved to be the correct call. All the teams were pleased with the quality of the event. No doubt it was always going to be harder on whoever played BYU in the final, but still the best option for what we're building with the Varsity Cup."
It was a close and exciting match, with Cal scoring three tries to BYU's two before losing on a last-second drop goal. What are your thoughts about the match itself?
"Not our best match, when our best match was needed. BYU is now back-to-back defending national champions for a reason: they're very good. I think our plan was good, but it didn't account for how physically strong BYU was at the breakdown. We just couldn't get into the rhythm we needed. Anytime we did, we asked hard questions of them, but we didn't get into that landscape often enough. Their halfbacks really controlled the game. They are both experienced players and they showed their abilities throughout the match. And hey, we had our chances. Several excellent try-scoring opportunities went wanting. Even getting outplayed in key areas of the match, we could have won. But we'll tip our hat to the Cougars as champions of 2013 and live to fight another day."

Coach Clark also spoke about the team's experiences in the inaugural season of the PAC Rugby Conference.

Can you recap the PAC Rugby Conference experience?

"It mirrored the Varsity Cup in many ways. For us, PAC Rugby is the regular season to the Varsity Cup postseason. It is nothing if not logical for the Pac-12 member universities to play in a rugby competition. We have some good teams in PAC Rugby. We think the competition helps us grow our rugby programs. Among other things, PAC Rugby helps us bring fans and media exposure to our rugby. We can still play the local non-PAC Rugby teams like Saint Mary's and our traditional rivals like UBC, so it's the best of all worlds. Again, I see PAC Rugby as an investment of our resources. I know for a fact that what we were doing in the previous regular-season competitions were not investments. We were paying to play, working through a schedule of less-than-attractive matches which led to USA Rugby playoffs. With PAC Rugby our regular-season budgets are similar but we are leveraging the PAC Rugby Conference to better build our programs. My only regret is that it took us this long to figure out the way forward."

Will the PAC Rugby Conference expand beyond the founding six teams?

"Yes, I hope so, but again, these are collective PAC Rugby decisions. Utah has gotten on the other side of some team disciplinary issues, so they will be an important PAC Rugby participant. They are an excellent team. I think some teams see PAC Rugby as a destination they need to work towards, which is true. However, it's PAC Rugby inclusion which helps teams build their rugby. In this regard, the egg does come before the chicken. There are a couple other Pac-12 teams that should put their hands up. PAC Rugby affiliation would assist them getting from where they are to where they want to be. If the conference doesn't expand, so be it. A six-team conference together with what else we have going on creates a full regular season."

Fortunately the season is not yet over. Cal will compete at the CRC 7s in a few weeks.

Football

ESPN's Pac-12 Blog goes through the conference's recruiting pitches team by team. Cal's new facilities and world-class education are its premiere selling points, although his new staff has to build some West Coast roots.
ESPN looks at Cal's receiving corps, one of the youngest and most talented in the conference.
Here's a look at Keenan Allen and Steve Williams on the Chargers' practice field:

Baseball

Cal opened the weekend series with a 3-1 win over Arizona State.
Despite trailing 0-6, the Bears battled back with 9 consecutive runs. Unfortunately ASU scored four more runs in the eighth and ninth innings to win 10-9.

Softball

Golf

The women's team's season came to an end with an 18th place finish at the NCAA West Regional.

Track and Field

Hammed Suleman won the Pac-12 long jump title this weekend. He jumped 25 feet, 11 1/2 inches...or nearly an entire first down. Can he play RB?

Tennis

Golden Nuggets: Cal Football's Post-Spring Lingering Questions

Berkelium97 — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:42:44 -0000

We Cal fans are generally an angsty bunch. 50+ years without a Rose Bowl will do that to you, I suppose. We have plenty of reason to fret this offseason. In case you're feeling a little too optimistic after spring ball, Uncle Ted has you covered with three lingering questions for the team.

1. Who's the QB? Dykes provided no pecking order between redshirt freshman Zach Kline, freshman Jared Goff and junior Austin Hinder on the post-spring depth chart. While Kline is generally viewed as the favorite among the hoi polloi, Dykes seemed to step back from his statement late in spring practices that Kline had "made a move" during the Pac-12 coaches teleconference this week.

2. Healthy? A lot of key players missed all or a lot of spring practices, including the top two running backs, Brendan Bigelow and Daniel Lasco, and tight end Richard Rodgers and OT Bill Tyndall, who broke his ankle during spring practices. While the word is all are expected to be ready to go in August, that is always written in pencil.

3. Brutal welcome to Berkeley for Dykes: Cal may play the toughest schedule in the nation. It includes eight teams with legitimate top-25 aspirations and three teams that are likely to be in the preseason top 5: Stanford, Oregon and Ohio State. It could be a slog, and the challenge for Dykes will be keeping his team focused and positive.

Anyone need a hug?

Football

Basketball

Golf

The Bears were named Cal's team of the year at the annual Oskis.
Michael Kim has become the first Bear to be named a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. Kim is one of three players in contention for the annual award given to the nation's top collegiate player.
Kim was named Pac-12 Player of the Year and Coach Desimone was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

Tennis

Once an alternate, Campbell Johnson was added to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship singles tournament.

Golden Nuggets: Sonny Dykes on Cal's Quarterback Competition, Plans for Fall Camp

Berkelium97 — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:10:44 -0000

Sonny Dykes held a teleconference with the media on Monday. Not surprisingly, one of the major topics was the quarterback competition. The coaches would like to name a starter during week one of fall camp, but they recognize it may not happen until week two or three. Here are his thoughts on the QB competition.

Clearly, Dykes wishes he had a No. 1 headed into the summer. He wasn’t so clear about whether having three players competing for the job is a bad thing.

"I kind of believe in the old adage that if you have two quarterbacks, really means you don’t have any. So if you have three that means you really don’t have any," he said. "We’ll see how it plays out.

"I hope one of them ends up being really, really good and playing good, and the others continue to get better and better, and we have a quarterback competition that plays out from year to year. That’s what you’d like to have.

"Whoever the starter is, you’d like to have the backup right at his heels, constantly nipping and fighting and battling and never letting the starter get too settled."

Prodded further to explain those remarks, Dykes condeded it may not be immediate smooth sailing for the new man.

"I think whoever the starter is is going to go through some growing pains. They’ve never started a college football game," he said. "But when you sit down and say what makes a good college quarterback, the guys certainly possess the qualities.

"It’s going to be up to us to bring out the best in them, put them in situations to be successful. It’s going to be up to them to play well and take the job over and be a great leader. I think all three of these guys have what it takes."

Football

Sonny Dykes talks a bit about his recruiting plans for 2014. He wants to sign two running backs and five defensive backs.

Basketball

Roger Moute a Bidias has committed to the Bears as the fifth commitment of the 2013 class. The three-star prospect is the brother of the Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

Predicting the 2013 Cal Football Season: Spring Edition

Berkelium97 — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:28:03 -0000

May is upon us, which means that our spring practice is ancient history and our Pac-12 brethren have wrapped up their spring practices. Now that we know more about ourselves and our enemies, it's time for us to look into the crystal ball and forecast the Bears' 2013 season. It's a doozy of a schedule, especially for a first-year coach. Undaunted by these obstacles in our way, we shall continue our semi-annual tradition of amassing some predictions.

In case this is your first rodeo, let me remind you of the procedures. Instead of being interested in whether Cal wins or loses, we're interested in the chance that the Bears will win. If you believe the Bears have a 99.9% chance of beating Portland State, enter ".999" on the form. If you think Cal has 50% chance at beating Northwestern, enter ".5" in the appropriate box. And so forth. Please keep your submissions between 0.00 and 1.00 or else our mystical number-crunching machine will seize up and I'll have to kick it several times and yell unkind things at it which I'll eventually regret and it's just a giant ordeal.

You can add up your percentages to get the expected number of wins. We welcome you to post them in the comments and commiserate with your fellow fans as we fret about how we're going to squeeze into bowl eligibility. You have until Sunday May 26th to submit your predictions. We will post the results shortly thereafter.

Thanks for your participation!

The form is embedded below (scroll down to move towards the end of the form). In case you're having trouble reading it, you may use this direct link to access the form.

Golden Nuggets: Brendan Bigelow--The Key to Cal's Success on Offense in 2013?

Berkelium97 — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:24:21 -0000

This week Uncle Ted is going team by team to identify the most important (non-QB) players in the conference. His choice for Cal: Brendan Bigelow.

If you watched Cal last season, you surely laughed at the above statistics. Talk about misleading.

Rushed for 431 yards? Er, Bigelow averaged 9.8 yards per carry. Scored three touchdowns? Who watched the Cal-Ohio State game? Anyone? How about four carries for 140 yards, including his 81-yard scoring scamper, one of the season's top plays by anyone. That touchdown jaunt was the longest run ever by an opposing back in 90-year-old Ohio Stadium. So, yeah, it was sumpthin.

His first two seasons in Berkeley, Bigelow battled injuries and inconsistency. Oh, and there was a sometimes baffling lack of touches, even when he was (reportedly) healthy. Was the Pac-12 blog alone last year when he rasped out loud, "Would someone give the ball to Brendan Bigelow? Just for kicks. Purty please?" The Pac-12 blog thinks not.

Know this: New coach Sonny Dykes really wants Bigelow to get the ball and do his explosive thing, preferably in space.

So, why is Bigelow Cal's most important player? Because if he averages 20 touches a game over a 12-game schedule, Cal will be a bowl team.

Bigelow's spotty history staying healthy -- he missed spring after surgery on the same knee he twice had ACL surgeries on while in high school -- makes the mere opportunity to give him touches a question. He's not a given for 12 games, but being able to hypothetically project him as one transforms this team.

For one, Cal will be breaking in a young quarterback this fall. His life will be infinitely easier if the guy standing in the backfield with him scares the pooh out of the opposing defense. Second, the Cal offensive line is, well, questionable. Bigelow is the sort who can do things on his own. Give him a sliver of light, and he'll give you 81 yards.

Ted makes a good case for Biggie.

Football

Basketball

The men's team hosted its annual team awards banquet. Allen Crabbe was named team MVP.

Rugby

Cal made several early mistakes but battled back to come within seconds of forcing overtime against BYU. Jonny Linehan kicked a last-second drop goal to give BYU the 27-24 edge. Championship number 27 will have to wait until next year.

Softball

Baseball

Lacrosse

It was a bittersweet day for Megan Takacs as she became the all-time goals leader at Cal; meanwhile the Bears were eliminated from the MPSF tournament as the Bears lost 16-6 to Stanford.

Crew

Track and Field

Jaci Powell set two personal records during the first day of the Pac-12 Heptathlon. She is currently in seventh place.

Golden Nuggets: Cal Wins Pac-12 Championship, Ties NCAA Record for Tournament Wins

Berkelium97 — Thu, 02 May 2013 05:26:32 -0000

Despite a surge from UCLA on day three, Cal held on to win the Pac-12 Championship and an NCAA record-tying 10th tournament win. Max Homa won the individual championship (and set a course record on day one!) followed by teammate Michael Weaver.

Cal's victory gives the Golden Bears 10 wins in 12 tournaments in 2012-13 to equal the 10 events won by the 1985-86 Oklahoma State squad. Cal has won 16 of its last 26 tournaments overall dating back to the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign and finished in the top five in all 26.

"This was really fairy-tale stuff defending the Pac-12 title and winning for the 10th time to equal a record that's stood since 1986," head coach Steve Desimone said. "It doesn't get much better than that. We've got more in front of us with an NCAA Regional and an NCAA Championship, but there's no question that this team distinguished itself today. It certainly can be in the discussion with the greatest teams in the history of college golf."

"A lot of things happened today," Homa said. "It all just kind of came together like a perfect storm. Tying the record for the most wins is pretty incredible just thinking about where we came from our freshmen year. I don't think I could have ever imagined this. It means a ton."

"Winning the Pac-12's again is so awesome," Homa added about the team's second conference title in as many years. "It means a lot to be the leader of your conference and to win it down in Los Angeles over UCLA in a hard-fought battle I think we just earned every bit of it. It just means so much to us."

Check out the post-match interview with Max Homa and his proud parents. Hole on your Bears!

Football

Wilner looks at the Bay Area's top talent for the 2014 NFL Draft. He ranks Deandre Coleman at 3rd in the Bay and a potential first-round pick. Brennan Scarlett and Brendan Bigelow also earn spots in the top-15 (assuming they declare early).

Rugby

Coach Clark talks about his team's upcoming national championship match against BYU.

Baseball

Cal defeated Pacific 13-2.

Water Polo

Emily Csikos, Dana Ochsner, and Breda Vosters earned All-MPSF honors.

Lacrosse

Megan Takacs was named the MPSF Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Tennis

Ben McLachlan earned a bid to the NCAA singles tournament. Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Campbell Johnson earned bids to the doubles tournament.
Zsofi Susanyi, Anett Schutting, and Klara Fabikova will represent the Bears in the NCAA singles tournament.

Golden Nuggets: Cal Men's Golf Wins Second Straight Pac-12 Title, Ties NCAA Win Record

Berkelium97 — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:48:35 -0000

UPDATE: Cal's lead dwindled to two shots after the third round, but the Bears ran away from UCLA in Wednesday's final round to win by nine shots. Max Homa wins the individual title

Cal men's golf looks to build on the best season in school history. The top-ranked Bears have a chance to tie an NCAA record for tournament victories if they win the Pac-12 Championships. Max Homa set a course record in the opening round to help propel the Bears to a nine-stroke lead after day one.

No. 1 Cal (338-357 - 695, -5) has a nine-shot lead over second-place and host No. 3 UCLA (346-358 - 704, +4) after the opening day of the 2013 Pac-12 Championship. The Golden Bears' performance was highlighted by Max Homa (61-70 - 131, -9), who has a three-shot lead on teammate Michael Weaver (65-69 - 134, -6) and broke the course record in the opening round with a nine-under par 61 at the par-70, 7,236-yard North Course at the Los Angeles Country Club.

"I went out there with a good mentality today," Homa said. "I just looked to have fun and enjoy one of the best courses in the country. The individual lead is great and the record is awesome, but I'm really focused on the team lead. We dug deep to lead UCLA on one of its home courses."

Cal had the best team score during each of the two rounds, including a 12-under par 338 over the opening 18 holes that helped them open an eight-stroke advantage. UCLA closed the advantage to three shots at one point on the back nine of the second round before struggling on tough holes down the stretch.

"It was a great day," head coach Steve Desimone said. "We have the lead, and it looks like it is by a few more shots than when we left the golf course. My goal was to finish the day in a good spot, and I think we finished in a really good spot."

Hole on you Bears!

Football

Aaron Rodgers signed a 5-year $130.7 million extension. The extension includes $54 million guaranteed and a $35 million signing bonus.
Mark Schlabach released another way-too-early preseason top-25. Cal faces three top-5 teams and six top-25 squads.
Todd McShay says Keenan Allen was the Chargers' best pick of the draft.
Aaron Tipoti signed with the Buffalo Bills.
Josh Hill has agreed to terms with the Arizona Cardinals.

Baseball

Cal won the weekend series with Washington by scoring off a wild pitch in the top of the 14th.

Softball

Cal could not avoid the Sun Devil sweep and lost 5-3 on Sunday.

Golf

Water Polo

The fifth-ranked Cal women's team finished the regular season with a win over San Jose State in the fifth-place game of the MPSF tournament.

Crew

The second-ranked men's team defeated the no. 19 Beavers in all four races at Vancouver Lake.

Tennis

The women's team fell short in the Doubles Invitational Championship match at the Pac-12s.

Track and Field

Several Bears set personal records at the Payton Jordan Invitational.

NFL Draft Recap: How Do the Bears Fit With Their New Teams?

Berkelium97 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:07:57 -0000

Another NFL Draft has come and gone. Most Bears were drafted later than we (and most mock drafts) predicted, but we managed to send four players. Let's take a look at how the Bears fit in with their new teams.

Keenan Allen

This was one of the biggest surprises of the draft, as Keenan was expected to be a late first round/early second round pick. No one predicted San Diego would pick him, but the Chargers thought he was much too valuable to pass up in the third round.

Allen says his drop into the third round is extra motivation to prove wrong all the teams that passed on him. He speaks to the media after being drafted.

"I'm not sure what happened. I was in the dark, like you guys," Allen said on Friday after being drafted 76th overall by the San Diego Chargers. "I wasn't that worried about when my name was going to be called, but I was just being calm and keeping my head up just waiting for my name to be called."

Players snubbed in the draft, like Tom Brady, love to play with a chip on their shoulder and that sounds exactly like what Allen's going to do, "Being a third-round pick is definitely motivation for me," Allen said. "I want to get out there and show everybody I can play. It pretty much comes down to producing on the field and showing everyone what you can do on the field."

Allen, who holds the career receptions record at Cal, sees himself making an impact right away in San Diego, "I see myself doing well, definitely being a starter," Allen said. "I want to make it a goal to be a Pro Bowl player."

Allen is looking forward to living in San Diego. Hopefully things go better than the last time he played in San Diego...

Dropping to the third round may have disappointed Allen, but he certainly doesn't find his new locale disappointing, "If anyone was going to pick me in California, I was definitely hoping for San Diego just because of the atmosphere and the place that it is with great weather," Allen said. "The San Diego Chargers are definitely a great program, too."

Keenan isn't the only one happy that he ended up in San Diego. ESPN ranks Chargers #1 among its winners in the draft.

Call the Chargers 2013 draft class serviceable -- and their best class in years... Allen could put this class over the top. He's a big receiver, although he doesn't have Vincent Jackson's deep speed. For a third-round choice, though, the Chargers couldn't go wrong.

Mel Kiper agrees and gives San Diego a B+ overall (B for fit, A for value). Kiper expects Allen to make an immediate impact and says Steve Williams will be a solid backup.

SBNation's Chargers site Bolts from the Blue is thrilled with the pick.

If you follow me on twitter (@jkvandal), then you already know I am a huge fan of this pick. This is a player that was ranked as the #2 WR on MANY draft boards. Again, he's a player that may not have some of the elite movement skills like some of the other prospects, but we also don't know for sure that he doesn't since he could not participate in the combine. When you watch his film though (do it, you will get excited), he runs great routes, wins jump balls, can block in the running game, and is great with the ball in his hands after the catch.

He has some of the best hands in this WR class, and is probably the most polished route runner. He gives Philip Rivers another weapon and another player that can win jump balls. Many around the league see him in the same light as a guy like Reggie Wayne. I'm not sure he will be able to do everything that Vincent Jackson did for this team, but I think he can do a lot of those things that Rivers has missed since Jackson's departure. At the worst, the team has a WR that provides insurance for the injury-prone Floyd and Alexander. At the best, he could develop into the best WR drafted in his class, and a bargain in the 3rd round.

That has to be the best value in the entire draft.

Brian Schwenke

Consistently praised as a real physical player, Brian Schwenke was next to fly off the board. He joined Tennessee in the fourth round.

Early in the day on Saturday -- the third day of the 2013 NFL Draft, ESPN analyst Todd McShay said that former California center Brian Schwenke was the "nastiest, toughest," offensive linemen he’d seen this season.

"I think he’s absolutely correct," Schwenke said with a laugh, after being the second former Bear taken in the Draft, going with the10th pick of the fourth round (107th overall) to the Tennessee Titans. "That’s something that I take pride in, in the way I play. I enjoy playing nasty, and I think it makes the game of football fun, and that’s how it’s supposed to be played."

Schwenke has an opportunity to make an immediate impact, as he will compete for the starting center position.

I was talking with them out there, and they definitely need a center next year, and they said that when they hand the playbook to me, there’s a lot of offense to learn, but I’m looking forward to the challenge," Schwenke said. "They compete at center, and they told me that I have a chance to compete and win that starting job ... I’ll be surrounded by two of the best guards in the nation in Andy Levitre and Chance Warmack ... I could possibly be the starting center. It’s there for me to earn."

He also did some great recruiting for the Bears by explaining how well Cal prepared him to be in the position he is today. Sonny Dykes needs to pass this quote along to every recruit in the nation.

My time at Cal, I’ve grown up a lot since I started going to Cal. I feel like I’ve changed, completely, as a person," Schwenke said. "I was pretty young, and I wasn’t always the most organized when I got there, being an athlete, having to do schoolwork and football at the same time. But now, I’m never late to anything. Cal taught me everything I know, and made me who I am today, and I couldn’t be more blessed to have gone there and gotten my degree there in three and a half years ... It could have gone better at the end, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I wouldn’t change it."

SBN site Music City Miracles wonders if it would have been more prudent to use the fourth-round pick on a defensive player.

I sure hope that the addition of Gregg Williams is all this defense needs to make a major improvement from last season because the Titans don't appear to see the need to draft defensive players in this draft. They just made their fourth round pick- Brian Schwenke, C, California. Schwenke is a highly rated player by most of the draft experts, but I have to question the addition after how well Fernando Velasco played last season.

However, Titans fans are delighted with the pick. 93% of Music City Miracles' readers approve of the pick.

Steve Williams

Steve Williams' 4.25 heard 'round the world certainly caught the attention of the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him in the fifth round.\ Williams will bring some much-needed speed to the Bolts' secondary.

Williams does not have the size to play on the outside. He will not be replacing Antoine Cason or Quentin Jammer. However, he is perfectly suited for the role of Nickel CB and has play-making speed.

The selection of Williams gives San Diego a lot of different options. Marcus Gilchristcan now have his chance on the outside or at Strong Safety. Even if he lands neither of those starting roles, Williams might still be an upgrade over Gilchrist in the Nickel spot.

The Chargers' defensive backfield has lacked a guy with elite speed the last few years, and that is the one thing Williams brings to the table. He will be a valuable and versatile weapon in man-coverage and against the run.

In an interview, Chargers GM Tom Tolesco praised Steve as a solid cover corner with elite speed. He specifically mentions Steve's 4.25 (unofficial) 40 yard dash at the combine. Tolesco expects Williams to be in the mix outside or as a nickel back.

Chargers.com caught up with Williams on Saturday.

Chargers.com: So first off, how does it feel to be a San Diego Charger?

Williams: Oh it feels great. They called me right before they were about to pick and told me they were going to pick me, and I was too excited. I was outside playing catch with a friend and got the call. I ran inside the house and told my mom and sister right away.

Chargers.com: How much contact did you have with the Chargers during this whole process?

Williams: I had talked to them briefly before the draft just one time.

Steve was a couple years too late to match up against Desean Jackson during practice at Cal and he looks forward to matching up against him in the NFL. He's also excited to join teammate Keenan Allen in San Diego.

Chargers.com: Is there any wide receiver you are looking forward to covering in the NFL?

Williams: I’d say Desean Jackson. I’d like to cover him. He’s super-fast and people say I’m super-fast. I want to see my speed go against his speed.

Chargers.com: You’re kind of lucky that one of your Cal teammates is coming to San Diego too inKeenan Allen. What is your relationship like?

Williams: It’s a great feeling that he’s going to be here. He’s a great receiver and I like facing him in practice. We make each other better.

Wlliams vs Jackson--I want to see that.

Marc Anthony

Anthony was a late 7th round pick to the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens have plenty of corners, so Anthony will likely spend his first year on special teams or the practice squad.

Anthony was looked at being as high as a third round pick, but remained available until the end of the draft. He has decent size but his speed is lacking so he needs to resort to being a physical cover corner. He will be used mostly on special teams as the Ravens are stocked with cornerbacks, especially if Lardarius Webb makes an expected full recovery to be ready for the 2013 season. Mel Kiper's analysis: "Rare to see a fifth year senior cornerback with this much ability."

Bleacher Report expects Anthony to compete at the backup safety position.

The Ravens have no backup free safety penciled in behind Michael Huff, so Anthony will come in and compete with Omar Brown, Emanuel Cook and Christian Thompson. However, all of those players have been in the Ravens' organization for over a year, so Anthony may have a disadvantage there. He could also compete to play as the nickle or dime back, where he won't be responsible for deep coverage as much as an outside corner would be.

Anthony will also need to prove he can play special teams in order to beat out any of the other players. Anthony is willing to throw his body around to make a play, but because of this he also struggled to stay healthy throughout his college career.

Anthony was only a few spots from being Mr. Irrelevant. I would have been shocked if he went undrafted.

Free Agents

C.J. Anderson signed with the Denver Broncos. While he is the only RB to sign with the Broncos, he may have to compete with Montee Ball, Denver's second-round pick, for a roster spot. Despite the looming challenge, Anderson is ready to get to work.

"I'm just glad I have an opportunity to play, and I always have to grind the hard way," Anderson said. "I will make it."

Other than fellow free agent signee Izaan Cross from Georgia Tech, Aaron Tipoti is the only defensive lineman to join the Buffalo Bills this weekend via the draft or free agency.

It sounds like Matt Summers-Gavin will join the Arizona Cardinals. He and fellow tackle Joe Caprioglio of Colorado State join the Cardinals' offensive line via free agency. Those are the only two tackles picked up by Arizona. If MSG is to play guard, he will face stiff competition from first-round pick Jonathan Cooper and fourth-round pick Earl Watford.

Finally, St. Louis signed Eric Stevens. He joins seventh-round running back Zachary Stacy as the only offensive backs drafted by the Rams.

Update (4.29): Josh Hill reports that he will join MSG and the Cardinals. [HT TheScientist019]

Wasn't drafted. Don't know why. Signed with tha cardinals. Still blessings all aroun. #ontherise #cantwait
— Josh Hill (@Call_Me_two3) April 28, 2013

While Arizona did not draft any defensive backs, they picked up safeties Javon Harris and Tony Jefferson. Both Oklahoma safeties will likely compete with Hill for a slot on the team.

Four draft picks, five free agents. Despite winning only three games last season, we managed to send nine players to the NFL. One of these days we should send another QB to the NFL...

No matter, these young men proudly represented their university and we're looking forward to seeing what they can do in the NFL!

Golden Nuggets: Cal's Most Important Game of the 2013 Season

Berkelium97 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:14:07 -0000

Uncle Ted is going through the Pac-12 and picking each team's most important game of the season. When he began this series, I wondered which game would be Cal's most important this season. I could not make a decision. Beating the Lobsterbacks is always delightful--but is it the most important win? Northwestern was another good opportunity--opening the season with a win over a top-25 team would be a great start to the Sonny Dykes era. You could also make the case for Oregon or Ohio State. Here is how Uncle Ted decided on USC as the most important game.

You could make a case for the season opener against Northwestern. A win over a likely nationally ranked Wildcats team would give new coach Sonny Dykes some early momentum. Also, a victory would contrast well with the horrid opener a year ago, a loss to Nevada, that ruined the opening of newly remodeled Memorial Stadium.

Because beating the best team on the schedule isn't necessarily the same as winning the most important game, Ted passes on Oregon and Stanford. He decides on USC for several reasons, including the Bears' 9-game losing streak, closing the home slate with a win, and generating some momentum heading into a possible bowl game.

I also think it's a much more winnable game for the Bears than road dates at Oregon or Stanford. And, as an added bonus, a win might spell doom for Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, which could inspire hours of message board gloating. Not that Cal fans would ever, ever do that.

In terms of football stuff, beating USC would not only make up for years of frustration in the series, it would offset the horrid performance at USC last year, when Cal was outgained 488 yards to 250 in a 27-9 defeat.

Further, set the whole thing up based on the schedule, which is among the nation's toughest next fall. If the Bears' goal is to get back to a bowl game, where do you flag the necessary six wins? Hard to find.

But let's just say the Bears have four wins when USC comes to town. Beat the Trojans, and a trip to Colorado is all that stands in the way of bowl eligibility. Then the Stanford game becomes pure gravy, with a puncher's chance in a rivalry game when the Cardinal might be playing for huge stakes.

What do you think? Do you agree with Uncle Ted or is another game more important?

Football

Four Bears were taken in the NFL Draft: Keenan Allen and Steve Williams went to the San Diego Chargers, Brian Schwenke was drafted by Tennessee, and Marc Anthony was the last Bear off the board as he went to Baltimore.
Several more found new homes via free agency: CJ Anderson signed with Denver, Eric Stevens signed with St. Louis, and Aaron Tipoti joins Buffalo.
Jon Wilner provides some updates from the latest conference commissioners' meeting.

Rugby

Cal advanced to the Varsity Cup National Championship match with a 72-6 win over Navy. The Bears face BYU next week in Provo.

Baseball

Softball

Cal gave up six home runs in a 10-2 loss to no. 5 ASU.

Tennis

Crew

Lacrosse

Cal barely lost to Stanford 14-13.

Track and Field

Charnell Price set personal records in the 100m and 200m and also helped the team win the 4x100 relay.

Poll

Cal's most important game of the year is against...

Northwestern

52 votes

Ohio State

17 votes

Oregon

3 votes

USC

32 votes

Stanfurd

68 votes

Other (let us know in the comments)

2 votes

174 votes | Poll has closed

Marc Anthony Drafted in the 7th Round by the Baltimore Ravens

Berkelium97 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:21:24 -0000

Although he was projected to go anywhere from the 4th to the 6th rounds, Marc Anthony was not drafted until the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He is the final piece in a defense-heavy draft from the defending champion Baltimore Ravens.

Because Baltimore has solid depth at CB, Anthony may start off as a special teams player.

Anthony was looked at being as high as a third round pick, but remained available until the end of the draft. He has decent size but his speed is lacking so he needs to resort to being a physical cover corner. He will be used mostly on special teams as the Ravens are stocked with cornerbacks, especially if Lardarius Webb makes an expected full recovery to be ready for the 2013 season. Mel Kiper's analysis: "Rare to see a fifth year senior cornerback with this much ability."

Venture over to Baltimore Beatdown to tell Ravens fans how upbeat they should be about stealing Marc Anthony as their final pick in the draft.

Keenan Allen Drafted By the San Diego Chargers in the 3rd Round (76th Overall)

Berkelium97 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:13:29 -0000

Remember when Bryan Anger was a higher overall pick than Keenan Allen? Good times, good times.

Now that a long, long, long, 24-hour period is over for Allen, he has found a new home in San Diego.

Wide receiver wasn't a posititon the Chargers were dying to fill, but they found Allen to be too enticiing of a prospect to pass up in the third round.

Allen has what nobody else on the Chargers' roster has: The physical gifts to replace Vincent Jackson as a true threat in the passing game. However, he probably won't be ready to take on that role in his rookie season.

This is good value for a 3rd rounder, but the fans are still wondering how Tom Telesco intends on addressing the Left Tackle, Nose Tackle and Strong Safety positions.

Head over to Bolts From the Blue to tell our SBN brethren in San Diego how they got the best value in the draft.

Golden Nuggets: Brian Schwenke's Transition to Center Sends His Draft Stock Skyrocketing

Berkelium97 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:03:38 -0000

During last year's spring practice Brian Schwenke moved over to center for the first time in his career. Now the second-rated center in the draft, Schwenke is glad he made the transition.

"I’d never snapped a football. Now I feel more comfortable at center than I ever did at guard," he said. "The way football works out, it’s what I’m more naturally built to do. Get that football out of there and go. It works for me."

Schwenke, who started the two previous seasons at guard, was moved to center partly to benefit the team, partly because it could enhance his professional prospects.

Without the change, Schwenke admitted this week, "I probably wouldn’t be getting as much love as im getting."

His ability to play guard and center will attract the attention of teams looking for a lineman who can play multiple positions.

Modestly rated the No. 44 offensive guard prospect in the country coming out of high school, Schwenke has gained favor in recent weeks because of his versatility.

"Absolutely. Teams can only dress seven or eight offensive linemen come game day and I can play either position," Schwenke said. "Teams definitely are interested in that. It’s one of the big reasons why my stock is rising."

Former Cal coach Jeff Tedford is convinced Schwenke is ready for the next level.

"He came in undersized, but he could always run and is very athletic," Tedford said. "He’s very smart and highly competitive. And he’s played two positions, which always helps."

Schwenke should be a third-round pick in this afternoon's draft.

Football

Athlon ranks the Pac-12's running backs: Brendan Bigelow is 8th. Uncle Ted provides his thoughts on the rankings.

Rugby

The Bears' semifinal match against Navy will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Network on Saturday at 2pm.

Golf

The women's team finished 10th at the Pac-12 Championships.

Tennis

The Cal men's team swept Utah 5-0 in the opening round of the Pac-12 Championships.

NFL Draft Analysis: Keenan Allen Still on the Board

Berkelium97 — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:55:29 -0000

The first round of the draft has come and gone and Keenan Allen is still available. Although he was projected by some to be a first-round pick, he's staying optimistic heading into today's rounds.

Competitively disturbed!!! But it's all good somebody gonna hit the lotto!#headshigh #noworries
— Keenan Allen (@KAAdeuce1) April 26, 2013

That he was not drafted is not a complete surprise, as only three WRs were taken in the first round. It was surprising to see DeAndre Hopkins jump into the first round, however. According to many, Justin Hunter (Tennessee) was poised to be the second WR off the board. Whether he or Keenan will be the next WR taken is a mystery heading into tomorrow. Robert Woods could sneak ahead of them, but odds are good that Hunter or Allen goes next.

Keenan Allen is the fourth-rated receiver in Scout's draft board as well as fourth in Mel Kiper's position-by-position ratings. Hunter is ahead of him in each set of ratings.

Where they end up is unclear: the two teams with the biggest holes at receiver--Minnesota and Texas--picked up receivers during the first round. With Minnesota and Texas having met their needs, Buffalo, New England, Cleveland, San Diego, Carolina, and Tampa Bay still have outstanding needs at WR. Cincinnati, Tennessee, and Philadelphia could also use WRs, but they're looking to fill out WR depth instead of finding a #1 or #2 receiver. They probably will not draft WRs until the late rounds, so they are unlikely destinations for Allen.

Except for a surprising prediction of Brian Schwenke going to the Colts in the first round, all the other predictions from yesterday's NFL Draft Preview should still be accurate (as accurate as you can expect from these things, anyway).

So what should we expect from today's draft?

Keenan Allen: 2nd round

Brian Schwenke: 3rd round

Steve Williams or Marc Anthony could be a surprise pick in the third round. While we saw three cornerbacks drafted during the first round, we still have a handful of prospects who should be picked ahead of Cal's duo.

Update (4.26.2012): Mock Drafts

Keenan is the 14th pick in the second round (46th overall) to Buffalo in Scout's round 2 mock draft. Allen is the third WR drafted in the round behind Justin Hunter (2nd pick, San Francisco) and Robert Woods (12th pick, Carolina).

Keenan goes to New England as the 52nd overall pick in Kiper's round 2 mock draft. Allen again is the third WR picked after Woods (40th, Tennessee) and Hunter (41st, Buffalo).

Bleacher Report's updated second-round mock draft has Allen going to the Jets as the 7th pick in the second draft. He is just behind Hunter (4th, 36th overall, Tennessee).

SBNation's latest round 2 mock picks Allen to go to Buffalo as the 41st overall pick. He is picked ahead of Hunter (44-Carolina) but behind Woods (39-Jets)

2013 NFL Draft Preview

Berkelium97 — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:21:05 -0000

Who is ready for TWELVE HOURS of televised draft coverage this weekend?! Here's your definitive guide to the next set of Bears in the Pros. Let's break it down by position.

Wide Receivers

Cal's lone draft prospect at receiver was once a lock for the first round. For the past year, most 2013 mock drafts have had Keenan Allen as a first-round pick. His draft stock has taken a tumble, however, following his slow recovery from a knee injury and his NFL Combine drug test which was red-flagged for over-hydration.

Here's his scouting report from NFL.com.

Strengths
Long-legged, reliable No. 1 receiver prospect. Runs solid slants, crossers, speed outs and vertical routes. Good height to win jump balls downfield, will attack the ball in the air with his hands and has good ball skills overall. Lines up in the slot regularly, can get off press with a quick shake at the line and uses his frame to block out smaller corners. Eats up ground quickly on his vertical stems. Agile and physical ball carrier after the catch, can make the first man miss with a quick cut or spin away from tackle attempts, maintaining his balance to continue downfield. Also runs through smaller corners to pick up a few extra yards. Gets down quickly for low throws despite his height. Aware receiver who uses his hands to create space from defenders downfield and gives his quarterback a target when in scramble mode. Good hip flexibility, as he sinks low into his routes and bursts out of the break.
Weaknesses
Has strider's speed that is good enough to threaten defenses down the sideline but is not elite in this category. Allows some passes into his body when facing the quarterback. Has the occasional drop when extending away from his frame or tracking over his shoulder, but bounces back quickly. Does not utilize his size or length as a run blocker, does not execute cut blocks and at times fails to hit a target. Development as a receiver was held back, as his quarterback could only comfortably attack a few portions of the field.
NFL Comparison
Jordy Nelson

Keenan has some stiff competition at WR, including Tavon Austin (WVU), Cordarrelle Patterson (Tenn.), Justin Hunter (Tenn.), Robert Woods (USC). Although three months ago he would have been the first or second pick from this group, he may now drop to the third or fourth pick. Fortunately for Allen, we may see up to five receivers drafted in the first round. If we see one or even no receivers drafted in the first fifteen picks, he's more likely to end up as a fringe first-round pick or second round pick. But if WRs start coming off the board in the first half of the first round, GMs may not gamble on waiting until the second round to draft him.

Who is looking to draft receivers?: Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiduhs, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers

Basically half the league is looking to pick up a receiver in this year's draft. Some have a much more pressing need than others, however. Minnesota, Houston, and the Jets seem most likely to pick WRs in the first round.

When is he coming off the board? (Since everyone has a first-round mock draft, we have a TON of predictions)

SBNation: 1st round, 27th overall to Houston

Scout: 1st round, second WR off the board (overall grade of 91)

Scout's seven-round mock draft: 2nd round, 9th pick (41st overall) to the Buffalo Bills

Todd McShay: late 1st round, second-best WR. However, McShay does not include Allen in his first-round mock draft. Neither does Mel Kiper.

Todd McShay NFL Mock Draft 6.0 (Updated April 25, 2013): Not included the first round.

ESPN's #bloggermock draft: 27th overall pick, Houston Texans. This is a fine example of what may happen tonight: Patterson was the first WR off the board at 8th (Buffalo), followed by Tavon Austin (13th, Jets). This prompted a frenzy of WR drafts as Justin Hunter (22nd, St Louis), Keenan Allen (27th Houston), and Robert Woods (29th, New England) all came off the board. Five receivers overall. If we see two top-15 WR picks, Keenan Allen should be a lock for the first round.

USA Today: 1st round, 30th overall to the Bengals (following a trade with the Falcons)

Sports Illustrated: 1st round, 27th overall to the Houston Texans

Bucky Brooks, NFL.com: 1st round, 25th overall to Minnesota

Charley Casserly, NFL.com: 1st round, 27th overall to the Houston Texans

Yahoo.com: 2nd round 52nd overall (LOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL) to Minnesota

CBSSports.com, Rob Rang: 2nd round 40th overall to Tennessee

CBSSports.com, Dane Brugler: 2nd round 52nd overall to Minnesota (he only projects one WR in the first round)

BleacherReport [don't click that link, it's an agonizingly long slideshow]: 1st round, 27th to the Houston Texans

BleacherReport [praise juju, they actually have a traditional article layout]: 1st round, 23rd to Minnesota

Walter Football: 2nd round, 52nd, Minnesota

San Jose Mercury News: 1st round, 28th overall, Denver Broncos

Draftek: 2nd round, 43rd overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

While Allen's stock has been trending downward, do not be surprised if GMs get antsy about drafting him as soon as WRs start coming off the board. Keep an eye out on the timing of the first couple WR picks--this will determine whether Keenan goes in the first or falls to the second round.

Running Backs

The position with the least certainty is running back. One or both of these two may earn a free agent deal, but it would be surprising to see both get drafted.

C.J. Anderson

via calbearsonline.com

Although he was invited to the NFL combine and showed some impressive agility in drills, C.J. Anderson does not have much of a draft profile on NFL.com. They do, however, give him a grade of 52.0, which is on par for a late-round pick.

Isi Sofele

via calbearsonline.com

Somewhat surprisingly, NFL.com gives Sofele a higher draft grade than Anderson and, perhaps equally telling, only put together a scouting report for Sofele (although they mistakenly call him Iso Sofele). With a grade of 53.1, Sofele squeezes into the category of a draftable prospect.

Analysis

Strengths
Compactly-built back who runs tough for his size. Works hard between the tackles, often falls forward. Presses the line, attacks an open lane or makes decisive cuts to kick outside or head upfield. Spins out of tackles in the backfield and downfield, shows good balance to stay upright after contact. Finishes runs, extends his arm to hold off or shake off high tackle attempts. Will lower his shoulder to get extra yards on the sideline instead of running out of bounds. Gives effort in pass pro, throws shoulder into a double-team, stands up to defenders with a solid base and will finish the play.
Weaknesses
Not elite in any area of his game. Lacks great lower-body strength to explode out of cuts, push the pile, or bull through strong tackle attempts. Does not possess an elite burst through the hole or a second gear in the open field to take away angles. Ball security has been an issue, fumbled eight times in 2011. Not used out of the backfield often, must prove he has the hands to be a factor there. Lacks the anchor to hold up against strong pass rushers in pass protection.
NFL Comparison
Jerome Harrison

Who needs a running back or two? New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Rams

It's tough to forecast whether Sofele or Anderson will be drafted because no one is desperate for a running back this year. Most teams who draft a running back will simply add some depth to the position. Eddie Lacy will be the only RB taken in the first round. After Lacy is a glut of backs including Montee Ball, Andre Ellington, Johnathan Franklin, Kenjon Barner, and many others. While there's not a Marshawn type of talent, there are plenty of solid picks. This will make it tough for Cal's duo to earn a pick. Scout projects 22 RBs will be drafted this year.

When will they be drafted?

Scout: Anderson, NA; Sofele, NA

BleacherReport: Anderson, NA; Sofele, NA

WalterFootball: Anderson, NA; Sofele, NA

Draftek: Anderson, NA; Sofele, NA

Well, at least we're being set up for a pleasant surprise if either one gets drafted.

Offensive Linemen

Brian Schwenke

via calbearsonline.com

This should be an exciting weekend for the newly engaged Brian Schwenke. A solid performer at the Combine, Schwenke is a top prospect at center. NFL.com gives him a grade of 71.0, good for a third-round pick.

Analysis

Strengths
Extremely quick off the snap, gets his hands on his target very quickly. Quick to provide assistance on a double team, and aware of who needs help. Plays with a good, low pad level. Constantly wins the leverage battle. Gets his hands inside of the chest plate of defenders.
Weaknesses
Not an impressive body type. Needs to do a better job of being able to sit back into his blocks in pass protection. Lacks great power. Shotgun snaps are often placed low.
NFL Comparison
David Bass

Matt Summers-Gavin

via calbearsonline.com

He played several positions during his career at Cal, including the draft's favorite position among linemen: tackle. MSG is not projected to play tackle at the next level, however, which will keep his draft stock from rising too high. He remains a solid prospect with a grade of 72.7, which is good for a second-day pick. There is clearly a disconnect between NFL.com's ratings and everyone else's for MSG, as he does not appear in a single mock draft.

Analysis

Strengths
Competitive performer who projects inside in the NFL. Very effective zone blocker and mobile enough to pull in front of plays and trap effectively, getting into his target and getting an angle while engaged if needed. Smooth and quick from his stance or down-block when moving to linebackers, sustains through the whistle by extending his arms and moving his feet. Good hustle downfield if plays break into the open field. Plays with a wide base and leverage against larger nose tackles, doesn’t give ground against their bull rushes. Agile cut-blocker for quick throws and to take out defenders on whom he can’t get his hands. Gets under the skin of defenders with his persistence.
Weaknesses
Not the bulkiest interior player, good technique helps him stay strong when inside may have troubles against veteran NFL tackles. Gets too aggressive on occasion, lunging towards his man and overrunning targets in space. His lack of quick-twitch movement and length are exposed when facing elite rushers outside, though his effort usually gets him around the edge.
NFL Comparison
Marshal Yanda

Who needs a center? New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys

Who needs guards? Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams

When will they be drafted?

Scout: Schwenke, 3rd round, second center drafted (grade of 78); MSG, NA

Scout's seven-round mock draft: Schwenke, 4th round, 4th pick (101st overall) to the Philadelphia Iggles

Todd McShay: Schwenke, 3rd round, second-best center; MSG: NA

CBSSports, Pete Prisco: Schwenke, 1st round(!!!), 24th overall to Indianapolis; MSG: NA (this is only a two-round mock draft)

BleacherReport: Schwenke, 4th round, 118th overall to Cincinnati; MSG: NA

WalterFootball: Schwenke, 4th round, 35th to the Detroit Lions; MSG: NA

Draftek: Schwenke, 4th round, 2nd pick (99th overall); MSG: NA

Let's hope NFL.com is correct and all these mock drafts are wrong about MSG.

Defensive Linemen

Aaron Tipoti

via calbearsonline.com

Although Aaron Tipoti is most infamously known for being one of the key players during injurygate against Oregon in 2010, he is the Bears' top prospect from the defensive line in 2013. He quietly put together a solid year despite the Bears' tremendous struggles on defense. His grade of 66.4 suggests he could be picked during the first half of the third day of the draft (4th or 5th round).

Analysis

Strengths
Excellent quickness off the snap is immediately noticeable, pops centers and guards when playing the run or squeaking through a tight gap when attempting to get into the backfield. Reach-blocks can be difficult to execute against him. His game isn’t just about his quick feet – he plays with a relentless nature and has good upper-body strength to bring heavy heads to bear on initial contact. Rips his hands off his man to work towards the quarterback if the ball stays in the pocket too long.
Weaknesses
Viewed as nose tackle/three-technique ‘tweener by some because he lacks elite athleticism. Shortish frame makes him susceptible to movement by double teams, also gets his shoulders turned by stronger guards when man-up. Shows hustle to the sideline but doesn’t have the closing speed to track down NFL ballcarriers unless they are slowed up by his teammates.
NFL Comparison
Brandon Mebane

Mebane, eh? That's some good company.

Who needs defensive tackles? Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

When will he be drafted?

Scout: NA

BleacherReport: NA

WalterFootball: NA

Draftek: NA

Tipoti looks like he'll end up in the free agent pool.

Defensive Backs

Marc Anthony

via calbearsonline.com

According to NFL.com's scouting profile, Marc Anthony could be the first Bear drafted on the defensive side of the ball. While he is certain to be drafted at some point, he could climb as high as a late third-round pick. NFL.com gives him a 68.3.

Analysis

Strengths
Possesses the height and length scouts like in an outside corner to man-up against bigger receivers. Affects plays at multiple levels of zone defenses using his size and backfield awareness. Has enough foot quickness to stay with receivers down the sideline and in trail coverage over the middle. Shows closing speed to jump out routes and stuff hitches, and the hand-eye coordination to knock away passes in front of the receiver. Upper-body strength is sufficient to rip out the ball as it arrives in their hands. Likes to pound receivers going into the air to make a grab, and will throw a shoulder into ballcarriers in run support.
Weaknesses
His long-legged frame means his recovery speed, backpedal, and ability to transition are a bit slower than many of that of smaller prospects at the position. His overall bulk and strength are average, as well, meaning he must fully utilize his size and length by playing with more bend, dropping his hips to anchor against receiver blocks and be a more consistent tackler.
NFL Comparison
Bradley Fletcher

Steve Williams

via cdn2.sbnation.com

Although NFL.com does not have any extensive analysis of Speedy Steve Williams, he earns a 59.0 which should earn him a late-round pick.

Who needs cornerbacks? Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle SeaBears

Uh oh, the Raiders need a CB. Al Davis would have made Williams a second-day pick if he were still alive. Although the draft is well populated with CBs, most teams need one. As a result, Anthony and Williams may go sooner rather than later.

When will they be drafted?

Scout: Steve Williams, 4th round, 17th cornerback (overall grade 65); Marc Anthony, 4th round, 20th cornerback (overall grade 61)

BleacherReport: Steve Williams, 5th round, 142nd overall; Marc Anthony, 7th round, 221st overall to San Diego

Scout's seven-round mock draft: Steve Williams, 5th round, 6th pick (139th overall) to the Cleveland Browns; Marc Anthony, 5th round, 30th pick (163rd overall) to the Atlanta Falcons

WalterFootball: Marc Anthony, 5th round, 6th pick to San Diego; Steve Williams, 7th round, 32nd pick to Baltimore

Draftek: Steve Williams, 6th round, 205th overall to OAKLAND! Marc Anthony, 7th round 234th overall to Denver

Recap

Alright, that was a ton of information. Here's the TL;DR version of when each player will be drafted, that way you can trim about 4 hours off that 12 hours of draft coverage.

Keenan Allen: late 1st round/early 2nd round

Brian Schwenke: 3rd round

Steve Williams: 4th-6th round

Marc Anthony: 5th-7th round

CJ Anderson: free agency

Isi Sofele: free agency

Aaron Tipoti: free agency

Check back throughout the draft as we will be providing updates whenever any Bears get drafted.

Golden Nuggets: Scott Fujita Ends His Career--Some Wonder If Jahvid Best Will Be the Next Bear to Retire

Berkelium97 — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:19:53 -0000

Yesterday Scott Fujita added a little more history to one of the seven wonders of the world, Machu Picchu. He signed a one-day contract with the Saints to end his career with the team he helped propel to a Super Bowl XLIV victory.

Scott Fujita signs his one-day contact with the Saints from Machu Picchu atop the Andes mountains. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Saints.

Fujita, 33, was in the Andes with former Saints teammate Steve Gleason, who is battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“What better place to reach the end of the road than here at 10,000 feet above sea level, in the Peruvian Andes overlooking Machu Picchu with my dear friend Steve Gleason?” Fujita said in a statement through the team.

Meanwhile, many wonder if Jahvid Best should call it quits. He has not been on the field in over 18 months and still has not been cleared to play due to residual post-concussion symptoms. Now that Best has qualified for the NFL Pension, he has further incentive to hang up his helmet.

"Based on the length of time, I don't know what doctor is going to clear him," said ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, a former NFL running back who was forced to retire because of concussions. "The longer symptoms linger, the more severe the trauma has been."
"Obviously, people aren't clearing him for a reason," said Jeff Tedford, who coached Best at Cal. "I want the best for Jahvid, which would be a long, productive life. If that means not playing anymore, that's probably the right thing to do."

Best, 24, isn't ready to retire. He continues to train in the hope that he is someday cleared to play.

"I am never giving up hope," he told the Baltimore Sun last month. "I'm staying ready so if the opportunity does present itself, I'll be ready."

That Best continues to show post-concussion symptoms after 18 months is an ominous sign.

Softball

The Bears came up short of sweeping Oregon State and suffered their first shutout of the year.
Jolene Henderson was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week. This is her 13th career weekly honor, tying Michele Granger's school record.

Baseball

Cal scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to earn a 2-1 win over Washington State. The win gave Cal the edge in the weekend series.

Crew

Gymnastics

Jonathan Liu and Takahiro Kawada earned All-American honors at the NCAA Championships.

Golf

Golden Nuggets: A Look Back at Scouts' Evaluations of Aaron Rodgers on the Eve of the 2005 NFL Draft

Berkelium97 — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:22:53 -0000

In anticipation of this week's NFL Draft, we're taking a trip down memory lane. Let's see what the scouts were saying about Aaron Rodgers on the eve of the 2005 Draft.

He received a mix of praise, although some of it is rather muted.

AFC scout: "I like him. He's a very talented guy. A lot of quarterbacks that were system people have not done very well. That puts up a red flag. Not that he is one of them. He could be an exception. But I can't get it out of my craw."

Rich Snead, Tennessee: "I like him. I just don't know if he's maxed out. He's more accurate than (Kyle) Boller but probably not as athletic. He's a better player than Akili Smith. He's more athletic than (Trent) Dilfer was. He's a little more mobile than Joey Harrington. He had to go to a JC because no one would recruit him because they said he was too small. He's been busting his (expletive) his whole life to get to this point. I just don't know how much more he has to give."
...
AFC scout: "I think he has some upside although there are some things that are just ordinary about him."
...
Bill Polian, Indianapolis: "I see a guy who has good arm strength. I see some athletic ability. I see a guy who was pretty good with a good team. I see a guy who's in a pretty efficient offense. Am I certain that he's going to come in and lead my team to the Promised Land? I can't say that. I'm not even sure I can say that about Alex Smith."

He also received some harsh criticism.

NFC scout: "I think he has a good chance of being a bust. Just like every other Tedford-coached quarterback. Thing I struggle with him is he gets sacked a lot. He doesn't have great ability to change the release of the football. He's mechanically very rigid. Brett Favre can change his release point and find different windows. There will be more growing pains with Alex Smith but in the end he has a much better chance to be much better."

NFC scout: "The guys that Tedford has had, what have they developed into? They're too well-schooled. So mechanical. So robotic. I don't know if they become good pro players. I think Rodgers is in that same mold."

AFC scout: "I don't like him. He's a clone of Harrington and Boller. They all throw the same way. What have those guys done? Nothing. If you take him in the second round, fine. Heady guy. They do a marvelous job of coaching quarterbacks there. I don't think he's as good as the top quarterbacks coming out last year."
...
AFC scout: "He's a system quarterback. 3-, 5-, 7-step guy. Can't create on his own. Panics under pressure. Gets flustered easy. I don't think there's a quarterback in the draft worthy of a first-round pick. I'm dead serious. None of them are worth it."

Remember the days when Tedford QBs were consistently groomed to be NFL Draft prospects?

Football

Zach Maynard talks about Keenan Allen's drug test issues. Despite hamstring issues and a bad car accident during the past couple months, Zach Maynard continues to try to find some way to play at the next level.

Rugby

Cal shut out Notre Dame 77-0 at the Varsity Cup Super Regional semifinal.

Golf

Michael Kim is a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation's top college or amateur player.

Water Polo

Roser Tarrago, silver medalist for Spain during the 2012 Olympics, signed a letter of intent to join the Bears this fall.

Tennis

Softball

Cal shut out Oregon State 8-0 in five innings.

Lacrosse

No. 11 Denver defeated the Bears 13-10.

Baseball

Gymnastics

The no. 9 men's team failed to advance to the team final at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1999. Six members of the team qualified for individual events. Takahiro Kawada and Jonathan Liu advanced to the NCAA Championship Individual Event championships.

Crew

Track and Field

Cal ended a six-year losing streak to the Lobsterbacks with a 85-78 win in the 119th Big Meet.

Golden Nuggets: Cal Running Back John Tuggle Defies the Odds as 1983's Mr. Irrelevant

Berkelium97 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:46:20 -0000

In anticipation of next week's NFL Draft, Grantland has a new short in their 30 for 30 documentary series featuring Cal running back John Tuggle (hit the source link to watch the video).

The latest film is The Irrelevant Giant, from directors Shaun Silva and Don Lepore. In 1983 the New York Giants were a team in flux. Rookie coach Bill Parcells was hired to rebuild the once-prominent franchise. One of the resources at his disposal was the last pick in the 1983 NFL draft — a pick commonly known as "Mr. Irrelevant." That year Parcells's staff chose John Tuggle, a running back out of Cal, who would not only defy the odds and make the team, but also change the lives of both player and coach.

Now here's a fun fact: this documentary's production is partly due to CGB's resident historian CalBear81. Her spectacular piece written last year inspired Shaun Silva and Don Lepore to make this piece on Tuggle. Here's more on Tuggle's time at Cal from CalBear81's article.

But, of course, the most memorable event of the 1982 season was the Big Game. Although everyone remembers that game because of The Play, it was actually a very close, exciting, and hard-fought game long before those wild last four seconds. John Tuggle had an excellent game, rushing for 97 yards on 28 carries to help keep the game close, allowing The Play to happen. A few months later, in Ron Fimrite's terrific Sports Illustrated article, "The Anatomy of a Miracle," John Tuggle described The Play as, "an Act of God."

Cal's 1982 Big Game victory ended Stanford's last chance to get to a bowl game under their senior quarterback, John Elway, and gave Elway only one Big Game victory in his four years at Stanford. Tuggle, by contrast, had played in the Garden State Bowl and had been able to lift The Axe over his head in triumph three times during his four years at Cal. And while Elway famously complained that The Play had "ruined my last game as a college player," it was a grand send-off from Berkeley for Tuggle and the other Cal seniors, who had fought through some dreadful seasons as Golden Bears.

As the NFL draft approached in the spring of 1983, it was generally assumed that John Tuggle would be picked in the middle-to-late rounds. But on the first day of the (then un-televised) NFL draft, Tuggle waited hour after hour for the call that would tell him he had been selected. The day ended without a call. The big news that day was that Stanford's John Elway had been selected as the #1 pick overall by the Baltimore Colts, even though he had loudly proclaimed that he would refuse to play in Baltimore. The call to Tuggle did not come until very, very late on the second day of the draft. Just when it looked like he would remain undrafted, Tuggle got the call from the New York Giants. He had been selected as the last pick of round 12, the #335 pick overall. John Tuggle was "Mr. Irrelevant."

This was only part of the story. Check out the eleven-minute documentary to learn more about his tragically brief time with the Giants. Many thanks to CalBear81 and the Grantland Staff for helping share this remarkable story.

Football

An anonymous NFL scout says Keenan Allen's drug test kerfuffle and character concerns will drop him to the late second round.
Uncle Ted interviews Nick Forbes about what has changed at Cal this spring and what to expect this fall.
"Who are the Cleveland Browns fans of college football?" a reader asks Sports Illustrated's Stuart Mandel. His answer: Cal fans.
Wide receiver Jalen Harvey became the second member of the 2014 class to commit to the Bears.
Eleven Bears participated in the 49ers Pro Day.
Mel Kiper selects the ideal draft picks for each team during the first three rounds. Keenan Allen goes to Buffalo as the 41st overall pick.

Basketball

The 7', 280lb Kameron Rooks signed his letter of intent with Cal and will add some much-needed size to the Bears.
Freshman Kaileb Rodriguez will transfer from the Bears. His absence leaves the Bears especially short on big men. Cal could potentially fill two scholarship positions before next year.
Allen Crabbe is 25th (up from 27th) in ESPN's rankings of the top-30 2013 NBA Draft prospects.
Wilner picks Cal to finish fourth in the Pac-12 next season behind Arizona, Colorado, and UCLA.

Swimming and Diving

The extraordinary Missy Franklin won the James. E. Sullivan award, given to the nation's top amateur athlete. She joins elite company including Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson, Peyton Manning, and Tim Tebow. She will join the Bears this fall.
The university is holding its annual "Swim with Mike" event to raise money for education to help physically challenged athletes.

Golden Nuggets: Cal Golf's Terrific Comeback at Western Intercollegiate Gives Bears a Shot at NCAA Record

Berkelium97 — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:21:35 -0000

If you haven't been following the no. 1 men's golf team this year, you have been missing out on the best season in school history. With a tremendous comeback this past weekend, the Bears put themselves in position to ties the NCAA Record of 10 tournament victories if they win at the upcoming Pac-12 Championship.

No. 1 Cal (350-361-340 - 1051, +1) won for the ninth time in 11 tournaments this season after a third and final round of 10-under par Sunday at the Western Intercollegiate that head coach Steve Desimone claimed "was certainly one of the best and maybe the best ever" in school history.

"This was a tremendous team win, and it's been that way all year," Desimone said. "It certainly sets us up well for the Pac-12 Championship."

Cal will attempt to equal the unofficial NCAA record of 10 victories in a season by the 1985-86 Oklahoma State team in its next event April 29 - May 1 at the Pac-12 Championship hosted by UCLA at the Los Angeles Country Club North Course.

"That has a nice ring to it," Desimone said about the team being one victory away from the NCAA record. "I know I can handle it and the guys can too, but let's not forget the real prize is June 2 [NCAA Championship]. Maybe we can combine the two. How sweet would that be?"

"It's just wow, I guess," said Max Homa, the team's lone senior in the lineup. "I don't really even know how to put it into words, but it's been a lot of hard work. You could kind of see it coming after last year but the way everyone's played when the lights were on and when we really needed to play well is amazing. Today was a perfect testament. We were down nine, and we probably had one of the best rounds I've ever seen by a team. We just step it up when we need to."

Basketball

Layshia Clarendon became the highest-drafted Bear in the WNBA as the no. 9 overall pick. She joins the defending champion Indiana Fever.
Layshia will hit the ground running as the Fever's training camp opens May 11th and the season begins May 24th.

Baseball

Cal couldn't avoid the sweep as Oregon won 5-4. Four of the seven games in the Bears' losing streak have been decided by a single run.

Lacrosse

Cal defeated San Diego State 13-11.

Track and Field

Ethan Cochran broke the freshman school record with a 188' 8" discus toss.

Golden Nuggets: A.J. Hawk Says Aaron Rodgers' Contract Extension Should be Worth $1 Billion

Berkelium97 — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:33:13 -0000

Aaron Rodgers is set to get a big contract extension from the Packers. If teammate A.J. Hawk's sources are correct, Rodgers is going to get a fortune.

Green Bay Packers teammate A.J. Hawk believes quarterback Aaron Rodgers may get a $1 billion contract — and the star linebacker says the 29-year-old ex-Cal star is worth it.

"Let’s be honest, all of us minions have nothing that we can offer Aaron that would even come close to anything that he would get," Hawk told the NFL Network.

"He deserves every dime he’s going to get. He’s going to get a billion dollars, probably, so I’m OK with anything they want to give him, because he’s one of the best in the world and he deserves everything."

Rodgers and the Packers are reportedly working on a new deal that league sources believe will earn him $25 million per season and make him the highest-paid player in NFL history.

He'd have to sign a 40-year contract at $25 million per year to earn that coveted billion dollars. Will Aaron be the NFL's first septuagenarian?

Football

Keenan Allen is sixth in ESPN's stats/production-heavy ranking of the draft's top wide receivers.
Cal released its post-spring depth chart. Faraudo provides his thoughts.

Basketball

The women's team is hosting a banquet on April 24th to celebrate the team's accomplishments. The event includes a reception, silent auction, and dinner.
Monty is the Pac-12's sixth-highest paid coach with $1.5 million. That's a pretty good deal for the Bears. UCLA's Steve Alford is atop the list at $2.6 million. The Bruins better hope he's a significant upgrade over Howland.

Golf

Swimming

Crew

Kendall Case and Agatha Nowinski received invitations to US Rowings Women's U-23 National Team Camp.

Lacrosse

Megan Takacs and Melissa Humphrey scored four points each as Cal defeated USC 10-7.

Tennis

Softball

Cal and UCLA battled for nine innings before the Bruins scored the game-winning run. Cal lost 6-5.
Cal took another game to extra innings and again lost by a single run.
The Bears prevented the UCLA sweep with a 5-1 win.

Baseball

Cal remains winless under the Evans Field lights as no. 9 Oregon defeated the Bears 3-2.
Cal's struggles continued with another loss, 10-4 to Oregon. Cal has lost six in a row and 10 of the last 12.

Rugby

Down 21-6 at halftime, Cal rallied to defeat Saint Mary's 42-31. Cal ended the season a perfect 19-0.

Water Polo

Emily Csikos scored two goals and climbed to the top of Cal's all-time scoring list in the Bears' 14-7 win over Cal State Bakersfield.

Golden Nuggets: Takkarist McKinley and the Nuance of Cal's Academic Evaluation

Berkelium97 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:00:18 -0000

Despite Takkarist McKinley's struggles to qualify academically for Cal, Dykes and the staff have reason to believe he can be a great student if put in the right environment. McKinley has never had much stability at home, and while his schoolwork suffered, his work ethic never diminished.

Early in high school, McKinley said he missed several days of school and practices while tending to his grandmother. The family believes this held him back academically.

McKinley went through phases of anger with his surroundings, sometimes confronting other middle schoolers for commenting on his missing parents. He said he wondered whether he'd end up in jail or dead while living in Richmond, which is high in crime.

"There's not too much that fazes me anymore," McKinley said. "It's made me stronger."
...
Dykes doesn't know McKinley's entire background, but [Rope Coach Kevin] Parker has briefed him on McKinley's challenges. Cal incorporates McKinley's story into its academic evaluation and recognizes his study environment was not ideal. Through recruiting research, Cal discovered McKinley was a hard worker and felt he might respond well to prep courses.

If a player takes a test six times and still doesn't qualify, Dykes knows it's time to move on and he can revisit the recruitment after a junior college stint. But McKinley still has chances. "You look at all the factors and you say, 'Hey, let's take a chance on this kid,'" Dykes said.

In addition to trying to improve Cal's APR by recruiting the right students, Dykes hopes to see Cal's APR get a boost from returning players who were just short of meeting graduation requirements.

No FBS teams faced penalties from the June rankings. But schools are on notice for 2012-13, when the threshold for postseason participation rises from 900 to 930.

According to Cal officials, former players who have spent time on NFL rosters -- receiver Jeremy Ross (Packers), defensive back Sean Cattouse (Chargers), linebacker D.J. Holt (Redskins) -- are back in school this semester with plans to graduate. This should pump life into Cal's future APR.

"I can say with almost certainty we won't have any issues," said Dykes about potential punishments for the program.

Cal football has augmented its staff of learning specialists from two people to four, Dykes said. Current players have signed non-binding pacts to complete necessary credits to graduate. Academics and APR were primary topics during his introduction to the team, and his recruiting takes a similar tone. "You're always better off with a little less of a player who is a little bit better of a program guy than you are with a better player who's less of a program guy," Dykes said.

With the change in APR threshold for bowl participation, Cal has no margin of error. Fortunately, it sounds like this will not be a problem for long.

Football

Cal introduced several new uniforms on Wednesday afternoon.
ESPN lists Cal among five teams with the toughest early 2013 schedules.
Nick Forbes says the Bear logo is "aggressive" and will "be true to how we're going to play next year."
Fresh off a knee injury, Keenan Allen ran a disappointing 4.71 40-yard dash on Tuesday. He impressed scouts with his route-running skills and ability to catch tough passes.
Cal is 7th in turnover margin in the Pac-12 over the past three years.

Softball

The no. 9/8 Bears defeated Saint Mary's 10-2.

Golf

Michael Weaver had a good time with Rory McIlroy during their practice round at the Master's.

Fantasy Week in Review: Whose Bracket Won it All?

Berkelium97 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:03:49 -0000

Well, the Big Dance is over. Let's take a look at the standings to see who came out on top.

Reef won and won by a huge margin. This wasn't even close. He had a whopping 19-point margin of victory. Not only did Reef anticipate a Louisville-Michigan final, he also nearly picked the final score. He predicted an 82-77 Louisville victory and was only one point off from the 82-76 final. With a winning performance like that, the rest of us shouldn't have even bothered joining the league.

Here are some other highlights:

unclesam22 proved to be king of the mods by posting highest score among your fearless leaders at CGB. Twist was very disappointed to finish second.
i have no idea what i'm doing actually had a very good idea of what he/she was doing and had the largest number of correct picks with 42.
Hey Bowles Hall! and The Great Barrier Reef were the only two to pick Michigan and Louisville in the finale. Bowles picked Michigan to win, however. A correct pick still would not have been enough to dethrone Reef.
Hey Bowles Hall! also had the strongest finish among those of us who did not pick Louisville to win.
Kyle B Dreams of Bears finished 76th overall (out of 156 who filled out their brackets), a remarkable feat considering he picked Cal to win the tournament.

Well, it's been fun. Let us spend the next 11 months singing songs of praise for Reef.

Golden Nuggets: Pac-12 Network Plans to Expand to New Carriers

Berkelium97 — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:40:49 -0000

If there's one area where Jon Wilner has excelled as a reporter over the past year, it's updates on the Pac-12 Network. The Network is not content with the status quo and intends to expand this offseason.

Checked in with Pac-12 Enterprise President Gary Stevenson about a variety of topics. Naturally, we touched on the prospects for a Pac-12 Networks distribution deal — with DirecTV and/or other carriers — sometime between now and the start of football.

“I’m confident we’ll make a lot of progress in the next 60-90 days,” Stevenson said.

He didn’t get into details, and I didn’t get the sense that he was necessarily referring to DirecTV.

But given how close-to-the-vest Stevenson plays carriage negotiations for the past year, his expression of confidence qualifies as significant.

So which carrier(s) is close to a deal?

Within the league’s footprint, five affiliates don’t carry the Pac-12 Networks, Stevenson said.

One is a smaller carrier: Cable 1, which is in Arizona and some areas of the Pacific NW.

The other four are major: Charter, Verizon, AT&T and DirecTV.
...
If the Pac12Nets are on the verge of a deal, my guess is that it’s not with DTV. (Feels too early: If DTV is going to sign up, it won’t be until mid-/late-August.)

And because Charter moves in virtual lockstep with DTV, we can probably eliminate it, as well.

So if there’s movement, it’s most likely with AT&T or Verizon. And if the Pac12Nets gets one, perhaps the other would cut a deal soon thereafter.

More providers would be better, but there is clear room for improvement with their current carriers (as many of their customers will tell you)...

Football

Keenan Allen is set to run today for NFL scouts. It sounds like his knee still is not 100% healed.
The Kansas City Chiefs' official site looks at the top-32 prospects in the NFL Draft. Today's feature is Keenan Allen. Unless the Chiefs improbably pick Allen with the 1st overall pick or the 63rd pick, this article is not very useful to KC fans..

Water Polo

Pippa Saunders was named the MPSF KAP 7 Newcomer of the Week award after scoring four goals during the Bears' pair of top-15 wins this weekend.

Golf

Want to take a look at Michael Weaver's schedule as he prepares for the 2013 Masters? Today is your lucky day.

Golden Nuggets: Coach Gottlieb and Layshia Clarendon Reflect on the Senior Class' Tremendous Accomplishments

Berkelium97 — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:20:11 -0000

After her team suffered a bitter loss to Louisville, Lindsay Gottlieb briefly reflected on the loss before turning her attention to the incredible group of students who brought the team to such great heights.

COACH GOTTLIEB: I credit Louisville, who obviously has been really hot and they outplayed us in the second half and did enough of the things that they do well to win the basketball game.
What I said to our team in the locker room is that we can be disappointed about a half a basketball that we wish we had back. We could be disappointed to not be playing on Tuesday night because we really wanted to be playing on Tuesday night.

But I'm going to think about that for two minutes, and for the next 10,000 minutes I'm going to think about what this group did for the University of California, I think forever the legacy they will have left from this year; that when you come to Cal, you play for the person next to you, you play with a lot of character, you work really hard, that you make the name on the front of your chest the most important thing even if you're really, really talented.
And I'm just so grateful that we got to play into the second to last possible day you could be playing a game. And we had a pregame meal today and we got to do walk‑through and all of the stuff just being together, and I'm really sad that we're not doing that on Tuesday night, but that I wouldn't trade this team for anything, even though we're disappointed about a half, and I think our seniors set that tone, and I think the whole team did that this year. And we're going to fight really hard for it‑‑ to keep it that way because of Layshia and Talia and Eliza and Tierra and what whole group did this year.

Like her coach, Layshia Clarendon recognizes the accomplishments of the entire season instead of focusing solely on the loss.

Q. Layshia, could you‑‑ you gathered the team and spoke‑‑ it looked like you were speaking to them at the end of the game when you were huddled together. Can you just share with us your feelings and if you're able to, like your coach, put what this teams has accomplished in perspective, or is it too painful right now?

LAYSHIA CLARENDON: I can do it. I told them: Don't hang your head for one second. Not for one second. Because we've just come to far, done too much. That was my biggest thing.
And like Lindsay said, two minutes, it's hard to let it go. It's going to hit you maybe now, maybe later on the plane, maybe when you get back. It's going to hurt definitely because we knew there was mistakes. It wasn't like we just played someone who's flat‑out better and just literally beat us. We made a lot of mistakes ourselves. So that's where the hurt kind of comes in.

But there's‑‑ just when you look at this team, you think about this team, I just can't help but smile because what we've done is beyond amazing. Like she said, we've affected so many people and just to see all the good that's come out of it, all the positive, all the love, and, like she said, the legacy we're going to leave.
And I think it's another positive note that we weren't just some Cinderella team who made a run this year. Like this is what Cal basketball is going to be, like we set out to make this program known. And I think that's one thing we've done, and we've done it from a point of love, loving each other, from the point of having fun or from the point of dancing.

So when you look back and see that's a legacy you left, yes, it hurts to lose, but like that's pretty awesome. I don't think a lot of people get to do that.

What a spectacular season.

Football

Keenan Allen dropped to a second-round pick in Mel Kiper's two-round mock draft. He goes 40th overall to Tennessee.
Allen joins Andrew Luck (nooooooo) and the Colts as the 24th overall pick in Todd McShay's latest mock draft.
Cal is one of BleacherReport's 10 colleges with the best recruiting visits.

Basketball

ESPN has an impressively thorough preview of the Final Four. The article predicts Louisville will defeat the Bears.
Cal's spectacular season came to an end against Louisville on Sunday.
The Bears did not get many second-chance opportunities during the second half as Louisville had a stronger presence on the glass.
Lindsay Gottlieb's great rapport with players and excellent grasp of the Xs and Os propelled her to great success as a coach.
Much to the delight of Pac-12 fans everywhere, Ed Rush has resigned.
Jason Kidd's hot hand on Sunday helped propel the Knicks to their 12th consecutive win.

Tennis

Water Polo

Track and Field

Cal's teams combined to win nineteen events at this weekend's tri-meet. The men's team finished first and the women's team finished second.

Baseball

Cal lost 10-1 in its opening game against defending national champion Arizona.
The Bears gave up four runs in the first inning and never caught up as Arizona won game two 6-4.
Missed opportunities in the ninth inning cost the Bears a chance at upsetting Arizona. They lost game three 5-4.

Gymnastics

The season came to an end for the women's team after a sixth-place finish at the NCAA West Regionals. This was the furthest the team had advanced since 2007.
The men's team finished third at the MPSF Championships.

Lacrosse

Cal remains undefeated in conference play following a 14-10 win over Oregon.

Softball

Crew

Golf

Without Michael Weaver (who is preparing for the Masters), Cal finished one stroke off the lead at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational.

Golden Nuggets: Ten Questions for Cal Head Coach Sonny Dykes

Berkelium97 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:47:29 -0000

FootballScoop.com has another interview with Sonny Dykes. The site most recently caught up with the coach after the conclusion of spring practice.

6) Now that you've finished spring ball, what's your priority outside of recruiting as you head into the summer?

We've got to go back through our spring tape and make changes, make adjustments, try to figure out first and foremost where we can place guys so we can have a better sense of what they can do. The good thing is we don't feel like we're going to need to make a lot of position changes. We don't feel like we're going to need to make any wholesale changes, just a couple of tinkering with some things here or there. I think the biggest thing our players have got to do is roll up their sleeves and go to work and completely buy-in to our offseason program and work harder than they've ever worked before. They've got to work incredibly hard academically and make sure that those academic problems are behind us and become a football team. Right now we've got some good players. We've got some guys that did some good things this spring but right now I'm not sure we've got a great team. I think our guys have got to learn what that means.

Sonny assures us that our new uniforms are not striving for the blindness-inducing look exhibited by Maryland and Oregon.

8) Cal has a new uniform reveal coming later this month. How much input did you have into that process?

A little bit. The design concepts were already in place but I had a little bit of input on what we're going to wear and how we want to wear the uniforms. I like the designs. I think it's neat. The uniforms were designed really like a lot of our things around here were designed. Our stadium, for example, it's an incredibly modern stadium that has a classic appeal to it and I think that's the concept we want to go for when it comes to uniform design. We want it to be a classic look but at the same time take advantage of new technologies and branding and that kind of thing. I'm not a freaky uniform guy. We're not going to try to out-Oregon Oregon when it comes to uniform combinations or any of that kind of stuff.

Hit the source link for the remaining eight questions.

Basketball

Allen Crabbe has decided to enter the NBA Draft.
None of ESPN's five writers picked Cal to defeat Louisville in the semifinal round.
The Bears met with the press ahead of their trip to Nawlins. Coach Gottlieb talked about a variety of topics, including letting her players experience New Orleans and managing distractions. The players discussed the transition from Boyle to Gottlieb and the immediate success Gottlieb brought to the program.

Softball

Cal won two of three games in a tripleheader against no. 19/22 Arizona.

Soccer

Cal alum Katrin Omarsdottir helped advance Liverpool to the FA Women's Cup semifinals.

Gymnastics

Women's team coach Justin Howell was named the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics.

Golf

Michael Weaver will head to Augusta, GA to play in the Masters. He is the first Bear to play in the prestigious tournament as a member of the Cal golf team.

Fantasy Week in Review: Oh the Humanity!

Berkelium97 — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 02:51:32 -0000

Well, my bracket is toast. I'm clearly not alone, as many of you saw your brackets go up in flames this weekend. Let's survey the wreckage and look for survivors.

Oski Oski Oski oy oy oy! vaults into first place followed by RGC Bracket and the cleverly named Bracket--an entirely new top-three.

Here are some other noteworthy tidbits I picked up while putting these brackets through triage:

With 137 possible points, Bracket is in the best position heading into next weekend, followed by Hey Bowles Hall! (135).
With 36 points and 36 possible points, class of 87 and NWcalbear secured last place.
atoms are prescient will finish last place among the mods with 53 points. Why didn't you pick Syracuse to win it all?
With 69 points (and 69 possible) VincentS is the top mod for now. TwistNHook has the most potential with 112 possible points.
CALumbus Bear's Careless Pix was the top round of 16 performer after scoring 24 points (6 of 8 correct picks)
Kyle B Dreams of Bears (77th) is tops among the few, the proud, the homers. He picked Cal to win it all, along with Maxdarkfire's Golden Bears (126th) and Crabbe Kecobbs (146th).
No one had more than 2 correct picks in the round of 8.

This weekend's picks are worth all the Tostitos. Who will come out on top?

Golden Nuggets: Will the Ed Rush Fiasco Force Larry Scott to Address Serious Concerns About Pac-12 Officiating?

Berkelium97 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:49:44 -0000

We always joke about the poor quality of the officiating in the Pac-12, but yesterday a new scandal emerged--something we wish would have been a mere April Fool's joke. Will this force Larry Scott to complete his task of overhauling Pac-12 officiating?

One day before Sean Miller received a technical foul in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals, director of officials Ed Rush offered referees cash or a vacation if they either issued Miller a foul or ejected him.

The conference confirmed today in a statement that Rush "offered game officials inappropriate incentives for being stricter with Pac-12 coaches."

Rush, the league’s officiating coordinator for 11 months, told the league it was a joke.

CBSSports.com reported Miller was the target of the offer. The web site reported earlier today Rush offered officials $5,000 or a trip to Cancun if they gave Miller a technical or ejection.

One day later, Miller received a technical foul with about four minutes left in the UCLA game, and the Wildcats lost by two points.

This sounds serious. Surely the Pac-12 will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger...

In a statement, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said the league "concluded that, while Rush made inappropriate comments that he now regrets during internal meetings that referenced rewards, he made the comments in jest and the officials in the room realized they were not serious offers."

Scott said that the league has "discussed the matter with Rush, taken steps to ensure it does not happen again, and communicated our finders to all our officials."

If that statement from the Pac-12 is any indication, the answer to our question is a resounding "NO."

Football

In anticipation of the official unveiling of Cal's new uniforms, Scout looks at the best and worst of Cal's uniforms throughout history. First up is the storm trooper look. The banana look (blue-gold-gold) was the second-worst combo of all time.
Cal as the North Division winner? Uncle Ted and Kevin Gemmell discuss whether to buy or sell Cal's stock. Both agree to sell.

Basketball

Swimming

The men's team didn't complete the three-peat, although they did finish second overall at the NCAA Championships.

Golf

The women's team sits at 8th after day two of The Farms Invitational.

Crew

The second-ranked women's team swept Northeastern to complete a perfect 13-0 weekend.

Lacrosse

Cal walloped Stetson 19-2.

Baseball

Cal lost 4-3 to Stanford in a nonconference game.

Golden Nuggets: Cal Rugby Captures Inaugural PAC Rugby Conference Title

Berkelium97 — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 01:02:14 -0000

Cal defeated conference rival Utah 51-29 to secure the inaugural PAC Rugby title. To Utah's credit, that was the most points surrendered by Cal this year.

In its first Homecoming on Witter Rugby Field since 2010, top-ranked California put in a controlled performance and scored seven tries to defeat Utah, 51-24, Saturday afternoon in front of a large crowd despite Spring Break for Cal students, clinching the inaugural PAC Rugby Conference title.
...
Saturday was also a high-school reunion for both captains, Cal outside center Seamus Kelly and Utah flanker Mike Juszczak, teammates at Xavier High School in New York City whose former team also enjoyed the contest from the bleachers during their spring tour of Northern California.

"It's something special to play in front of this crowd with my high school here today," said Kelly. "Utah has a talented group and I'm happy we could get this win in front of our fans."

Cal hosts its regular season finale against Saint Mary's on April 13th before embarking on a couple postseason tournaments.

Cal's will compete in the postseason at the Varsity Cup, in which the Bears face Notre Dame in an April 20 super-regional showdown at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The higher-seeded winner between that outcome and that of the Navy-Dartmouth super-regional will host a semifinal April 27, giving Cal and its fans one more possible home game in the postseason followed by the championship on May 4 in Provo, Utah.

After the Varsity Cup, Cal will travel to the Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s June 1-2 in Philadelphia.

A 7s championship would be a fine cherry on the top of this spectacular sundae of a season.

Basketball

The Bears advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history! Cal will face the Bulldogs of Georgia after they upset Stanford.
Coach Gottlieb was speechless after the Bears' win. She did, however, praise the team's improved free throw shooting.

Baseball

Evans Field hosted its first-ever night game. Cal lost to USC 4-3 in the debut.
They turned the lights on and tried again, but Cal lost 9-5.
Back under the sun, Cal defeated USC 15-5.

Softball

Cal survived a pitchers' duel to defeat Sacramento State 1-0. A record crowd of 1,212 watched the game at Shea Stadium during a pleasant Sacramento! afternoon..

Crew

CalBears.com takes us behind the scenes as the men's team prepares to begin the season.

Lacrosse

Despite another solid performance from Megan Takacs (four goals), Cal lost 10-7 to Yale.

Tennis

Swimming and Diving

Tom Shields won his third consecutive NCAA title in the 100 fly.