New Offensive Line Coach Hired: Steve Marshall

A number of sources have already confirmed the info, with the official announcement coming this weekend, but former Cleveland Browns coach Steve Marshall will become Cal's next offensive line coach.

You can also find this news at a couple of other Cal blogs that have beat me to the punch. Those rascals. The while guys at CGB have it up while The Bear will not Quit already has a nice writeup as well.

Marshall replaces former O-Line coach Jim Michalczek who has consistently led his unit to being one of the premier offensive lines in the nation, both in terms of sacks allowed and rushing yards. Needless to say, Marshall will have big shoes to fill.


While Marshall's history of jumping from place to place does raise an eyebrow, it's an absolute great get for the Bears to get an NFL coach who has a really impressive background with both collegiate and pro-level experience. His experience coaching NFL units should really mesh well with Coach Cignetti and Tedford's pro-style offense.

Welcome to the Bears, Coach Marshall!
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Recruiting Update: Devon Kennard Chooses USC

Normally, I only provide recruiting updates for prospects who choose Cal (given this is a Cal football blog and all), but I felt this was big enough of a story that readers should be in the loop.

Anyone who follows Cal recruiting, knows one of their biggest targets this year was 5 star defensive end Devon Kennard, who would have certainly made an instant impact at the DE/OLB hybrid position that was former Cal LB Zack Follett excelled in last season.

Well on Tuesday Morning, Kennard chose USC at a local press conference in Arizona. Kennard had narrowed his choices down to USC, Texas, and Cal, and to a lesser extent Arizona State.


Well, that was disappointing. While I’m pleased that Cal is at a point where they can legitimately compete for some of the nation’s top prospects, it’s still a bit of a letdown to miss out on a talent like Kennard.

The kid appears to be all class, so I wish him well. However, with him now being a Trojan, I now have to officially declare my undying hatred for him and everything associated with menstrual red and yellow.

Best of luck Kennard!

You can read a write up here or check out his press conference here.

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Looking Back at EA's NCAA 09 Predictions

Man. Cal football news is pretty barren these days. Aside from some speculation as to where Devon Kennard might end up (word is that he’s locked in for USC), or some off references to the photo of the Stanford tree engaged in a ménage-a-trois with some cheerleaders, there really isn’t much.

So it wasn’t too odd then that I found myself playing through half a season of NCAA 08 (yeah, the Jared Zabransky version) on Sunday, and remembered the writeup I did last year about the 09 version. I decided it might be worthwhile to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the predictions made about our team based on what EA’s version of our California Golden Bears in NCAA 09.

You can read that post here.

On Offense

“Our Offensive Line is dominant. I have only been sacked a handful of times, which is a testament to the quality of the line, considering my current dynasty squad in NCAA 08 makes me look like Jimmy Clausen back there.”

This is what I get for playing the game with injuries turned off. (For the record, I had way too many instances where my starting quarterback or Marshawn Lynch went down with injury in the opener against Sacramento State for me to keep “Injuries” on in the game.) Had our offensive line been fully healthy this year, I have no doubt that this unit would again have been considered one of the premier lines in the country as it had been in previous years.

But losing your starting offensive line for most of the season with the exception of Alex Mack and RT Mitchell Schwartz who had to make the transition to LT, and playing with 2nd and 3rd string linemen for part of the season makes it difficult to establish any real consistency. For what it’s worth, those backups played pretty darn well in the backend of the season.

“James Montgomery is your starter!”
Again, EA must not have gotten the memo.

“Jahvid Best is an absolute freak in the game…Cal will probably using a more balanced rushing attack in terms of splitting carries, but if Best is 100% like Tedford is saying he is, expect him to have a big year…”

3rd in the country in rushing yards at 1,580, 8.14 YPC, 15 TDs, and 09 preseason Heisman Hype?

Yeah I think he was a freak on the field as well.

And I was right on with Tedford approaching a more balanced distribution of carries this year. Jahvid rushed 194 times to Shane Vereens 142. Tracy Slocum got 22 as well. Compare this to the 2007 season when Tedford uncharacteristically put much more of the load on Forsett who had a record breaking 305 carries with the next closest being the now-departed James Montgomery’s 36 rushes and Best’s 2007 number of 28.

“Nate, is a star “impact” player in the game, and his accuracy shows it. He was spot on in most of his throws, and EA even boosted up his speed rating for good measure…What does this mean for our QB battle? Absolutely nothing…”

EA’s preference of Nate Longshore as the starting QB apparently didn’t mean squat for Coach Tedford who shuffled back and forth between his QBs all year.

As for Nate, his once vaunted accuracy faltered during the season, although Nate did throw up decent numbers as a whole when looking at his season. And I did notice increased mobility on some of his roll outs, so I guess Longshore was feeling inspired by his videogame self.

"I wonder what hair color EA gave me."

“Generally speaking, reception yardage came mainly from my tight ends and half backs…Very rarely was I able to hit a WR deep, and most of their catches came on wide receiver screens and 15-20 yard slant and curl patterns. This seems to be pretty consistent with what I would expect at the beginning of the year as we break in our new receivers: Take advantage of their size and blocking skills on the screens, and build their confidence with intermediate routes.”

Man. Did EA knock it down or what? It’s not too difficult when one considers we were breaking in a brand new receiving corps. Any real success in the air would have been difficult to predict. Hell, one of Cal’s top receivers was playing at a junior college last year.

But true to the game, Cal had no real vertical passing game, save for a few trick plays, and no receiver broke through for more than 439 yards (Boateng). Compare that to Lavelle Hawkins’ 858 yards in 2007, and Desean Jackson’s 1060 yards in 2006.

The one thing that EA got wrong however was how poorly Cal executed the screen passes this year. While the HB screens had an inconsistent level of success, the wide receiver screen plays were widely inefficient. Again strange, considering how terrific our receivers were at blocking this year.


“…Again, expect our tight ends and half backs to be pretty involved in the passing game, according to EA.”

Combined, our tight ends and backs were responsible for 35% (855 of 2467) of the total receiving yards in 08. Cameron Morrah, led the team in receptions, and it wasn’t until later in the season that Nyan Boateng and Verran Tucker surpassed Morrah in receiving yards.

Expect Cal’s receivers to be much more productive in 09. Bank on it.

On Defense

As a whole, EA really underestimated how well Cal’s defense would play this year. Not that you can blame them really. In 2007, Cal’s defense was ranked 58th in scoring and total defense, 85th in sacks, 90th in interceptions, 96th in tackles for loss, and 83rd in passes defended. Add to that was the fact that the Bears were looking to implement a brand new 3-4 defense.

“…Our defense is very…how should I say this…Bob Gregory-ish. That is, we give up a lot of yards, and expect opposing teams to score consistently in the mid 20 range. Why? We usually force a decent amount of turnovers, and step it up a bit more in the red zone, forcing just as many field goals as we do touchdowns…”

Goes to show you what type of rep Gregory had going into the 08 season. While Cal did indeed follow suit in a number of those characteristics, Cal got REALLY good at fulfilling them.

The Bears gave up 315.2 YPG, but this time that number was good for 27th in the nation. The Bears were also 4th in the nation in turnovers forced, was 2nd in the nation in red zone defense, and held opposing offenses to 19.9 PPG (23rd in the nation).
“…Our linebacking corp is rock solid.”

This really doesn’t require further exposition, but if you do want some, The Bear Will Not Quit has an excellent breakdown of this year’s linebacking corps.
“…Secondary. For what it’s worth, I expect our secondary to be a lot better in real life than they are in the game. That is, they had better be.”

Videogame secondaries are usually subject to much abuse. How else can one throw for 450 yards per game on average?

And I was right. Cal’s secondary finished 3rd in the country in interceptions with 24, and led the nation in passes defended and broken up. The Bears also touted the 6th best pass defense rating in the nation, and 4th in passing completion percentage. Simply put, Cal was right up there with USC in terms of the best secondaries in the conference.
"…Our D-Line will be just okay. It’ll be better than last year’s (which isn’t saying much), but still expect a most of our sacks to come from one of our linebackers…*cough Follett…"

Lee Corso wouldsays, “Not so fast sweetheart!”


While Follett would indeed lead the team in sacks with 10.5, Cal’s defensive line was much improved this year, despite having one less lineman in the new 3-4. Tyson Alualu, Cal’s most consistent defensive lineman this year had 6 sacks, and Cameron Jordan notched 4 himself.

Special Teams

“…Jordan Kay still has no leg power or accuracy for any field goals longer than 35 yards. And Bryan Anger is as much a beast in the game as he is in real life. We’ll see how accurate he can be… “

I probably should have noted that I only attempt a field goal once every 4 seasons in NCAA 09, so it wasn’t fair to attribute a videogame kicker’s crappiness for my own inability to time kicking on a joystick.

With that said, none of our kickers really demonstrated any real leg, although our point after attempts were nearly flawless.

Oh and Bryan Anger’s 76 yard punt in the Big Game says “hello.”

“…So what does it all mean? …Again, not much. You don’t have to log in hours to the game to know that Cal is going to be productive, not prolific on offense. Expect the ball to spread around more, and a bigger emphasis on the running game. Our defense will be more or less of the same thing, just with the linebackers being involved in nearly every play on defense. And special teams won’t be much of an issue if Tedford decides to man up and decide to never punt. Again. Kidding, not everyone can have a 95% conversion rating on 4th downs.”

All in all, EA seems to have overestimated the offense while still exhibiting a strong grasp of what their offensive tendencies would be (balance with a stronger emphasis on the running game than previous seasons). At the same time, it underestimated the defense a bit, although it did recognize that the linebackers were going to vital to this team’s success.

I can’t wait to get my hands on NCAA 09. Unless they decide to put Mark Sanchez on the cover.

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Bears' Morrah going pro; Tedford not happy

California’s Cameron Morrah did not make news Monday when the NFL official site announced he would forego his senior year and make himself available for the NFL draft. But Cal Bears coach Jeff Tedford’s reaction surprised many with his strong disapproval about the decision.

Tedford said he vehemently disagreed with Morrah’s decision to skip his senior season.

"He just wants to. He just wants to go do it," Tedford said. "It didn't matter what the facts were, it didn’t matter that my only other tight ends were a converted defensive end, or Anthony freaking Miller who has one career catch, he just wanted to go do it.

"The facts are so strong against this decision. After analyzing all the information with my abacus, the truth is there, he should have stayed for another year. He lost out on a chance to fully prepare himself. The facts are there's a 62.8742436745 percent failure rate for underclassmen tight ends."

Morrah expected Tedford to publicly disagree with his decision. But sources said he was shocked that Tedford walked out of the Hall of Fame Room while flipping him the bird before Morrah took questions from the media.

Instead, Tedford went upstairs to his office and played “Ninjabread Men” on his Nintendo Wii. Tedford also appeared agitated when the media asked him questions, as he stood with his palms down on a table.

"I was agitated because we didn't have a freakin' podium," Tedford said. "They were supposed to have a freakin' podium. I wasn't mad at Cameron. I was mad that the podium said he would come back for his senior season, and instead left me looking like an assmunch in front of Jonathan Okanes and the rest of the media."

Sources said Morrah was surprised that Tedford left early because he insisted the news conference be held jointly.


That stormy scene was a follow-up to an animated meeting at Morrah's apartment that started Wednesday afternoon over a Costco-sized box of Gogurts and ended around 1 a.m. Thursday morning. Tedford told Morrah he was foolish and copping out for going pro.

"I can't promise I'm going in any round or any pick or to a certain team," Morrah said. "I can’t promise that I’ll even get drafted. I can’t even promise that I know how to play football. All I can promise is that I will try my best. I'll set myself up just fine."

FYI: Cameron Morrah is indeed reportedly going pro.

Oh and I hope you guys all got the entire play on the Pete Carroll conference...

Good Luck Cameron!
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Bears in the NFL: And now the Super Bowl

So there will be a former Cal player playing in the Superbowl. And no it won’t be Desean Jackson.

Despite notching 6 receptions for 92 yards and a long TD grab in which Jackson bobbled the ball a few times before hauling in the pass, the Eagles fell 25-32 to the Arizona Eagles. Huh. Didn’t see that one coming.

You can see the play here:


BTW, anyone else think that Desean looks like he’s doing the Urkel Dance every time he gets into the endzone?



So instead of being the leading receiver of a superbowl team in his rookie season, (absolutely ridiculous if you think about it), Jackson will sit at home and watch another Golden Bear play in Florida.


It’ll be none other than JJ Arrington, the single-season rushing record holder from Cal’s historic 2004 season. While Arrington is far from being the team’s top rusher, he’s excelled on special teams (averaging 25.6 ypr, including a 93 TD score) and has averaged 6.0 ypc in his limited action as a 3rd down back, and also has 255 yards and a TD in receiving yards, most among the RBs.

Oh and he also threw the lateral back to Kurt Warner on that ridiculous pass to Larry Fitzgerald. By the way, note to the Steelers, cover Fitzgerald. And maybe more than one guy. Atlanta, Carolina, and Philadelphia apparently didn’t get my memo.

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Early Look at the 2009 Schedule - Bye Weeks Added

It looks as if Cal has tweaked its schedule around after the initial version had the Cal Bears playing 12 consecutive games without any breaks. It would have looked a lot like a Big 10 schedule with the team finishing in mid November.

The new schedule goes as follows:
Sept. 5 - Maryland
Sept. 12 - Eastern Washington
Sept. 19 - at Minnesota
Sept. 26 - at Oregon
Oct. 3 - USC
Oct. 10 - bye
Oct. 17 - at UCLA
Oct. 24 - Washington State
Oct. 31 - at Arizona State
Nov. 7 - Oregon State
Nov. 14 - Arizona
Nov. 21 - at Stanford
Nov. 28 - bye
Dec. 5 - at Washington

My thoughts after the bump.


People appear to be pretty split as to the schedule changes. I'm all for Cal having a few byes spread throughout the season as a 12 week gauntlet would have been brutal. I'm still not a fan of having the Big Game not end the season, but again, I suppose I would rather have had it not be then to go through the aforementioned tough schedule without breaks.

The schedule is obviously very front loaded. Cal starts the season in a very unpredictable opener against Maryland who beat Cal pretty bad at College Park for most of the game.

Then they host Eastern Washington the week after.

Yeah, anyways...

...The Bears then hit a a real tough road stretch by making the long trip out to Minnesota, and then to the hostile Autzen Stadium the week after to face the Ducks, before hosting USC in early October. For the record, I would much rather face USC at home, in early October, than at the Coliseum in November where Pete Carroll and gang are essentially unbeatable.

Cal would have then traveled up to Washington the week after, in what could have potentially been a pretty big trap game for the Bears, irregardless of their outcome against the Trojans.

Instead the Bears will get to rest up and go through a very doable month of October with UCLA, WSU, and Arizona State. Remember, I say doable, not necessarily a "gimme schedule." While having two of those games on the road is certainly concern, especially considering Tedford has yet to win at the Rose Bowl, none of those teams expect to challenge for the upper tier of the Pac-10 next year. Not yet at least.

However, depending on how the first month of September goes, it's very possible the Bears could be dreaming BCS come November.

However, that's when the doodoo usually hits the fan for the Bears. November should provide a stiff challenge with the Oregon State Beavers coming to town. Riley and company have made Memorial Stadium their proverbial bitch over the last few years in some of the most heartwrenching losses Cal fans have come to experience as fans. The Bears then face an Arizona squad that typically plays its best ball of the year in November, before facing the "improved" Cardinal at Stanford. We'll know much more about both teams by then.

As for Washington in December, I expect the Huskies to be much better than last year, and the weather could potentially make for a sloppy game. But I still think the Huskies are at least another year or two from surprising too many people.

Of course, the Bears are in any viable position to challenge for a BCS bowl bid, or a conference championship, who knows what kinda funky juice might be pumping through the teams veins.

Anyway, that's the schedule for now. It could potentially change again, but it doesn't appear likely. So it'd be a safe time to start making those travel plans. As for bowl plans, well any self-respecting Bears fans would know to wait until the last minute for those.

But again, if the Bears can head into their first bye with a 5-0, or 4-1 record, and that's a big ass "if," Cal could certainly be dreaming of Pasadena.
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The Top 10 Posts of 2008

Well, it’s been a fairly successful year for Cal football and for BWF. Starting a Cal blog in the off season is always challenging, but made for greater focus and attention to articles. I noticed the quality declined heavily when there was a plethora of news to cover during the actual season, but I’m sure I’ll be reduced to inane and obsessive levels of analysis once again when the top story of the week is what Bob Gregory is having for lunch.

Thanks for reading again, and I’ve got some high hopes for BearswithFangs in 2009. More on that for another time. For now, I thought I’d recap the top stories of 2008 according to user traffic and popularity.

10. How Good are the Cal Linebackers?


Back in August, Danzig produced some excellent videos featuring our linebackers’ talents. I thought I’d write something up to go with the videos, like gourmet cheese with a fine wine, pizza and ranch, jalapenos and nachos—you know that sort of thing. In the write up, I asked the question of how deserving our linebackers were of the plethora of preseason hype they were receiving, a legitimate question considering the issues Cal had on defense back in 2007. I took a look at reasons to be scared as well as excited about Cal’s linebackers this year. Needless to say, we all know how our linebackers turned out.

Note: The videos are down, but you can find any of Danzig’s great videos all over the web. Check out one of his channels here.

9. #2 Offseason Story – Nate Longshore and Kevin Riley
The biggest story during the Cal offseason (other than the whole hilarity that was the Kevin Hart recruiting debacle) was who was going to be taking the field on opening day as the starting quarterback. In one corner was the experienced but often maligned incumbent Nate Longshore, and the inexperienced but fan favorite Kevin Riley. Everyone waited for a fierce Spring competition, but the biggest story about this QB controversy (sorry, I know you hate that word Tedford), was how uncontroversial it was…that is until the season actually hit and the team would play musical QB chairs.

8. Maryland Helmet Stickers and Play of the Game
Of all the game recaps this year, strangely enough, the Maryland game appears to have generated the most interest. Maybe it was because nothing gets college football fans on the web more than a frustrating loss. Or maybe it was because fans were wracking their brains to find out who deserved a helmet sticker after a game in which Cal trailed 28-6 going into the fourth quarter. Or maybe it was because of comparative highlights between the shot Jahvid Best took and the one his idol Reggie Bush took in the NFL.

7. NFL Draft Recap Other Cal Players
So apparently no one really cared that Desean Jackson slid from being the first wide receiver taken to being a second round afterthought for the Philadelphia Eagles. What they did care about though, was finding out that Mike Gibson had been taken in the 5th round. Booyahkahsha!


6. Pac-10 Needs Cal to Win on Saturday
In a guest post for the SF Examiner Blog, I listed all the reasons why it was critical for Cal to beat Arizona not only for their own record and goals, but for the conference. At the time, most of the Pac-10 was a murky mess, and it was critical for a Pac-10 team other than USC to rise out from the crowd. In the end, the Bears dropped one in the dessert, and Oregon (who would later lose to Cal) would go on to be that team, finishing in the Top 10 of the Final Polls.


5. New Nyan Boateng Highlight Video
People love them some Boateng. Back in May I posted a highlight video of Cal transfer receiver Nyan Boateng in spring ball, and readers feasted until the video was subsequently removed. My guess is that the Cal athletic department caught wind of the video, and realized it was likely leaked considering the angles at which the practice was filmed. Or Tedford didn’t want the rest of the conference to realize just how badly the secondary was getting burned on some of those plays. Eesh.

4. Desean Jackson NCAA Football 09 PS2 Cover


EA went with a multiple cover approach to this year’s installment in the NCAA Football series, and Cal’s numba one stunna wasted no time breaking through to mainstream attention. DJAX became the first Cal player to grace the cover of a videogame and helped promote the game by whipping fellow cover star Owen Schmidt’s ass in a demo game.

3. Jahvid Best vs. Joe McKnight – Battle of the #1 Number 4s
I had a lot of fun putting this together. In 2007, both USC and Cal recruited a handful of the nation’s top high school runningbacks, two of whom would end up getting playing time as true freshmen for their respective teams. Joe McKnight for the Trojans and Jahvid Best for the Bears. I took a look at how their freshman campaigns went, and what we could expect from the two for the upcoming year. Best might be running away with this one though…

2. New Cal Uniforms
If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn since starting a Cal football blog, is that Cal fans are very much intrigued with anything related to uniforms. When EA released some video footage from their upcoming “NCAA 09,” yours truly took the liberty of snagging a few snapshots of what were some very visibly different looking uniforms. Cal would eventually unveil the new unis that appeared to be Cal’s take on the San Diego Chargers. The worst iteration of these unis would show up in the Maryland game. White on Yellow. Blech.


1. NCAA Football Cover Curse

So this may not have been the best post I’ve done, but it was easily the most read. A quick link on Sports Illustrated, and BAM everyone’s clamoring to see if there is indeed a curse to gracing the cover of the NCAA videogame, as there is with the Madden series. No consensus, but I still thought it was a fun read. We’ll see what happens to DJAX.



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Recruiting Update: Haskiak switches to Cal and Kaufusi coming to Cal

Wow. Cal’s recruiting momentum continues to pick up steam, especially with the offensive line.

The Bears got a huge commitment from offensive lineman Stan Hasiak who switched his commitment from UCLA to Cal. Hasiak is a 4-star recruit on both the Rivals and Scout site and is considered the 15th best offensive guard in the country. The Polynesian native checks in at an impressive 6’6 and 320 pounds and looks to put on a bit more weight if hoping to play the guard position for the Bears.

Wow. I wasn’t sure the Tedford and crew was going to be able to pry away Hasiak from the Bruins, but this is another big time pickup for our impressive offensive line class. With a handful of 4 star recruits (Siddoway, Brazinski, Hasiak) the Bears have one of the top offensive line classes in the nation.

Welcome Stan!

Also, on the defensive side of the ball, Cal received a commitment from defensive tackle Keni Kaufusi.

(Holy freaking crap.)

The Utah native had originally signed with Utah last year but had his scholarship offer revoked after some off the field issues. He has escaped the radar after taking the year off (only garnering 3 stars on scout and two on rivals), but make no doubt about, Kaufusi will be a force for years to come.

Kaufusi and Deandre Coleman should anchor Cal’s defensive line for years to come.

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Recruiting Update: OT Ragland and Walk-On WR Hagan

A bit to get to on the recruiting front this morning.

Cal picked up a commitment from Offensive Tackle Charles Ragland. Ragland has escaped most recruiting charts having only played high school football for two years, and offensive tackle for one. Subsequently, Mullen High School senior was unranked on many recruiting sites going into the weekend.

After committing to Cal however, Ragland has garnered a 3 star rating on Scout.com and 2 stars on Rivals.

Don’t be too deceived by the ratings system however, given most people haven’t had a chance to see much game tape of the tackle. Ragland checks in at a massive 6’7, 285 lbs, and hopes to put on another 20 to 25 pounds in the next year.

Yikes.

Cal continues to put together a nice offensive line class, headlined by 4-star recruit Charles Siddoway and 3-star Brian Schwenke joining Ragland. I’ve long been a believer that a victory begins in the trenches, so it’s good to see Cal stockpiling some solid talent at the offensive line.

[Edit: I also somehow forgot to mention Mark Brazinski (#2 rated All-American center in the nation) as one of the other great offensive line recruits that Ragland would be joining.]

The Bears also received a commitment from WR Spencer Hagan. The Sacramento native has agreed to walk on at Cal, passing on scholarship offers from Portland State and Montana State.


Hagan is a 2-star recruit according to Scout, and features good size at 6’4, 190 lbs. With Cal only have one or two wide receiver slots available, Cal had to be a bit more selective in giving up a scholarship spot, but Hagan’s productivity and talent at the high school level gives a lot of hope that both he and Cal will benefit from the decision.

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Rankings Update: Final 2008-2009

Well the 2008-2009 College Football Season is officially over, after Florida finished off Oklahoma in the BCS Title Game last night.

The final AP and Coaches polls were released soon after, and Cal finished about where I thought they might.

Cal was ranked just outside the Top 25 in the AP Poll at 26th with 128 points. The Golden Bears were in the top 25 at the 25th spot in the Coaches Poll however.


It's hard to really argue that the Bears should have finished a lot higher, but one can easily make the argument that Cal could have probably taken down a few of the teams in front of them. Heck, they DID take down Michigan State (#24) and Oregon (#9) after all.

Buck up Bears fans. The Sagarin Ratings has us rated 16th.

Yay.

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Desean Jackson on cover of Sports Illustrated

Well that didn't take long.

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Breaking News: LT Mike Tepper granted 6th year Eligibility

BearswithFangs has learned from inside sources that senior left tackle Mike Tepper was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

And by inside sources, I mean Tepper’s Facebook Status:
“Mike will be coming back to Berkeley for a 6th year! F*** yes!!”

Congrats to Mike. I’m sure the NCAA realized that the whole reason Tepper was lost for one of his earlier seasons was because he was freaking run over by a freaking car protecting a young woman.

Fair enough.

It should be great news for the Bears who will be featuring a talented, but young group of players at the offensive line position. Although all the returning starters will enter the fall with significant game experience due to injuries to the offensive line this year, there’s a lot to be appreciated about a player who has several years as a starter already under his belt.


This could also provide a bit of a quandary for the Bears. Redshirt freshman Mitchell Schwartz has shown to be a revelation at the left tackle position, and one will wonder whether Tepper will reclaim that spot, or whether he or Schwartz will make the move back over to the right tackle position.

If Tepper is then asked to compete on the right side, he would have to battle soon to be senior Chet Teofilo who had the RT starting job before being lost for the season. His replacement, JC transfer Donovan Edwards had also improved greatly by season’s end.

Either way, I would much rather have competition between several very capable players, than scramble for someone to step up for the job.

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Recruiting Update: Brazinski and the "Big Three"

Cal received another commitment over the weekend during the Under Armour All-American High School Football game. One of the nation’s top high school centers, Mark Brazinski, selected the Cal cap from a number of schools, signaling that the New Jersey native will be headed to Berkeley this fall in hopes of being the next great Golden Bear center (after Chris Guarnero).

Cal beat out a number of other East Coast schools for Brazinski, including Florida State and North Carolina. The 6’3, 300 pound senior is ranked 4 stars by Rivals.com and is considered the 8th best center prospect in the country. Scout.com actually has Brazinski ranked as the top center prospect nationally, but is only ranked 3 stars. Weird.

Welcome to Cal, Mark!

The “Big Three”
Many Cal fans await commitment decisions from Cal’s top three recruiting targets, ATH Adam Hall, DE/OLB Devon Kennard, and WR Randall Carroll. All are blue chip prospects and have Cal listed as one of their top three finalists.

Adam Hall was supposedly supposed to have made his selection at the All-American game as well, but was not ready and felt frustrated by the game organizers’ constant badgering to force students into making decisions for the broadcast. Instead Hall simply removed the USC and Alabama caps from the table, narrowing his list to Cal, Oregon, and Arizona.


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