2010 NFL Draft Recap (Day One)

The first round of draft has come to close, and what a night it was. It was actually a pretty eventful and entertaining draft full of a fair share of surprises, some of which included our very own Cal players.

Tyson Alualu provided the first surprise pick of the evening, and Jahvid Best capped it off by squeezing into the first round.

A great night for these two gentlemen, and a noteworthy night for the Bears, with two first round selections (the first time since 2003). No other Pac-10 schools had players in the first round. Who woulda thunk it?

1st Round

(10th Overall) Jacksonville Jaguars – Tyson Alualu, DT


Wow. I’m nearly overcome right now by a combination of shock and absolute glee.

At the season’s end, I was nearly convinced that Tyson had established himself as a solid 3rd round pick, and would do now worse than the fourth round.

As Senior Bowl practices and Combine preparations progressed, Alualu’s name began to move up draft boards as scouts and NFL drafts loved his work ethic, nearly flawless technique and maturity. At one point, I began to accept the reality that Alualu might find himself somewhere in the second round, or hell, maybe even in the late first round with New England or New Orleans.

But 10th? Tenth!? The highest Cal Bear draft pick since Andre Carter (seventh overall) in 2001?

Hot diggity, I’m pumped.


Why? Part of it is that I love seeing the validation of Alualu as a player. I think he was in a lot of ways the most solid and consistent defensive player for the Bears in the past few years (next to Syd’Quan).

But more than anything, I’m thrilled for him as a person. Here’s a guy who has been nothing but the model student athlete, demonstrating incredible maturity and responsibility as both a father and husband. He’s been a quiet, but stoic leader for the Bears, and exhibited talent and skill without cockiness or flash. He was the rock and anchor for Cal’s defense in its best moments and one of the lone bright spots in the darkest days.

He definitely deserves every good thing coming his way.

Now as for the pick itself from an NFL fan standpoint, I do think it’s an interesting one, because I’m not sure every other team agreed with Jacksonville that Alualu was quite worth a tenth overall pick. I think most would have been happy to a grab at Alualu near the end of the first round, but I do think many would agree that it was a reach to pick Alualu so high.

I can’t imagine many Jacksonville fans are too thrilled right now, as it isn’t the sexiest pick. But I’m going to reiterate the same things I said when I talked about Cleveland taking Alex Mack last year in what many experts similarly referred to as being a reach. (Mack ended up playing every snap and has already established himself as one of the best offensive linemen for the Browns.)

It may not be the exciting pick, but trust me when I say that Alualu has the ability to play right away, and will be a stalwart on the line for years to come. You won’t have to worry much about Alualu out there on or off the field. It’s a safe and solid pick.

Congrats Tyson, you’ve represented the University of California well in so many ways, and I know you will continue to do so as you live out your dreams.

Oh, and enjoy that paycheck. :)

(30th Overall) Detroit Lions – Jahvid Best, RB


Whew! What a sigh of relief all around.

While it isn’t nearly as much of surprise, I’m certainly comforted to see Jahvid Best as a first round draft pick. It was just about as good as one could have hoped for, given the lack of need at runningback (save for a few teams) at the top of the draft which most signs points to an early second round pick for Jahvid the Jet.

But Jahvid was still invited to Day One of the Draft and enjoyed the spotlight of getting selected 30th overall by the Detroit Lions. The Lions actually moved up to ensure their second choice in the first round would land them their RB of the future.

For a pick standpoint, the Lions might have gotten one of the best values in the draft. While Jahvid was projected as a late first round, early second round pick, I certainly think he’s a special talent and a great get given where he was taken. He’ll have the chance to contribute right away, and if he can stay healthy, has a chance to easily give you a thousand all purpose yards in his rookie season.

I really think Best has the chance to make a Desean Jackson type of impact in his rookie season. But then again, I’m not going that far out on a limb here.

Look, what more is there to be said about Jahvid Best as a player? One of the most explosive players in the nation. As a person, he’s as humble as one you will find, which is amazing given his talent.

Best is probably one or two freak injuries away from having been one of the most decorated running backs in college football history. One can only imagine what he could have done (as if his spectacular college career weren’t enough already) had he managed to stay healthier.

With that said, I’m reminded of one of my first experiences watching Jahvid jog out to the field in his college career opener again Tennessee in ’07. I remember grabbing the shoulders of my friends around me and repeating, “Seriously. Pay attention. This guy is special. He’s going to bust one soon. Just watch.”

I know with full confidence I’ll be saying similar things come October when Jahvid steps onto the field decked out in Silver and Blue.

Congrats Jahvid. You’ve earned it.

[Oh, and let’s get over the fact that Jahvid is stuck with the lowly Lions. Case in point, here’s a text message with my brother and me:

Me: “Jahvid just got drafted to the Lions”
My brother: “That sucks…”

Yeah, well, it’s first round money and at least it isn’t the Raiders. Hey-o!” Read the rest of the post and comments here >>

Cal Bears NFL Draft Recaps 2003-2009

The NFL Draft kicks off this Thursday, and again, I find myself intrigued with where a number of Cal players might end up. This affects me both as a college and pro football fan, so I was amped up enough that I was actually considering trying to nab tickets to attend the draft in person on Thursday. After all my boy Jahvid will be there.

Then I thought, "What the hell would I do there for 4 hours?"

So I'll just grab a few beers and check the updates on my phone.

With that said, it's time to look back and see how former Cal players have fared in the draft. I've gone into a decent amount of depth in recent years to recap where our Golden Bears have been drafted, and how some of the players have done in the NFL since the time of the writing.

Again, much has changed obviously, with Boller a backup in Oakland, Marshawn possibly on his way out of Buffalo, and Aaron Rodgers emerging as an elite NFL quarterback.

So take a gander and review the NFL draft past, as I will hopefully have time to make some predictions about where our current class might go in the next few days.

• 2009 NFL Draft Recap (Day One) and Day Two

• 2008 NFL Draft Recap (Desean Jackson)

• 2008 NFL Draft Recap (Other Cal Players)

• 2008 NFL Draft Recap (Free Agent Signings)

• 2007 NFL Draft Recap

• 2006 NFL Draft Recap

• 2005 NFL Draft Recap

• 2004 NFL Draft Recap

• 2003 NFL Draft Recap

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Cal Football - Never Miss a Moment

I know that many have already seen the new promo videos for this year's season, but thought I'd still throw it up here because well, I like them.



I do think they're not quite as exciting as last year's, which you can find here. But you can't say enough about how much the production value for the videos has improved. Especially when you compare it to some of the ones from the 90s.




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Worst Opponent QB Performances in the Tedford Era

"For the second goddamn time, that was a Bear, not a Bruin!"

In an off season with some serious questions for a rebuilding Cal secondary, I thought I’d indulge myself a bit by looking at some of the best secondary performances during the Tedford Era.

But as I began building my list, I realized it wasn’t always the secondary that was responsible for some miserable opponent quarterback outings. Linebackers came up with huge interceptions, forced turnovers, and some times it was the Bears’ defensive line that would come up big with creating pressure.

And quite frankly, some times opposing QBs just had really, really bad days.

So I thought it’d be a bit more entertaining to look at some of the worst outings by opposing quarterbacks while Tedford’s been the head coach for the Bears. And by worst, I mean pure ineptness whether by just their standards or on an objective quarterback rating level.

[Note: I didn’t include performances by FCS quarterbacks in this discussion, because…well c’mon.]

#5 - Greg Cicero (Baylor) 2002
On August 31, 2002, the Tedford era at Cal started off with a bang. Baylor QB Greg Cicero just happened to be stuck in the crossfire.

The sixth year senior had battled his way back up the depth chart to get the starting nod against the Bears who had gone 1-10 the previous season.

Cicero’s first pass of the game was intercepted by James Bethea, which promptly led to a Golden Bears score. Despite finishing 6-9 for 64 yards, his other two incompletions would both be interceptions returned back for touchdowns. One of the more memorable ones came when Cicero’s goal line pass bounced off Baylor receiver Shane Williams’ hands and into the arms of Cal linebacker Matt Nixon who returned 100 yards for the score.

Cicero would eventually get benched in favor of Aaron Karas, who fared much better, going 14-27 for 211 yards, but also got picked off as well, bringing the Golden Bears’ interception number up to 4 for the day.

#4 Andrew Luck (Stanford) 2009
This was a tough one to figure out. Sure the numbers were lousy with the heralded freshman having completed just 10 of his attempted 30 passes for 157 yards. But on a pure statistical level, a number of quarterbacks have fared far worse against the Bears during the past several years.

It is my contention that Luck coming in at fourth on this list is because it had been a while since I’ve seen a quarterback be as ineffective as Luck was in comparison to what he was capable of.

Let’s face it, Luck was in the freshman of the year discussion in his first year as the Cardinal signal caller and had been crisp and efficient in most of his previous outings.

But put him into his first rivalry game experience, even in his own home stadium, and Luck sure looked rattled.

He was largely ineffective, much of it due to the pressure the Bears were able to get on the freshman, despite not recording any sacks.

In my Big Game Recap last year, I wrote, “…the Bears did a great job of flushing Andrew Luck out of the pocket, and generally disrupting his rhythm. On a number of occasions, you could tell he threw the ball much earlier than he or his receivers wanted, because he felt the pressure coming. One might recall a specific play that Luck tried to zip the ball to Toby Gerhart on 3rd down because he was trying to avoid the sack. Gerhart hadn't even turned around his head.”

Luck’s biggest gaffe came though, when the Cardinal had marched down the field late in the game, largely on the shoulders of Stanford RB Toby Gerhart, and had the potential game winning TD in sight. Luck missed a wide open receiver in the middle of the field though, and ended up getting picked off by Cal linebacker Mike Mohammed to seal the win for the Bears.

Epic Fail.


#3 Rudy Carpenter (Arizona State) 2006
Rudy Carpenter had to have come in to Memorial Stadium feeling pretty good. Carpenter had beaten out incumbent quarterback Sam Keller for the starting QB position in a controversial and tumultuous battle that would eventually help lead to both head coach Dirk Koetter and Keller’s departure from the school.

But to hell with that, it was now the Carpenter show. And why not?

Carpenter had one of the best freshman seasons ever in the Pac-10, posting gaudy numbers, a stellar QB rating, and an impressive 17-2 TD to interception ratio. Things were looking good for Rudy.

But it was a far different story for Carpenter at Memorial Stadium that year. Despite starting well by tossing a halfback screen to Ryan Torrain for a touchdown on the Sun Devils’ opening drive, the rest of the game would be a near nightmare for the sophomore QB.

Carpenter was hassled by Cal’s defense for much of the game, getting sacked five times on the day, and fumbling twice as a result of hits by Cal linebacker Zack Follett (an experience he would relive again a few years later).

His production in the air was also migraine inducing, throwing four interceptions, including an acrobatic over the shoulder pick by Syd'Quan Thompson (shake those dreads!). Carpenter could be visibly seen throwing his hands up in the air after that interception in a sign of complete exasperation. It was as if he were saying, “You freaking kidding me?”

Two of Carpenter’s interceptions would be returned from scores, most notably one in which Cal cornerback Daymeion Hughes evaded defenders and ended up hurdling and horse kicking Carpenter on his way into the endzone.

What a crap day.

#2 Kevin Craft (UCLA) 2008
It was a rough year for Kevin Craft. The junior college transfer found himself thrust into the starting quarterback spot after the Bruins’ top two QBs Ben Olsen and Patrick Cowan went down with season-ending injuries during camp.

Oh Craft tried all right. But it seemed that despite his best efforts he spent more time on the sidelines getting verbally reamed by Rick Neuheisel than tossing the pigskin into the endzone.

Craft hoped for a watershed moment against the Bears, but ended up getting taken to the woodshed instead.

The Bruins had a promising start after UCLA receiver Terrance Austin returned the opening kickoff to the Cal 35 yard line. But Craft nixed that idea after his first pass of the game was picked off by Marcus Ezeff at the 50 yard line.

The next drive didn’t look any better for the Bruins after two more incompletions, a false start, and a sack by Mike Mohammed. In fact, Craft wouldn’t complete a pass for the entire first quarter until his 18 yard pass and catch with Taylor Embree for a first down at the beginning of the second quarter. It looked then like Craft was starting to feel it.

A whopping two yard bullet to Kahlil Bell.

13 yards to Taylor Embree. First down!

Kevin Craft was blooming as a quarterback right before our eyes. He—nevermind, he was picked off by Ezeff again, this time with the interception going back for a 69 yard touchdown return.

Slick Rick was pissed.

You think interceptions are going to phase Kevin Craft? Hell no. Craft went right back to work completing 5 consecutive passes and driving the Bruins all the way to the Bears’ 18 yard line. Knocking at the goal line though, Craft was picked off for the third time, this time by Sean Cattouse at the 12 yard line to kill any chance at scoring.

It pretty much went on like this for the rest of the game. His coup-de grace however, was when he was picked off by Mike Mohammed for his second pick six of the game that ended any chance of a comeback late in the fourth quarter.

Craft would go on to throw two more incompletions before being yanked by backup QB Chris Forcier who threw the only touchdown of the game for Bruins on the ensuing drive. That easy, eh?

Craft finished less than 50% of his passes against the Bears, going 17/35 for 206 yards. While his yardage was a respectable number, Craft finished with no passing TDs and a whopping 4 interceptions, two of which were returning for scores. It was a miserable day for Craft and the Bruins offense that also managed only 16 net rushing yards on the day.

#1 Entire Washington State QB Depth Chart 2008
I know this isn’t fair. And probably disappointing at number one.

But it is what it is.

In the biggest blowout in Cal football history, the Bears dismantled the rebuilding Washington State Cougars (who still haven’t been rebuilt yet) in a 66-3 thrashing. WSU Coach Paul Wulff was desperately looking for some type of answer at the QB position, without burning the redshirt from talented freshman Jeff Tuel.

He would find none though, as all three quarterbacks who took the field for the Cougs that day had forgettable efforts.

Gary Rogers threw for the most yards with 78, but also only completed 10 of 21 passes, with no TDs and 2 interceptions. Rogers was also sacked twice.

Kevin Lopina tried his hand, and came away with a 3-7 performance for 32 yards and an interception and a sack.

Mark Lobbestael completed neither of his two passes, and one was picked off as well.

The final combined stat line for three quarterbacks read a dismal 13-30 for 110 yards and 4 interceptions. You just can’t beat that.

Hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t have counted Washington State in my list along with the FCS schools either.

So what did you think? Agree or disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Spring Practice Links

Spring Practice starts up in less than a week on March 11th, but a number of writers have already begun assessing Cal's strengths and weakness headed into this week.

I'll try to have my writeup later this week (God willing), but here are a few stories to keep everyone satisfied.

• ESPN Pac-10 Blogger Ted Miller breaks down the team's strength and weakness. His choice for the former is an interesting choice and read given the unit's struggles last year.
• Contra Costa Times' team beatwriter Jonathan Okanes continues with his series in looking at each unit. The quarterback post is likely to be a popular one.
• Olin Buchanon with Rivals harps on Cal's passing woes. Nearly everything needs to be addressed.
  

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