NFL Combine Update - Best runs a 4.35 (official)

The NFL Combine started a few days ago, and it'll be interesting to keep up with how some of our Bears perform at the combine.

RB Jahvid Best likely has the most to gain or lose as scouts recognize his spectacular talent, but will have a number of questions regarding his health as Best has missed at least one game in each of his seasons at Cal due to injury.

You can watch the combine here at the NFL.com.

Updates:
(10:07) Cal WR Nyan Boateng clocked in at 4.64 in the 40 yard dash. While Boateng was never a burner at Cal, you would think that he would have liked to have gotten into the 4.5 range to help any hope in getting picked in the last round of the draft.

WR Verran Tucker did not run to an injury. It would have been interesting to see how he would have done, as he was one of the faster receivers in the Bears. Methinks he could have hit the 4.5 range.

(3:42) Wow, so turns out CJ Spiller's 40 yard dash time was way off. Clocks in at a 4.37. Jahvid Best's official is 4.35. That's right. Best has the best time among runningbacks in this year's combine, and the second fastest overall. Go Best!

You have to wonder if Spiller regrets for calling it a day and sitting out the rest of the workouts.

(3:30) The announcers just started pronouncing Jahvid's name correctly. Yup. No more "Jah-vahd."

(2:45) Toby Gerhart clocks in at 4.58. He doesn't look to happy with the time, but he's shown consistency in the 4.5 range. That's about all he could have asked for. What a freak of an athlete.

(2:34) Jahvid Best is back on for his second run. Ouch, stumbled a bit on his first few steps. But get's a 4.33. Wow. Color me impressed. Yes, it's unofficial, but I'd be surprised to see his unofficial time be outside of the 4.3 range.


(2:30) CJ Spiller clocked in at 4.28 unofficially. Wow. Tied Holliday for fastest time if it sticks. Say hello to the first back taken.

(2:25) Joe McKnight has an unofficial 4.49 time. Pretty good given his biggest questions have been about his top-end speed.

(2:23) Ryan Matthews has an unofficial time of 4.41. That's not going to help Best too much. Matthews might have kept himself in the first round.

(2:18) Slightly off-topic, but Gerhart had a really good unofficial time with a 4.53. Given his size and productivity in college, Gerhart might have just locked himself into the second round.

(2:10)Jahvid is up at the 40 yard dash.

And it looks like Best has an unofficial time of 4.39. It'll be interesting to see where the official time lies, as it could be the difference between a 4.4 and a sub 4.4 time.

Honestly, I know there were some pretty heightened expectations as to where Best's speed would clock in, given his incredible speed on the football field and on the track. The mystery surrounding Best's time was only heightened by the fact that virtually no one had an actual forty time for the speedster.

I was one of the few who felt Best's time would be fantastic, but not quite as Chris Johnson like (4.2 range) as some thought it might be. I know Best has incredible speed, but his true speed really starts to shine after about 20 yards, which is why he had such an incredible 100 meter time (10.31).

It makes sense with a number of scouting reports regarding his time.

Given all that, I'd say that anything under 4.4 would have been absolutely fantastic, and a 4.4 time would simply be a "Ok good, it's about where it needs to be."

As it stands I'd say Best is still in the late first round, early second round range. It'll be interesting to see if he can beat out Fresno State's Ryan Matthews for that second RB draft spot.

OT Review
To recap where we are so far, OT Mike Tepper clocked in at 5.36 yesterday in the 40 yard dash, and put up 28 reps in the bench press. It doesn't put him in the Top 10, but fairly close to it...I think.
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Congratulations to Scott Fujita

Congratulations to Scott Fujita and the New Orleans Saints.

As some know, Fujita was a good linebacker for the Bears. He was stuck playing through the drudgery that was the Holmoe years, but good things happen to good people. I think he also threatened to kill one of the guys over at the California Golden Blogs. Not sure about that one though.

Congrats Scotts. You deserve it. Go Bears.

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National Signing Day Update

12:20 PM EST: All the LOIs are in. The official site should update it shortly. This just about wraps up the class, unless something crazy happens.

As of 11 AM, Rivals has our class ranked 12th in the country, and 6th according to average star ratings. Expect that to go up with the addition of King's LOI.

A top ten class?

Unbelievable.

12:00 PM EST: JR "Ego" Ferguson has signed with LSU. That was a pretty surprising move, considering I thought it was down to us and Miami. We were in it until the end, but looks like Ferguson will be a Bayou Bengal. Best of luck.

I'll try to console myself with a few 5 star and 4 star defensive talents. Sniff.

11:50 AM EST:The official letters of intent from Keenan Allen and Chris McCain are in. Amazing.

Oddly enough, I don't see the LOI for Zach Maynard (Buffalo QB transfer, brother of Allen) yet. I understand it was largely a package deal for both Allen and Maynard, as they wanted to play together. Perhaps it works differently for transfers?

As it stands now, Cal has hauled in its best defensive recruiting class ever. Although, one could argue Cal is on the verge of its best class under Tedford, period. It's certainly giving the 2005 class a run for its money. Stay tuned.


11:40 AM EST:- A quick note to all those following the craziness that is Signing Day today. I reported yesterday to stay locked into Cal's official site to see who has officially faxed in their letter of intent, thereby formally establishing themselves as Golden Bears.

You can also follow along on the California Golden Blogs, as they have a thread chock full of the latest updates with our recruits.

I can't say for certain yet, as the LOIs haven't come in, but word is that Gabe King, Keenan Allen, Zach Maynard, and Chris McCain are all indeed headed to Cal. Apparently they (with the exception of King due to flight delays) announced a little while ago. Again, I'm not going to start jumping up and down just yet, as I need to see their names show up on the Bears' LOI page, but if true, this would be absolutely amazing.
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National Letter of Intent Signing Day Eve

No huge news here.

Tomorrow is the day when fellow football recruiting dorks wait each brutalizing second for the letters of intent to come flying in. Yes, the day we wait with bated breath as to the decisions of the high school students who will become the heirs to our beloved Golden Bear dynasty.

Yes, it is that big of a deal.

For those who can afford to, timewise that is, keep it locked into Cal's official site to check who has officially sent in their letters.

The Bears on the verge of a great recruiting class and arguably the best defensive one they've had since Tedford's tenure started. I'll provide more details in coming days (or weeks), but the biggest questions will be where the North Carolina Boys (King, Allen, and McCain) will end up.


King is allegedly a lock for the Bears, though let's not count our chickens before they hatch (or some crap like that), and Allen is said to be very seriously considering the Bears, and McCain is still a Oregon verbal.

Nevertheless, exciting if this is your sort of thing, so let's see how the day finishes up. What other tricks will Tedford and crew pull out of their bag? We'll know for sure in less than 24 hours.

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Pete Carroll Leaves, Hilarity Ensues

I'd be hard pressed to find a college coaching change that has impacted the rest of the college coaching landscape to the extent as Pete Carroll's decision to finally return to the pro ranks. Carroll finally found his opportunity to have complete control over a team and its coaching and staff personnel in the Seattle Seahawks, and will have a second chance to make a name for himself in the pros after his previous stint with the Patriots didn't end so well. Methinks a few 6-10, and 8-8 seasons will be the most likely results though. We shall see.

Carroll's departure may mark the end of an era in South Central. While USC had their first "down year" since the turn of the century, the exit of head honcho Carroll almost ensured that the Trojans would not continue to be the reload and win team that the college football world had come to expect year in and year out.

Or would it?

More than anything, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that's happened since the. It's been a type of twisted falling of dominoes if you will.

So USC suddenly finds itself in need of a new head coach. You've got the most dominant football program of the last ten years, a star studded recruiting class, and a location in sunny Southern Cal, it can't be that hard to find a replacement, right?


Oregon State's Mike Riley says, "Aw Shucks," but politely refuses his dream job and chuckles on his way to signing a long extension with the Beavers.

Jacksonville's Jack del Rio says "No thanks," and goes back into thinking about how to ride Maurice Jones-Drew's thunder thighs back into the playoffs next year. Thanks for the fantasy points by the way, MJD.

Steve Sarkisian thinks he's got a good thing going with the Huskies and is salivating over another year with his pet project Jake Locker.

Wait, what the hell? Why isn't anyone coming to be the man of Troy?!

Ah yes, there's the whole matter of the impending publishing of the NCAA violations report that will likely result in the loss of scholarships and bowl eligibility for a year. Who in their right mind would walk back into that situation? Who on God's green earth would be willing to simply shrug off NCAA player and recruitment violations in the name of winning?

Enter this man.

Ah yes, Lane Kiffin. The former USC offensive coordinator who helped steer the Trojans to offensive glory. The same coordintor who went on to help lead the cherished Raiders franchise to a 5-15 record before being dismissed midseason by Al Davis. The same coach who went on to help turn around the struggling Tennessee volunteers back to glory with a mighty 7-6 record including a close and nail-biting 37-14 bowl loss to the Virgina Tech Hokies. The same coach who racked up a series of NCAA minor recruiting violations, and ditched the Volunteers for South Central in just a year.

Here was your man.

Tagging along with Kiffin, was his father Monty who is considered one of the best defensive coordinators in all of football as well as Ed Orgeron who could recruit my mother to strap it up for the Trojans if he felt so inclined. Rumors of Norm Chow switching over to USC, while entertaining, ultimately resulted in nothing as Chow decided to rough it out another year with Neuheisel and crew.

The coaching change madness didnt' stop there.

Tennessee scrambled to find their new coach, and found him in Louisiana Tech head coach and AD Derek Dooley. You might remember him from the coach who slapped his own player in the head during their game against our sturdy Golden Bears back in 2007.


That left LA Tech without a coach. They turned to Sonny Dykes, Arizona's offensive coordinator who helped turn Arizona into one of the best offensive teams in the conference.

As it stands now, Arizona seems to be the team on the short end of the stick, although finding a new offensive coordinator seems to be a slightly easier task than finding a new head coach with National Signing Day just two weeks away.

The dust appears to have settled, and as it stands now, we've got three new head coaching positions. Recruiting has settled a bit, as a number of USC commits who had initially panicked and backed off USC appear to have recommitted and the Trojans have kept their premier class in tact for the most part.

In terms of conference coaching implications, the change leaves Cal's Jeff Tedford and OSU's Riley has the deans of Pac-10 coaches. While Riley technically has more years in the conference, his short NFL departure allows Tedford to currently have the most consecutive years at the helm of a Pac-10 program.

You've got to think the change also marks the beginning of a new era in the conference. Don't get me wrong, USC is still in my mind, the premier program in the conference. One might immediately point to the fast rising Ducks and the current Pac-10 champions, but you've got to wonder whether they'll be able to sustain such success year in and year out with a still relatively inexperienced coach in Chip Kelly, and recruiting classes that still don't consistently have the star power of USC.

USC will likely take a step back in the next year or so, especially with the impending NCAA sanctions. And if it's simply a harsh verbal warning, I swear by the power of Oski, I'm going to hold tourists in the Campinile hostage. But they've got too much going for them to not be one of the conference power houses.

But with the parity in the conference this past year, you've got to think that now, more than any other time in the past ten years, is the time to be salivating as Pac-10 fan. Unless you're a Washington State fan, your team might have just as much of a shot as any to take the reigns in the conference.

In a way, it feels more and more like the time of USC and nine dwarves is officially over. The Ducks' Rose Bowl Berth started the movement and Carroll's departure has moved the whole thing to a frenetic pace.

Ding dong, the freaking wicked witch is dead.

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