New banners at Memorial Stadium

New banners have replaced the old outside Memorial Stadium. Previous banners featured Marshawn Lynch and Brandon Mebane. These current banners include LB Desmond Bishop, CB Daymeion Hughes, OL Erik Robertson, and TE Craig Stevens. Here are photos:

Photo credit: pepman54

Recruiting update

Last week, safety Chris Conte out of Loyola High School in Los Angeles committed to Cal’s 2007 recruiting class. He’s a 6’3″ defensive back with solid numbers. Here’s his profile.

Joe Robles, a kicker recruited to walk-on (unofficial) out of Tesoro High School in southern California, was injured in the Orange County North-South Prep All-Star Football Game. Apparently, a fight broke out near the end of the game and he ended up on a stretcher with a knee injury. It’s too bad… hopefully it was not too serious and he’ll have a speedy recovery.

Hughes and more recognized in Steele’s 2006 Preview

Similar to other publications, Phil Steele‘s 2006 College Football Preview has named three Cal players on its preseason all-star teams. The breakdown:

First-team: Daymeion Hughes (CB)
Second-team: Marshawn Lynch (RB)
Fourth-team: Brandon Mebane (DT)

The publication also has several of our players ranked nationally:

Hughes (#1 cornerback)
Lynch (#3 running back)
Mebane (#7 defensive tackle)
Desmond Bishop (#9 inside linebacker)
Tim Mixon (#14 punt returner)
Anthony Felder (#19 outside linebacker)
DeSean Jackson (#33 wide receiver)
Nu’u Tafisi (#34 defensive end)
Phillip Mbakogu (#38 defensive end)

Here’s the listing of Cal’s preseason All-Americans and rankings. Kudos to Hughes for getting so much preseason respect. As an aside, he’s also tied for the #1 cornerback rating in the NCAA Football 2007 video game.

Cal picks Oregon’s associate AD for development

Cal has hired Jim Bartko, a former Oregon administrator and liason to Nike as the new Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development. This is a great hire considering the upcoming stadium renovation project and its need for funds. Over at Oregon, Bartko oversaw the fundraising for their stadium, basketball arena, and other facilities, so he’s a very experienced addition to the staff. Here’s Cal’s official press release.

Athlon ranks Cal’s RBs #2 and D-line #1

Athlon Sports has given Cal the honor of the number 2 running backs in the nation and also the number 1 defensive line in the nation for the upcoming season. These are in their 6th Annual Athlon Awards for the best units in college football. They write:

2. California (Running Backs)

California returns players who accounted for 98 percent of its rushing yards last fall, most of it in the persons of Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett. The 5’11”, 223-pound Lynch rumbled for 1,246 yards and 10 touchdowns despite missing two games and most of another with a hand injury. Forsett, at 5’8″, 183, darted for 999 yards at 7.6 per carry with six scores. They enter their junior year with a combined 2,922 career yards and averaging over seven yards per carry. Lynch, in fact, averaged 8.8 yards on 71 carries with eight touchdowns as a 2004 freshman backing up J.J. Arrington. Marcus O’Keith also returns after averaging 11 yards on 22 carries in ’05, including a 71-yard touchdown run against Washington.

1. California (Defensive Line)
Tackle Brandon Mebane is an Athlon preseason first-team All-American. Mebane broke through the line in ’05 for 9.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Matt Malele and Mika Kane both bring in excess of 300 pounds and extensive experience to the tackle rotation. Nu’u Tafisi, a second-team all-conference honoree, and Phillip Mbakogu combined for 20 tackles for losses and nine sacks and return at the ends. Abu Ma’afala started four games after sitting out 2004 following his transfer from Hawaii. He is as ornery against the run as he is rushing the passer and is available at both tackle and end.

Georgia is the one RB unit that placed ahead of ours. I can’t see how any group (especially Georgia?) could be considered better than the combination of Lynch, Forsett, and O’Keith.

QB commit Mansion selected in the Elite 11

Brock Mansion, the quarterback out of Texas who verbally committed to Cal’s 2007 recruiting class, has been invited to the Elite 11 camp. This is the fourth straight year for Cal to land an Elite 11 quarterback, with Nate Longshore (2004), Kyle Reed (2005), and Kevin Riley (2006) on the roster already.

If you are unfamiliar with what the Elite 11 camp is, this site gives a brief description of it. Also, this article reports on Mansion’s selection (Rivals subscription required).

The team will be stacked with four Elite 11 quarterbacks in the near future. That’s a lot of talent, and a great showing of the regard for Tedford‘s coaching.

UPDATE: QB Steve Levy arrested in SF, suspended

Unfortunately, there’s some bad news amidst all the pre-season hype. Quarterback Steve Levy, who started the last two games of the season (at Stanford, Las Vegas Bowl vs. BYU) in place of Joe Ayoob, was arrested and jailed last night under alleged charges of felony assault. For details, see this SF Chronicle article.

Hopefully the charges are reduced and Levy gets cleared. However, Coach Jeff Tedford acted immediately and suspended Levy until the facts get sorted out.

Levy is projected as a backup quarterback for the upcoming 2007 season.

Update: it appears that the argument was over a girl, and a bouncer splashed water on Levy. According to Levy, he meant to splash water back but the glass slipped out of his hand. See a followup article here.

Nationally ranked QB out of Texas commits to Cal

Cal has landed quarterback Brock Mansion out of Episcopal School of Dallas for the 2007 recruiting class. He’s a four-star QB, 6’5″/225 who looks to have some great playmaking ability. See an article about his commitment here, his profile here, and a highlight video here.

It’s great to see Cal’s recruiting clout extending out of California and into America’s heartland. Coach Jeff Tedford is really building a program here in Berkeley.

Lynch not injured in Oakland Tech shooting

Marshawn Lynch was mistakenly targeted in a shooting outside Oakland Tech (his alma mater) when attending the graduation of his sister. Five or six shots were fired at a car he was sitting in, but thankfully he was not hurt. Read the article and watch the news report here.

D gets love in Kiper’s top seniors list

Looks like Cal’s defense is getting some more recognition. The defense has taken spots in three defensive positions on Mel Kiper Jr.’s “Top 5 seniors by position” list. Brandon Mebane is 4th in defensive tackles, Desmond Bishop is 4th in inside linebackers, and Daymeion Hughes is 4th in cornerbacks.

We’re not listed on any other positions, but it’s likely due to the team being very young (and without many established seniors).

Take a look at the article here.