2006 Preview on College Football News

College Football News has put up a rather lengthy preview on the team for 2006. They praise the potential of the team, giving a lot of specific details on players, stats, and the schedule. In addition, the article includes some breakdowns and analysis that make for good reading and overall excitement for the upcoming season. Check it out here.

More on QB progress and interview with Tedford

There’s a new interview video with head coach Jeff Tedford and some analysis from The Bear Insider about the progress of our quarterbacks. Between the four of them, it seems that: Nate Longshore understands the offense best and makes the better reads; Kyle Reed is throwing well but can’t handle the defense; Steve Levy is good with decisions but doesn’t have a good arm; surprisingly, Joe Ayoob is looking particularly good with passes and runs in the spread (this article in the Contra Costa Times also points this out). Take a look.

Practice report

The Bear Insider has a nice report of practice on Friday, including details about the outcome of some plays and the overall progress of team. The article talks about the performance of the QBs, kickers, receivers, offensive line, and defense. There’s also an interview with defensive back Daymeion Hughes on video. Check it out.

Tedford hires new DB coach

R. Todd Littlejohn has been hired as the new secondary coach. He spent last season at Buffalo, but also coached at UCLA, SJ State, and the SJ SaberCats (arena). See the article here.

Perspective from ESPN

ESPN put up another article in its Pac-10 spring notebook series today. There’s no revelations, but it’s always interesting to hear what people are saying and what the media thinks. The main things it observes for Cal come from the first spring scrimmage:

• Joe Ayoob is still in the QB competition (they celebrate his stats during the scrimmage)
• Marshawn Lynch is looking like Reggie Bush
• In addition to DeSean Jackson and Robert Jordan (who’s mentioned as #1 receiver quality), tailback tandem Lynch and Justin Forsett are looking to be great possible receivers in the spread. Marcus O’Keith is mentioned as well.
• Also, Lavelle Hawkins (the JC transfer receiver who struggled last season) appears to have picked up more of the offense in the offseason.

Check out the full article here.

Two spread/QB articles with quotes

There’s two new articles out with great quotes from head coach Jeff Tedford and the battling QBs.

Former SF Chronicle writer Glenn Dickey discusses the spread with Tedford and also the QB situation. One important quote:

Glenn Dickey says: Who’s No. 1? “If we had to play a game tomorrow, it would be Nate,” Tedford said, “with the other three pretty much bunched behind him. But that’s not to say that Nate has the No. 1 spot cinched.”

The Oakland Tribune details the QB situation again, with a lot of quotes from Longshore, Levy, Ayoob, and Reed. See this article here.

Cal “sleeper” for nat’l championship?

Sporting News mentions Cal as the “sleeper team for the national championship game” during a discussion of our QB situation. I’m not sure how informed this writer really is, but it’s nice to see the team getting some respect. See the article here.

News is pretty slow these days, but the Spring Game is coming up on April 22.

EDIT: There’s an interesting article on CBS Sportsline with some insight from Tedford on the upcoming spread offense. Check it out.

Coaching, QB, etc.

An article in The Contra Costa Times has some news tidbits to check out:

Coach Jeff Tedford is keeping busy this spring break. He’s visiting Florida and West Virginia to observe their practices – both programs that implement the spread offense. It looks like he is serious about putting together some form of the spread. Also, Tedford is interviewing candidates for a new defensive backs coach (former DB coach J.D. Williams left to Washington).

Starting QB Nate Longshore is reported to still have “a little bit of a limp”, although it seems more habitual than indicative of pain. He’s looking more confident than ever in practice.

Also, OT Mike Tepper is back as first-string on the depth chart. He was the guy who missed all of last season after getting run over by a car. EDIT 4/7/2006: Read an article on him here.

Cal’s QB receives more media attention

Nate Longshore is gracing the front page of ESPN’s College Football site. It appears as if our QB is one of the big question marks in college football right now.

ESPN.com says: Cal should be one of the nation’s best teams in 2006. The Golden Bears have a stingy defense, two impressive tailbacks and downfield threats at wide receiver. But who starts at quarterback? Coach Jeff Tedford has four candidates to choose from this spring.

Nothing much is new in the corresponding article; it rehashes Longshore’s unfortunate history, this season’s QB battle, and the introduction of Mike Dunbar‘s spread to the offense.

However, it does note that “this could be a top-10 team… if things work out at quarterback.” Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Longshore named starter for Spring

This season’s QB competition has begun. Nate Longshore has gotten the starting nod again to begin Spring practice. He started last season only to be injured in the first game.

Looks like Tedford named him that by default, and the resulting winner could be any of the candidates (Longshore, last season’s disappointing Joe Ayoob, backup Nate Levy, and redshirt freshman Kyle Reed). See article in SF Chronicle for more info.
Our QB battle was recently named #4 in the Top 10 spring QB battles by ESPN columnist Bruce Feldman. He noted that while last season Ayoob “flopped”, Levy was fearless relieving him but didn’t “throw a pretty ball”. The wildcard will be Reed, who he describes as raw but showing good skills.

EDIT 3/29/2006: Longshore has also been picked as the winner of the QB battle in the #6 Top 30 Quarterback Battles on Fox Sports. Check it out.