Levy rejoins team

Quarterback Steve Levy, who was recently suspended from the team for a bar brawl in San Francisco, has been reinstated and will be allowed to join the team for fall practice on August 6. Yesterday, Levy’s case was settled in court and the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor. However, he remains suspended for the Tennessee game on September 2.

Levy will compete to start at quarterback in fall camp, but he is not expected to take the first spot on the depth chart.

Cal featured on ESPN.com, picked to win Pac-10

Marshawn Lynch has returned to the front page of ESPN’s College Football index, with caption “Marshawn Lynch and Cal are focused on a run at the Pac-10 title” and subtitle “Is this the year USC gets knocked off the Pac-10 throne? Will Marshawn Lynch lead a Cal coronation?” This is the lead-in for ESPN’s release of the Blue Ribbon Preview for the Pac-10 (subscription only). The article is VERY positive, picking Cal to win the Pac-10. Their summary:

Blue Ribbon Preview – California:
The defense should be potent, led by perhaps the most complete collection of linemen and linebackers west of the Mississippi. The pass rush should be more than enough to bypass potential growing pains by the safeties.

And then there’s Lynch, who along with USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett should bring the Pac-10 any national attention some might fear departed with Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. Lynch is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate and here’s guessing Cal produces a 2,000-yard rusher for the second time in three seasons (J.J. Arrington did so in 2004).

In the end, we see Cal as a lock for double-digit wins and at worst, third-place in the Pac-10. Best-case scenario, though — one of the quarterbacks takes to the spread offense and the Bears unseat USC, the three-time defending Pac-10 champs, and earn a coveted BCS bid that many thought they deserved two seasons ago.

They project Lynch as the Pac-10’s Offensive Player of the Year and Daymeion Hughes as the Defensive Player of the Year. Lynch and Hughes (DB) also make their All-Pac-10 Team along with Brandon Mebane (DL), Desmond Bishop (LB), and Tim Mixon (PR).

One player I believe they overlooked is DeSean Jackson (WR), a contender for a monster season. ESPN’s Bruce Feldman reports that Jackson has spent the offseason weight training instead of playing baseball. He’s already put on 10 pounds of bulk.

Rivals: Tedford/Dunbar working on “magical mix”

Rivals.com has put together an article describing the new offense. It also talks about Mike Dunbar‘s history, how he was hired as the offensive coordinator, and his thoughts on the quarterback situation.

Dunbar offers a few glimpses into his potential playbook, including shotgun formations with 4+ wide receivers, possibly including tailbacks Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett in addition to star wideout DeSean Jackson. In the end, the plan is to have what he described as a “magical mix” of head coach Jeff Tedford‘s pro-set offense and Dunbar’s spread.

Take a look at the article here.

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.

ESPN radio: Tedford is “too good for his own good”

Colin Cowherd spoke yesterday on podcast pretty extensively about what he thought about Coach Jeff Tedford. I wouldn’t advise actually listening to it, but here’s a summary of comments:

“A coach too good for his own good”

Tennessee traded Steve McNair to Baltimore – to make Baltimore “less terrible”. This means: the Kyle Boller (former Cal QB) experiment is pretty much over. By taking McNair, Baltimore is saying they don’t think Boller can take them to the next level.

This is Tedford’s 3rd bust in the NFL (Akili Smith, Joey Harrington). Does this mean Tedford is a bad coach? NO! He’s the best QB coach, college or pro. He can take any marginal QB and make him a star. The longer and farther the get away from him, the worse they get. That’s why in last year’s draft, he screamed “do not draft Aaron Rodgers 1st round”. Remember speculation that Rodgers would be #1 pick, and the shock when he dropped to 24th. He ended up in Green Bay, where reports show he has been underwhelming as Favre’s backup. Truth is: Rodgers was a solid college QB who Tedford coached nearly into the #1 pick/Heisman.

Talked to Charlie Weis (head coach at Notre Dame) recently. Asked him, is there one coach that impresses him; without hesitation, Weis said: Tedford at Cal, he’s an NFL coach; so brilliant. Unbelievable offensive mind, unbelievable QB coaching. “Takes strip steak and makes it filet mignon” – even jaded, cynical NFL people buy it. Once you draft his QBs, each year that goes by away from him they get worse. Joey Harrington was smooth, smart, leader, great QB – has eroded every year in NFL. Same with Smith, Rodgers, Boller.

Tedford listens, gives QB max protection (RBs stay in backfield, TEs stick around). Keeps QB comfortable, gives QB two choices, first down. Best offensive coordinator ever seen, anywhere, any level. Kyle Boller – another brilliant college QB coached by Tedford, who can’t get it done in NFL. See Boller’s stats before Tedford. 1 amazing year, the year Tedford coached him. Boller had 6 bad years in the last 7.

If you can win at Cal… it’s basically the West Coast equivalent of Virginia, except worse, worse facilities…

My comments: if Tedford was able to get so much done without much recruiting clout, think about what he can do with the high-end recruits he’s getting now. Also, why is Aaron Rodgers getting blasted before even given a chance at Green Bay? Finally, the facilities won’t be an issue shortly, when the stadium renovation project gets underway.

While I’m glad our head coach is getting praise, I’m a little irritated about the the disrespect our team and alumni are getting.

Blog names Cal one of 4 “best offenses” for 2006

College football blog Heisman Pundit has put up some interesting analysis about offenses in the upcoming season. Coach Jeff Tedford and the team get some high praise:

Cal already ran a balanced, air-tight scheme under Tedford, but now he has added elements of the spread. It’s a brilliant ploy which should help Cal’s young offensive line to make up for some of its deficiencies. Think this system isn’t buoyant enough to keep a team afloat? Last year, Cal lost its starting quarterback in game one. The replacement couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn and his replacement was a former fullback. Most teams go 4-7 in those circumstances. Cal went 8-4 with three losses by seven points or less. Think the running game is all about an uber-talent like Marshawn Lynch? Well, Justin Forsett–a former Notre Dame commit who no one else wanted–also approached 1,000 yards.

Take a look at the entire article here. Another good quote: “The sophistication of (Notre Dame head coach) Charlie Weis‘ passing attack–in the context of teams that have balanced offenses–is matched only by Jeff Tedford’s in all of college football.”

Cal the #6 “most intriguing system shift”

ESPN‘s Bruce Feldman has listed Cal sixth in his list of the most intriguing system shifts. He says:

Jeff Tedford has been considered one of college football’s sharper offensive minds. I think he could probably turn Steve Levy (the SportsCenter host, not the one-time Cal fullback) into a winning QB. However, Tedford is tinkering with his system. He hired Northwestern assistant Mike Dunbar to incorporate more principles of the spread offense into his attack, which the new OC reasons should help the Bear QBs see the field better while operating out of the shotgun. It also will open up wider lanes for star TBs Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett. After all, it sure made unheralded freshman Tyrell Sutton look great. Dunbar’s offense led the Big Ten in total offense last season and was fourth in the nation in total yardage and seventh in passing.

To spice things up even more, Tedford visited West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez for a better handle on the evolution of the spread and all that it can do with formations and disguising things. This should be fun. The Bears have a ton of firepower, although their O-line won’t be as experienced as last year’s unit.

Read the rest of the article here.

Ayoob challenging Longshore as starter

As reported yesterday, former starting quarterback Joe Ayoob appears to be doing increasingly well in spring practice. The SF Chronicle is reporting that he’s challenging Nate Longshore as front-runner for the starting spot.

Brace Adams says: Ayoob has been a surprise. He’s beginning to show the form that earned him junior college All-America honors at CCSF, where he led the Rams to a national championship as a freshman.

“He’s throwing the ball a lot sharper,” Tedford said.

Ayoob has been helped by changes in Cal’s offense, with Tedford incorporating elements of the spread-option, which Dunbar used at Northwestern in leading the nation’s No. 4-ranked offense last season. It is similar to the pure spread Ayoob ran at City College.

Read the whole article here. If he does take over the starting spot from Longshore, it’ll be a remarkable comeback after his meltdown of a season last year that ended with boos at home. I’d like to see Longshore take over after his nasty injury last season, but we’ll see who Tedford decides on.

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.