Forsett and more

Justin Forsett, this year’s featured back, is getting primed for a spectacular season. The Chronicle reports:

Between the end of spring camp April 14 and reporting day for training camp Sunday, Cal’s new starting tailback Justin Forsett has taken off only three days, and the benefits of his work ethic were obvious . . . The 5-foot-8 senior has added 10 pounds of muscle to jump above the 200-pound mark. Meanwhile, he’s managed to maintain his 4.4-seconds speed in the 40-yard dash and added flexibility with Pilates classes.

The article also speaks briefly of senior safety Thomas Decoud receiving attention from the East-West Shrine Game and NFL scouts, Zack Follett getting tiger stripe highlights, and Alex Mack moving back to center (he was shifted around the offensive line in the off-season).

NFL alumni blurbs

Marshawn Lynch (ironically pictured here with fellow rookie Trent Edwards of Stanford) is shining out in Buffalo, making a lot of buzz about his upcoming season in the news. In addition to the following blurbs, here is a training camp report with some Marshawn action from yesterday.

SI.com’s Monday Morning QB:

7. I think Marshawn Lynch impressed me off the field the other day, after showing terrific moves on the field. . . . One other thing about Lynch. I asked him about his goals for the season and how good he thought he could be as a rookie. “I haven’t even put on the pads yet,” he said. “We can’t know about that yet. I’m just getting comfortable here. Guys have been doing this for years and I just got here.” Impressive kid, at least at first glance.

AP (Sporting News): “Top pick Lynch arrives at Bills camp”

Once practice began, it was difficult to hold Lynch back. . . . Lynch made his training camp debut in suburban Rochester after signing a five-year contract worth nearly $19 million. He was so eager that the native of Oakland, Calif., was already in the state waiting for the deal to be completed. . . .

He was drafted 12th overall out of Cal to replace Willis McGahee, the inconsistent and often brooding player who was traded to Baltimore in March. . . . His versatility as a receiver gives the Bills an added dimension in coordinator Steve Fairchild’s multi-threat offense, something McGahee struggled with last year. . . . Losman also praised Lynch’s attention to detail. “You watch him closely, he’s always paying attention,” Losman said. “You never see him messing around back there. And that’s what you want to see from your running back.”

Jason Y reports that today’s “ESPN First Take” included the following from Aaron Schatz (Writer of “Pro Football Prospectus 2007”):

“The running back with biggest opportunity in his rookie year is Marshawn Lynch because Buffalo really has a big hole open in that running back position.” Schatz goes onto say that ultimately Adrian Peterson will be slower out of the gates because he has other running backs to compete with and that Adrian will probably gain superstar status eventually, but this season Lynch will be the rookie that shines.

Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers is looking good (but needs a haircut) at quarterback, taking reps with Green Bay’s first-team offense in training camp. However, he’s stuck indefinitely behind Brett Favre on the depth chart.

Green Bay Press-Gazette: “Rodgers looks sharp with first team”

Rodgers completed 13 of his last 16 passes in competitive periods Sunday morning — two of the misses were drops by Holiday and Brandon Miree — and was 15-for-21 overall, including 6-for-7 in the challenging blitz period. The performance was on par with Rodgers’ play in most offseason practices that were open to the media this summer, showing off his improved arm strength and increasing comfort in the Packers’ offense. . . .

Rodgers needed 5½ months to recover from a broken foot sustained Nov. 19 against New England, the game in which he saw his most extensive action last season. His arm, however, has overshadowed any lingering concerns about his health since minicamp.

He’ll lead the starters the next two days while Favre continues to deal with the death of his wife’s stepfather, and potentially more later in training camp if Favre sits out some mornings during two-a-day practices. However, there’s no telling when Favre will step away for good. Rodgers is in the third of the five-year, $7.655 million contract the Packers gave him as the 24th overall draft pick in 2005, and his best chance to become a starter might come elsewhere.

Wisconsin State Journal: “Packers: Rodgers’ actions speak clearly”

“Aaron is at the point in his career where he just needs reps. You don’t really get (enough) opportunity being the No. 2 and 3 guy,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said . . . He (has) total command of the huddle. I think his arm has gotten stronger. I think his maturity — physically and mentally — has progressed a lot since he’s been here. He just needs the opportunity to play.”

And therein lies the problem for Rodgers. He’s said mostly the right things as he’s bided his time behind Favre, but part of him was excited when his name was linked to the Oakland Raiders in the offseason Randy Moss trade rumors. Those rumors proved to be unfounded, though, so he’s back for Year 3 of learning behind a legend.

Here’s a short bit on JJ Arrington with the Arizona Cardinals:

Coach Ken Whisenhunt has been encouraged by the play of J.J. Arrington in camp, but that didn’t stop Whisenhunt from chewing out the running back when he didn’t finish a play in the afternoon session. Whisenhunt complimented Arrington after he carried the ball a few plays later. Not only is Arrington getting work at fullback in some sets, he’s also flanking out as a receiver on some plays . . .

And, a brief on Kyle Boller in Baltimore:

After three up-and-down seasons as Baltimore’s starting signal-caller, Boller was replaced by former league Most Valuable Player Steve McNair.

Boller played well when opportunities presented themselves in 2006, completing a career-best 60 percent of his passes for 486 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s unlikely to challenge McNair for playing time, though, as he enters the final year of his contract and will receive competition for the backup role from rookie quarterback Troy Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner out of Ohio State. . . . Boller will be a free agent after the 2007 season.

EDIT 8/1: Here is a blurb on Marcus O’Keith (Kansas City):

In the early days of camp, Michael Bennett and Kolby Smith have received most of the first-team snaps, but the Chiefs also have been impressed with rookie Marcus O’Keith, and he could conceivably earn some playing time with a strong preseason if Johnson’s holdout is prolonged.

O’Keith ripped off a couple of long runs toward the end of Tuesday afternoon’s practice.

And here’s Adimchinobe Echemandu of the Raiders (notice his “Joe” nickname):

That left Justin Fargas and Adimchinobe ” Joe” Echemandu sharing first-team snaps during the afternoon practice in Napa. . . . So far, Echemandu has been a pleasant surprise with several long runs. With Rhodes and Jordan out, the former Cal running back will get a chance to make a strong impression on the coaching staff.

“What we’re about is giving guys open competition, give them a look,” Kiffin said when asked about Echemandu earlier this week. “Right now, Joe will be getting his shot.”

Jackson to return kickoffs

From an Pac-10 media day article:

News for Jackson: Because of a new NCAA rule, Cal wide receiver and All-American punt returner DeSean Jackson probably will return kickoffs as well as punts this season, although that’s news to Jackson.

“We haven’t told him yet,” Tedford said Thursday.

Jackson had said he did not expect or want to return kickoffs, because, at 170 pounds, his body may be vulnerable to the high-speed collisions that occur on kickoffs. Moments later, though, Tedford said the rule change that requires teams to kick off from their 30-yard line instead of the 35 creates more chances for big plays on kickoff returns. That seems to have convinced Tedford to have Jackson return kickoffs, too.

It will be very exciting to see Jackson take kickoffs as well. The additional touches, yards, and potential touchdown returns will help his Heisman campaign as well.

Jordan, Tennessee, Best

ESPN’s Bruce Feldman put up a piece on Cal and Robert Jordan with some interesting bits of information. Jordan, a cousin of Marshawn Lynch, is apparently also related to #1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell from LSU to the Raiders. (If you weren’t aware: earlier this month, a certain SEC coach, bashed the Pac-10 and the Bears in an often-repeated but ill-founded claim:

“I would like nothing better than to play USC for the [national] title,” Miles reportedly said in a speech to a heavily pro-LSU gathering in New Orleans. “I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel. They’re going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford — some real juggernauts — and they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title [game].

This coach was LSU’s Les Miles.) So,

Russell was actually with Jordan when they learned about Miles’ comments… “[Jordan] said ‘J, what’s up with your coach?’ And he was like ‘Ah man, he’s a hothead don’t listen to him,'” Jordan recalled.

Predictably, Feldman talks about Cal-Tennessee next:

Jordan and a few of his Cal teammates though say they don’t feel any additional pressure to uphold the Pac-10’s honor in their big rematch against Tennessee in the season opener…

“I think about that game everyday, at every workout about how their crowd and their players were able to talk to us and all that,” Jordan says. “We do represent the conference, but really we’re playing for us. Last year we let ourselves down.

“We really weren’t focused on football. We let the media hype it up… Now we’ve got a veteran team. It’s not going to be like that. We’re going to keep fighting regardless. I’d be real shocked to have another outcome like that again. I don’t see how that could happen again.”

Said DeSean Jackson, Cal’s star WR-KR: “It is a little bit of extra pressure on us as far as how people think of the Pac-10, but all we can do is just play hard.”

Cal QB Nate Longshore, admits he watches the UT game, start to finish, all the time. “Everytime I watch it, I see something different,” he says. “It’s interesting to see the whole flow of the game and how turnovers affect teams and things like that in retrospect. Like instead of just going down and losing a yard, we try and make a play and they get to gang-tackle us and that builds momentum for them.

“There’s so much that you wanna do over, but at the same time you have to treat it like another game.”

The article ends with this about incoming freshman Jahvid Best:

A little debate about who is the fastest Golden Bear: Jackson or incoming freshman TB Jahvid Best, the player Longshore touted as the guy who is going to really surprise some people this fall.

“He is ridiculous quick,” Longshore said of the 5-foot-11, 182-pounder, who once won a Gold Medal in the 200m at the 2005 USTAF Junior Olympics. “He could beat DeSean in a race, no doubt in my mind. No doubt. He’s the fastest I’ve ever seen.

Blue Ribbon Preview on ESPN

DeSean Jackson is on the front page of ESPN‘s College Football site, as ESPN has put up Blue Ribbon’s team preview for Cal. The preview has some decent analysis and insight about the Bears this upcoming season. Take a look, as it’s currently available as a “free preview” without ESPN Insider.

Blue Ribbon gives Cal the following grades:

Offense: A
Special teams: A+
Defense: B
Intangibles: A-

They also sum up their article with the following mixed praise:

That said, this offense is every bit the equal of USC’s, and at least on paper, Cal should score more points than the Trojans. And the special teams units of the Bears might be ranked tops in the nation. So why aren’t the Bears favored over USC, which is expected to be a near-unanimous preseason No. 1?

Defense, defense and yes, more defense.

USC placed six players on Blue Ribbon’s preseason All-Pac-10 first team, while Cal had none.

But much to Tedford’s credit, Cal’s season starts in terms of the national title picture on Sept. 1 when Tennessee visits Berkeley on the back-end of a home-and-home. If the Bears win, watch out — the hype could build for more than two months before the USC game on Nov. 11. If those two teams enter kickoff undefeated, that likely becomes the game of the regular-season, not only in the Pac-10, but in the nation.

However, the Bears are going to find themselves in a few fourth-quarter shootouts, especially early as the secondary gains experience. Trips to Oregon, UCLA and Arizona State won’t be easy, but they should be entertaining. Actually, with Jackson, every Cal game should be entertaining.

We see Cal as a top-10 caliber team capable of defeating just about any opponent in the country. Just not USC. The Bears should cruise to 11 wins and a second-place Pac-10 fin-ish this season, perhaps even find themselves in a BCS game, but they’re not winning the Pac-10. At least not this year.

Thanks Jonah K for the heads-up.

DeSean for Heisman: www.the1towatch.com

Cal has put up an official site promoting DeSean Jackson for the Heisman, similar to the site for Marshawn Lynch last year. It sports some fancy Flash production and is filled with videos, photos, and other information. Take a look: the1towatch.com

I’m glad to see Cal putting together this promotional material for Jackson early on in anticipation of another amazing season from our very own WR/PR highlight reel.

EDIT 11:20 PM: According to Scout.com, Jackson has stated that this is his last year at the collegiate level. However, other sources say that this is completely untrue. I’ll make an update when the facts are known.

Athlon: Cal is preseason #11

In Athlon Sports‘ annual pre-season countdown of their take on the top 25 teams, Cal has taken the #11 spot. Describing the Bears’ offense as “electric”, Athlon raves about DeSean Jackson as a Heisman candidate, QB Nate Longshore, the other wideouts, and most of the other positions as well. Take a look.

Marshawn as offensive ROY?

There is a great mention of Marshawn in SI’s Monday Morning QB by Peter King.

7. I think they might as well go ahead and inscribe the Offensive Rookie of the year trophy with Marshawn Lynch‘s name. With a run-blocking offensive line coach in Jim McNally, two very high-priced line free agents in the fold (Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker) after being trained in run-blocking in their previous places, and the likelihood that Lynch will get 300 carries if he stays healthy … I mean, unless Calvin Johnson catches 80 balls or some Hofstra receiver comes out of nowhere again, Lynch should win it in a walk.

Look for a great year from Marshawn behind what looks to be a rebuilt OL of the Buffalo Bills.

6 Bears sign as free agents

Several of our graduating seniors have signed as undrafted free agents with NFL teams.

• CB/PR Tim Mixon and DE Nu’u Tafisi have signed with the Seattle Seahawks.
• OG Erik Robertson has signed with the San Diego Chargers.

EDIT: Cal has released a list of all Bear free-agent signings, including:

• RB Marcus O’Keith (Kansas City Chiefs)
• LB Mickey Pimental (Carolina Panthers)
• FB Byron Storer (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

Bishop drafted by Green Bay in the 6th round

LB Desmond Bishop will be joining former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers as he was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round (the 192nd pick overall).

Wisconsin Radio Network: “Packers take two Linebackers in the 6th”

With the 192nd pick overall in the 6th round, Ted Thompson grabbed Cal linebacker Desmond Bishop. He has been called “The Pulse” of the Cal defense on his way to leading the Pac-10 in tackles. He played middle linebacker in college but with Nick Barnett and Abdul Hodge at that position he’ll move to the outside in Green Bay.