DeSean: NFL decision today

EDIT 1:40 PM: DeSean Jackson has declared for the NFL. Listen to an audio recording of his Q&A with the media here (from Scout.com). Read ESPN’s article about his decision here. Good luck in the league, DeSean.

EDIT 12:15 PM: 45 minutes until Jackson’s announcement. In the meantime, here is a clip from the Chronicle:

It’s widely suggested that a player being assured a first-round selection should not risk injury with a return to college. …

“I don’t even get with that,” Bill Jackson said. “He could be like Brady Quinn, sitting there all day. Education is the most important thing to our family.”

Bill Jackson said he was under the impression that his message had resonated with his son.

“I really think he was leaning toward coming back to school,” he said. “If he was going to go (to the) draft, he would have to be working out. He’s been relaxed and hanging out with his partners.

“Of course, he blew my mind with his last decision. I thought he was going to SC.”

DeSean Jackson ranks third all-time at Cal in receiving yards (2,423) and receiving touchdowns (22) and sixth in receptions (162). He has 28 touchdowns in 36 games, including a school- and conference-record six punt returns for scores.

He has 52 career plays of 20 yards or more – 23 percent of his 226 touches – including a 40-yard touchdown reception in the Armed Forces Bowl. DeSean Jackson came off the bench from an undisclosed rules violation to catch five passes for 81 yards from backup Kevin Riley in Cal’s 42-36 comeback win over Air Force.

“With Riley’s performance, it’s going to be a really hard decision,” Jackson said after the Dec. 31 game. “I could come back and get like 100 catches. The way he played gives me something to think about.

At 1pm today, WR/PR DeSean Jackson will announce whether he intends to stay his senior year at Cal or declare as a junior for the draft. Throughout this past season, Jackson has been pegged as a definite first-round pick.

Today is the deadline for underclassmen like Jackson to make their decision — he has waited to literally the last minute to make his decision. Given this drawn-out delay, there might be some slight hope that Jackson will return. We’ll see in a few hours.

Mack returning for senior season

Center Alex Mack, winner of the Morris Trophy for the Pac-10’s best offensive lineman, has decided to return for his senior season:

“There is a lot I can do at Cal to improve my game and to further my career,” Mack said Tuesday. “I didn’t want to miss the experience of my senior season and helping the team get back on track and finish things right. This also gives me an opportunity to finish my degree and continue my education.”

This is good news for the Cal offensive line, which allowed only 11 sacks this season. There is still no word from WR DeSean Jackson as to his plans for next year.

Hired: OC, DB and DL coaches

Head coach Jeff Tedford has hired Frank Cignetti to be the new offensive coordinator for the Bears. This season, he was the 49ers quarterback coach; he formerly was the OC of Fresno State and UNC.

Tedford also hired Al Simmons (Cal’s DB coach in 98-00) to be the new defensive backs coach, replacing R. Todd Littlejohn. Simmons previously coached for teams like ASU, SJSU, the 49ers, and Oregon State.

Finally, Tedford promoted graduate assistant Tosh Lupoi (see profile) to be the new defensive line coach spot (replacing Ken Delgado).

As previously reported, current QB coach Kevin Daft will be the new receivers coach, replacing Dan Ferrigno.

Here is the official Cal release as well as an article by the Associated Press [/jj].

4-star RB Deboskie commits

Photo: Rivals.com

Today, running back Covaughn Deboskie made an announcement of his commitment to Cal at the Army All-American Bowl (see video). He favored Cal in the recruiting process over the past several months, and news of his unofficial commitment has circulated for a few days.

Deboskie is a 4-star recruit out of Chandler, AZ; he is 6’0″/195 lbs and reportedly has a sub-4.4 40-yard-dash time (see profile on Scout, Rivals). An excellent student with a GPA above 4.0, Deboskie plans to enroll at Cal in the spring and participate in spring practice.

He chose Cal over ASU and Stanford with offers from Florida, Michigan, Alabama, Clemson and Georgia Tech as well.

WR, DB coaches fired

Confirming rumors floating around the internet, the CC Times reports that Coach Jeff Tedford has axed two assistant coaches: receivers coach Dan Ferrigno and defensive backs coach R. Todd Littlejohn.

Also in the rumor mill is the possible hire of former Tedford pupil and current 49er quarterback Trent Dilfer as a new offensive coordinator, as well as current QB coach Kevin Daft taking over the WR coach duties.

EDIT 1/5: Additionally, reports are circulating that defensive line coach Ken Delgado is leaving for Louisville on his own (not fired by Tedford).

Armed Forces Bowl: enter Riley

Photo: My Bear Territory

QB Kevin Riley entered the game with the Bears looking hopelessly behind, with 0 points to Air Force’s 21. In the face of adversity, the bowl’s MVP played magnificently and led the Bears to a 42-36 victory.

Riley completed 16 of 19 passes for 269 yards while tossing 3 touchdowns and rushing for another, all with no interceptions or mistakes — racking up a stunning 255.54 passer rating.

Some may suggest a quarterback controversy, but I see no such thing. 2008 should be a great season, as the Riley era has begun.

QB, news from Fort Worth

First thing: Coach Jeff Tedford made it clear that all positions will be open come spring, specifically the quarterback position (including freshman Brock Mansion).  Tedford said this about the competition:

Asked to define compete, Tedford said: “It’s going to be wide open to compete for all positions.”  Junior Nate Longshore is the two-year incumbent – and would be a three-year starter if not for a broken ankle in the 2005 season-opener – but he has struggled in comparison to his sophomore numbers. …

“Oh yeah, there’s going to be competition (at quarterback),” Tedford said. “Last year, (the young quarterbacks) really hadn’t been in our system. Now, there are guys in the system, and they’ll all get a chance to play in the springtime.”

Though Tedford hadn’t said publicly that any position would be open in the spring, he apparently announced the decision to the team after its loss to Stanford in the regular-season finale.

He had these words to say about Mansion:

“He has a lot of talent and has a bright future,” Tedford said. “He’ll compete, there’s no question about it. He’ll have an opportunity to compete in the springtime.”

In other news, WR DeSean Jackson and Robert Jordan, and FS Thomas DeCoud will not start the bowl game due to a violation of team rules.  Jon Okanes reports:

Tedford didn’t elaborate but said it wasn’t a major violation. He said the three players still will play but didn’t know how long they would stay on the bench at the beginning of the game.

This doesn’t sound very serious, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Best: good news

Freshman RB Jahvid Best‘s hip injury is not as serious or career-threatening as previously speculated.  The Chronicle reports:

Dr. Cindy Chang on Thursday spoke positively about the freshman tailback’s recovery.  “Most people equate crutches to a bad injury, but actually, (Best) is doing very well, clinically,” said Chang, the head physician of Cal’s 27 athletic teams since 1995. “We haven’t seen anything that we have to go in and fix. There’s no reason to be invasive and operate at this point.”  …

There have been all kind of mysterious theories or worst-case scenarios for Best, the player viewed as the centerpiece of the Bears’ future. “It’s the unknown that makes people start to second-guess,” Chang said. “We’ve been in very clear communication with Jahvid, his parents and the three hip specialists we’ve consulted nationally. Everyone agrees with us on our diagnosis and on the plan we’ve set.”

As Cal coach Jeff Tedford originally said, Chang called Best’s injury a bruised hip bone.

This is great news for Best and the team, but he will not play in the bowl game nor participate in track this spring.

Recruiting Update

After 2L finals, it’s time to start looking back at some football. Cal picked up a few new recruits after nearly a dozen Cal commits or prospects visited campus last weekend. All three of the prospects should add quite a bit to Cal’s class.

Jarrett Sparks is a WR from Merced who measures in at 6’3″ and 215 lbs with a 4.5 40. Big, tall, and fast. Should be good for us. Sparks is rated as a 3 star recruit by scout.com and a 4 star recruit by rivals.com.

L.J. Washington is a WR from Stockton who measures in at 6’0″ and 180 lbs with a 4.45 40. Also a bigger receiver, though also a bit lighter than Sparks. Washington is rated as a 2 star recruit by scout.com. Apparently Washington and Sparks competed for the most receiving yards this past year in the Central Section. It should be exciting to watch these two WRs play together in the coming years.

Kamaron Yancy is a CB coming out of Pierce College, originally from Fairfax High School. He measures 5’11” and 185 lbs with a 4.4 40. He is a bit of an older guy, having graduated high school in 2002. At that time, he played in the Cali-Florida Bowl showing that he had a promising career in front of him. However, he chose to stay at home and work for a few years while his parents went through marital problems. This to me shows lots of maturity which will hopefully carry over to the playing field. He has 3 years to play 3 years.

More on Longshore; Armed Forces Ticket Information

EDIT [12/18/2007]: Here’s a quick guide to visiting the Armed Forces Bowl, provided by ESPN Travel.

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article today with a more complete interview of Jeff Tedford in regards to Nate Longshore. Apparently, the high ankle sprain suffered by Longshore against Oregon was much worse than just an ordinary ankle sprain:

“I didn’t get that it was a broken ankle, but Nate has talked to me about a little chip in the back of his ankle,” Tedford said. “I don’t know what the definition is for sprained, and I don’t know what the exact explanation has been for the injury, but from Day 1, that’s what it has always been.”

…

“Nate is not the most mobile guy, but one of his attributes has always been his ability to slide and make people miss and move in the pocket,” Tedford said. “There’s no question that the injury has hindered his ability to step up and move around as much as he could.

…

“I’ve asked him numerous times about whether his ankle bothers him more in the fourth quarter, and that’s not the case,” Tedford said. “It’s a case of a guy trying to be too perfect and trying too hard to get things done. The ankle has limited his mobility, but it hasn’t done anything down the stretch that hasn’t happened in the first quarter.”

…

“When you talk about the education of quarterback, it’s much more than X’s and O’s,” Tedford said. “It has to do leadership and handling media and criticism because the position is such a focal point. There’s no question that there has been some adversity there, and I’ve been impressed with how Nate’s been able to handle it.

To me, a chipped bone sounds more like a broken or fractured ankle rather than a sprain. It may not require a cast or surgery, but the affects of it I think would a little worse and take longer to heal correctly. If from Day 1, however, this was the case, why is it just coming out now? If Longshore didn’t tell Tedford the full extent of his injury (which I suspect he did), doesn’t that reflect rather poorly on Longshore? Sure, he wants to win, and wants to be the guy to lead the team to victory. But the coach has to know the status of all his players, to make the best decision for the entire team, not just the player. And if Tedford did know, why did he play him after only 2 weeks of rest? With Tedford saying that the “ability to slide and make people miss and move in the pocket” has been one of Longshore’s key attributes, one would think that a broken ankle would have at least partially sidelined him, especially against stronger pass rushes like UCLA and USC.

In regards to the last quote above… maybe the article pulled it out of context, but to me, the “education of the quarterback” isn’t just about “try, try, and try again.” If this were to have occurred in the NFL, Longshore would have been sidelined for at least a few games to give another QB a chance. Just look at Rex Grossman and the other Bears team. If a QB can’t turn things around after a game or two, which by the time we lost to Washington we could tell Longshore couldn’t, they’ve got to learn how to turn things around on the sideline. Anyway, I appreciate the job that Tedford has done since the Holmoe Era, as well as his concentration on each player’s individual growth and integrity, however this whole season he’s been tip-toeing the line between the good of a single player’s growth, and the possible good of the entire team. As he’s already slated Longshore as the definite starter of the Armed Forces Bowl come December 31st, I guess he still hasn’t crossed that line yet. We can always hope, however, that the month will give Longshore’s ankle enough time to finally fully heal, as well as for him to forget this horrible streak and regain some confidence and run through some more intense pressure drills. Otherwise, we’ll just have to hope that if Longshore shows signs of struggling during the game, Tedford will give in and at least go with some form of two quarterback system (even Stanford used a two quarterback system against us) to give our outgoing seniors (and potential early draft jumpers) a chance to end on a bright spot.

For those of you hardcore fans who are still interested in traveling to Fort Worth, Texas (TCU’s campus) for the Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force (9-3, 6-2 conference) on December 31st, tickets are now on sale through the Cal Bears website. Currently, all season ticket holders can purchase tickets, and on friday, December 7th at noon, tickets will go on sale to the general public. Tickets are $40 each for reserved seating, and there is no limit to how many tickets you can order. Hopefully those fans that have the opportunity will go, and represent our struggling Bears well no matter how they do, and give our seniors a good send-off.