With the untimely deaths of Barbaro and Anna Nicole Smith, I wasn’t sure if we should post anymore.  But I thought, for Cal sports, we should soldier on.  For Cal Sports.

I am not the recruiting master that so many others are.  Even before the Ayoob debacle, I wasn’t really into it and now I feel like having Vietnam-esque flashbacks to Ayoob anytime recruiting is brought up.  But I thought it interesting to link to this video about the 2005 recruiting class.  You might want to block your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and soul for the minute or so that they gush all over Joey Boy Ayoob.  But after that, it’s safe.  That class has some total studs like DeSean and Bishop.  And some guys who hopefully will become studs for us going forward, such as SydQuan and Follett.  So, enjoy that video.  It is about 4 minutes long and has a lot on DeSean.

Also, as I noted, I don’t know too much about recruiting.  But I do happen to know one of Matt Summers-Gavin’s coaches at SI.  So, I contacted him to ask him about the inside scoop on one of our newest Golden Bears.  It’s not much, but here it is:

"matt is about 6′6 275, and a great athlete. fast dunk a basketball…..etc

he still has tons of room to grow

his first step is the best i’ve ever seen. he will most likely play guard at cal. notre dame (and other high profile colleges) wanted him as a center.

he was lineman of the year in the WCAL and was a key figure in us winning our first WCAL title in 40 years and our first ever CCS title."
 

Also, ESPN.com has a poll on their front page about what the best highlight of the ESPN Era (how self-absorbed!).  The Play is one of them and last I checked was winning with 32% of the vote.  Go Bears!  

Lastly, it looks like rain throughout the weekend.  Not good for baseball this Saturday.  Perhaps next Saturday, then.  !!!

GO BEARS! 

After perusing Tedford’s latest recruiting class, I’d have to say that I was happy, but not ecstatic.  Lots of good players, but no 5-star recruits.  No big names on signing day, and no high profile tussles with USC.  Upon more reflection, however, I realized that I’ve become spoiled by Cal’s recent success.  Was it not only a few years ago that our only recruits came from in-state (Caveat: Tedford’s first recruiting class did include 1 player from out-of-state: a quarterback from New Jersey named Steve Levy), and even the best players from the Bay Area were heading south to USC and UCLA, or north to Oregon and Washington?  It used to be that our only 4-star recruits were JC transfers.  No, we didn’t haul in talent as highly rated as Florida or USC, but we’re a lot closer than we used to be.

Some thoughts:

- Tedford didn’t grab many Bay Area recruits, but he got the best ones.  Both Jahvid Best and Matt Summers-Gavin sound pretty impressive, and if Devin Bishop is anything like his older brother, our defense will continue to shine.  Schools like UCLA and Oregon were left with players the Bears didn’t want or need.  Protecting your home turf is important, and Cal has gone a long way towards doing that.

- Cal doesn’t make a lot of national recruiting headlines, but this class does include 10 players from outside California.  They’re not cherry-picking the best kids in the country yet, but they’ve definitely expanded the pool of recruits they can get, which can only help the depth of the class.

- JC transfers are a good way to plug immediate holes, and the Bears got two linebackers and a tight end, both areas of need.  The tight end, Skylar Curran, comes from Butte College, the same JC that brought us TE Garrett Cross and QB Aaron Rogers.

- No 5-star recruits.  This worried me a little, because while depth is good, you also need some elite playmakers to take the game over against tough teams.  Then I remembered that Marshawn Lynch was only a 4-star recruit, and I was no longer worried.

- I can’t imagine how quarterback recruits wouldn’t want to play for Tedford, and it sounds like we got another good one this year in Brock Mansion.  I haven’t heard anything negative about him whatsoever, only that he was rather lightly recruited because he went to a smaller private school in Texas.  Now he’ll just have to get in the back of the Tedford quarterback factory line, behind Longshore, Kyle Reed (sophmore), and Kevin Riley (freshman), all big-time recruits out of high school.

- Remember in 2004, when J. J. Arrington was the featured back, and then when defenses were tired, Marshawn would come in on fresh legs and absolutely shred defenses?  That was fun.  Now, I’m not saying that Justin Forsett is the next Arrington, or that Jahvid Best is the next Lynch, but man, that would be neat to watch again.  Unless you play linebacker in the Pac-10.

Overall, the recruiting picture looks good, but it could improve.  A win over USC and a Rose Bowl would help that, as would finally upgrading Memorial Stadium.  Beyond that, I’d say Tedford’s doing a bang-up job.  Can’t wait for Spring practices.