It’s official.  DeSean Jackson has a 2007 Heisman Campaign website at www.The1ToWatch.com.  Be sure to check it out, and check all of it out, because it’s an awesome site with lots of material. 

The schools of other Heisman candidates better get crackin’ on their Heisman websites because this one will be tough to beat.  THA1 is definitely getting style points off the field for The1ToWatch.com. 

Thanks to Danny for the heads up.  Good lookin’, Danny. 

ESPN.com recently started dispensing their Blue Ribbon College Football Team Previews, and lucky for us (you, especially, if you don’t have an Insider account), our beloved team’s preview is free, right here.  Rather than go through the entire preview, which is quite lengthy, you should go ahead and read the whole thing through yourself.  There are a few inaccuracies, however.

Since inheriting a team that won a single game in 2001, Tedford is 43-20, having never won fewer than seven games. All that said, at 45, he seems like the perfect candidate for an NFL head coaching job, with a pedigree and offensive genius much like a young Bill Walsh at Stanford back in the late 1970s.

Yet, the call hasn’t come. He hasn’t even interviewed, although he has said he wouldn’t until his youngest son graduates high school in 2008. Still, it’s hard to fathom someone from the Oakland Raiders didn’t at least call Tedford last off-season before hiring Lane Kiffin, the 32-year-old former USC offensive coordinator.

The call has come, Tedford just hasn’t answered it.  And he did interview with the Bears before they decided to hire Lovie Smith, but turned down the job.  That seems to have worked out reasonably well for all involved, except maybe Rex Grossman.

The preview pretty much contains everything you’d expect - gushing words for the offensive genius of Tedford, the offense in general, and cautionary notes about the defense.  Blue Ribbon seems especially enamored with our special teams, saying THA1 at returner, Schneider at kicker, and Larson at punter could make up the best special teams unit in the country.  However, the worries about the defense are what is preventing them from labeling our Bears the team to beat in the Pac-10, even though they believe our offense should by all rights be even more potent than theirs.  I don’t disagree there, but I think that if the defense matures even just a little bit, along with homefield against the Trojans, we have a good shot at beating them and winning the Pac-10.

TwistNHook pointed out this particular screenshot of ESPN.com today, with two articles on Cal being the two articles linked to under the NCAA tab on their front page.  More thorough write-ups will be upcoming shortly (of course), but until then, enjoy our alma mater’s day in the sun on ESPN.  God knows we don’t get many of them.

There has been a lot of speculation about whether DeSean Jackson aka THA1 is going pro after this 2007 season.  Many people are anticipating he will make the early jump considering he is viewed one of the top two WRs in the nation (many college football fans and experts who haven’t gotten enough exposure of THA1 sadly think Mario Manningham of Michigan is better).  Furthermore, people think that THA1 will make the jump because he is highly likely to be a first round draft pick in the NFL draft.  Oh, and let’s not forget that he is a Heisman candidate in 2007 with him returning punts.  Obviously, THA1 has a lot going for him this upcoming season.

So unless THA1 has a seriously disappointing season (very unlikely), or gets injured, then going pro early appears to be the logical choice assuming THA1 wants to earn those Benjamins as quickly as possible. 

Shoot, even Jeff Tedford has even stated that he expects to lose DeSean Jackson to the NFL after next season.  Sure sounds like THA1 is eyeing the NFL.  So the question begs, is THA1 leaving early for the NFL?

I think I have a small story that can shed some light on this answer.   

Back in my college days (which only ended a few months ago), I had a class with THA1 and a few other Cal players.  This class took place in the spring semester of 2006 - a little over a year ago and after THA1’s freshman season at Cal.  One day I came into class a little early, and sat down in a spot not too far from THA1 where I could incidentally overhear his conversation.  THA1 was having a conversation with some female Cal athletes also in the class.  The conversation revolved around how they liked their coaches, what was good about the coaches, and how the coaches could improve their coaching.  Eventually, the athletes concluded their conversation with a quick discussion about how demanding the academics were at Cal and how they couldn’t wait to graduate.  A flurry of questions were asked between the athletes involved in the conversation about what year in school they were to see how many more years they expected to be at Cal.  All the athletes agreed that they only wanted to be in school for four years and not five.  It was at this point in time that THA1 stated something along the lines of "I want to be out of here in three years if I can". 

All the athletes in the conversation knew what he meant.  They have all seen THA1 play.  They all knew he has the talent to play at the next level.  Clearly, THA1 was admitting that he had every desire to go pro early if possible. 

Let me state that I specifically remember that THA1 did not say "I want to be out of here in three more years".   He just said three years - meaning three years total (all the athletes were talking about how many years total they wanted to be at Cal). 

So there ya go.  THA1 wants to go pro early.  Even though we all knew this was probably true, what I overheard seems to be some of the most definitive proof of his future decision (assuming you believe that I am telling the truth - which I am, this is a true story).   Of course, what I overheard happened a whole year ago so maybe THA1 changed his mind.  Afterall, who really wants to earn millions of dollars when you can stay in school for a 4th year, complete your degree, and enjoy the college experience while risking millions of dollars and a career ending injury with every game you play in?