Alex Mack will not be entering the 2008 NFL draft, instead coming back to Cal for his senior season (as first reported by the CC Times Jonathan Okanes).  Fabulous news!  

Now for some instant analysis.  For that, we turn to our own CBKWit, who wrote this yesterday:

I think Riley’s performance will give him some incentive to return, and don’t rule out the prospect of him moving to left tackle; Cal experimented with this last spring, in an effort to get back-up center Chris Guarnero on the field as well.  This year, they don’t have all pac-10 tackle Mike Gibson returning, although Chet Teofilo looked pretty decent in the Armed Forces bowl (Gibson was out with a concussion).  If you move Mack to LT, you probably have a stronger starting 5 with Guarnero on the field instead of Teofio, and Mack gets the big left tackle bucks when he graduates the following year.  It’s win-win!

Sounds like a good idea to me!  Now, let’s see what Okanes had to say on the matter today:

Returning to Cal is both good for Mack and good for the Bears. Obviously, he is Cal’s most skilled offensive lineman and has a complete understanding of the offense. So complete, in fact, that he could probably play guard or tackle, too. That wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility, either. The Bears are losing left tackle Mike Gibson. Could the Bears move Mack to left tackle and insert highly regarded prospect Chris Guarnero at center? It’s something to consider. It would keep the Bears’ line strong, and playing tackle would greatly improve Mack’s draft stock.

Yep yep.  I apologize if you felt like you just read the same paragraph twice.  Apparently, great minds think alike.  Or, at the very least, they use the same research materials, coming to the same conclusions.  Is this what it’s like to grade history essays in high school?

Anyway, I like the gist of this idea.  The Bears would attempt to maximize the talent on the field, sort of like the Yankees switching Alex Rodriguez to third base because they’ve already got Derek Jeter to play shortstop.  Did Cal make such an offer to Mack, inducing him to come back and improve his draft stock?  We can only speculate.

A few recruiting tidbits.

First off, Cal got a commitment from Arizona runningback Covaughn Deboskie (Scout profile; Rivals profile).  He’s rated as a four star recruit by both Scout and Rivals.  He’s about 5′11" to 6′ and approximately 185 pounds.  Deboskie was selected to play in the Army All-American Bowl this past Saturday.  Unfortunately, I missed the game so I can’t really comment on his abilities.  But supposedly he only got like two carries and nothing spectacular happened.  Which doesn’t mean he’s not talented, but just that nothing happened.  I did look at a few of his recruiting videos though.  Here are my thoughts: first off, Deboskie is fast.  He already runs a 4.4 or so, and it shows in his highschool videos.  Once this kid gets a hole he’ll blast right through it and nobody catches up with him.  But I think Deboskie might be more of an in-line runner.  He’s very fast, but his cutting ability isn’t great.  Not to say it’s bad, but he doesn’t quite come off his cuts as sharp and explosively as Marshawn Lynch for example.  And Deboskie isn’t the type of runningback to run you over.  He’s an elusive back, and not a power back.  He makes guys miss.  He’ll run around them, he’ll run faster than them, and he’ll try and cut things back against the grain, but he’s not one to really power through guys.  Overall, Deboskie sort of reminds of Forsett.

Another recent Cal commit is Kendrick Payne, a defensive tackle from Texas (Scout profile; Rivals profile).  He is currently unrated by Scout and Rivals.   He also doesn’t have any film, so I can’t give my thoughts on his film.  Payne chose Cal over Arizona State and is approximately 6′3" and 260 pounds. 

A Cal commitment from about a month ago is also cornerback Kamaron Yancy (Rivals profile).   He is a junior college prospect and about 5′11" 185 pounds.  He does have some film but it’s short, sort of fuzzy, and hard to see.  I couldn’t really conclude much from watching it other than he has a good leaping ability.  He also had a few nice tackles on the runningback breaking to his side of the field, but the wide receivers in the videos didn’t seem to be doing that great of job blocking Yancy. 

Finally, one of our readers asked about Cal’s QB commit.  Cal currently has a commitment from QB Beau Sweeney (Scout profile; Rivals profile).   He’s rated 3 stars by Scout and 4 stars by Rivals.  He stands about 6′1" and about 185-200 pounds.  Size wise, he’s probably about the same size as Kevin Riley although Riley might have grown a bit and put on a little more muscle since he’s been at Cal.  Fortunately for all those Cal fans who like mobile QBs, Sweeney runs a 4.6 40 yard dash time.  Not too shabby.  So after watching his videos, here are my thoughts: first, his speed is an asset.  In his videos, he uses his legs very well to not only escape the collapsing pocket but also run for first downs.  Watching him run sort of reminds me of Levy, except that Levy really brought the wood and Sweeney doesn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, Sweeney will put his head down but Levy never was afraid to hit the defender even though Levy was the ball-carrier.  As for Sweeney’s throwing ability, he didn’t throw a lot of deep balls in his videos so I can’t assess that.  But his accuracy on the short and mid-range throws is very good - even on the run.  He also seems to have very nice clean and efficient footwork.  What does seem a little awkward is his lower body throwing motion though.  Sometimes he seems to really put a lot of his lower body into his throws.  So much to the point where he looks like a baseball pitcher who kicks his back (pushoff) leg up.  Almost like he’s throwing on his front foot.  I mean, I know there is weight transfer when a QB throws, but the timing of the weight transfer doesn’t seem right.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it just looks like his balance isn’t quite in sync with his throwing motion.  Maybe it’s no big deal, but it just doesn’t quite look natural.  Anyways, i think his biggest asset is his running ability, mobility, and accuracy. 

By the way, signing day is only about a month away…