Comments on: Post-practice: Thursday

By: 24zone

24zone — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:07:39 +0000

I’ve been to many of the practices in camp. It was clear that Riley was a bit sharper-more accurate, and most importantly, timely decision making ability. The timing Riley showed reminded some of Aaron Rodgers when he was here. Nate was a bit late on throws.
Simple reason why Nyan isn’t starting(at least not yet-he is very talented) In a scrimmage, about week ago, it was 3rd Down and One yard to go. Nyan catches a one step hitch, and tries to juke the corner. Tackle for loss. He couldn’t get one yard for a first down. He could have fallen forward to get it.

By: James

James — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:31:32 +0000

once again it is a year of taking a chance, especially with the place kicker, and steve a collegiate division 1 kicker should make everything within 30 yrds it is expected, seawright has a big leg and obviously has done something in practices and mock games that is superior to kay. Last year it looked like kay was afraid to kick and his leg strength is really bad, and im pretty sure he missed a big field goal in the oregon state game.

By: Sinbad

Sinbad — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:00:55 +0000

For what it’s worth, Steve, he won’t turn 19 ’til 2009 per the official site….

By: Steve in Concord

Steve in Concord — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:49:57 +0000

Bob #4–

I never said Riley was awful. I said that Joe Ayoob “was good one game and awful the next”.

I’m not sure about the decision to start a freshman placekicker. Kay did pretty well considering that he was not given the job until just a few minutes before kickoff of the Tennessee game. He was perfect on extra points and on field goals within 30 yards. He was inconsistent beyond that range, perhaps leg strength being a factor although I don’t recall any of his kicks falling short. My concern is that placekicking is as much about responding under pressure as it is about mechanics and leg strength. It’s a lot to ask of a 19 year old who has only performed in front of a crowd of a few hundred to make an important kick in front of 70,000+ and a national tv audience. I recall that Tom Schneider was not very good his first year, but improved steadily over his next two seasons. Experience counts for a lot in this position.

By: moreNCsarecoming

moreNCsarecoming — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:31:16 +0000

By naming Riley the starter, I think Cal becomes the primary challenger to USC in the conference. Should be a great showdown on November 8th.

By: James

James — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:29:20 +0000

Riley is the right choice in this situation, it is time that tedford take a chance, instead of being safe. Cal fans are beginning to have doubts as to whether or not tedford is the offense/QB guru he claims to be. It is time that cal move forward past the holiday and mediocre bowls of the pac-10 and the only way to do that is take chances. Riley has shown that he has a great arm, good pocket presence and much more mobility than longshore. Riley is very similar to Rodgers, and lets admit it Longshore is past his prime he is to slow and towards the end of every season beings to throw off his back foot and under throw recievers. I’m looking forward to the rebuilding year at cal, and showing recruits that we are on the upswing and cal is a becoming a place to win.

By: Sinbad

Sinbad — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:30:46 +0000

Dick — Your post and the position it argues together with the Riley decision raise some interesting issues. For starters, it’s now clear that “best guys play” irrespective of tenure, staus, experience or loyalty. Whether it be Longshore or Kay, the presumption had been that the senior guy would get all benefits of the doubt. That presumption no longer applies.

Secondly, it should be clear that despite the best efforts of various reporters, blogs, fansites, etc. (and JO’s is the best I think), there’s a lot more going on than we can know. We know *way* more than we used to be able to know (thanks to Al Gore and the internet he created), but not nearly as much as we think. Re the QB race, an outside observer can see what happens on the practice field, but may not know what is being worked on and emphasized, what play and what coverage was called (and what route was being run), what assignments were blown, etc. Re the kicking game, there was no reporting on who was holding and what adjustments were being suggested/taught. Re all such competitions, we don’t know the mood/views of the locker room and how various players responded to coaching, competing demands and pressure.

I appreciate that we all are passionate about this and have opinions we want to share, especially because the wait ’til the season starts seems like an eternity. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know. I’m very pleased with the “best guys play” message. Beyond that, as the cliche’ goes, in Tedford I trust.

By: Jan K Oski

Jan K Oski — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:13:40 +0000

Dick, It was even in camp according to made and missed kicks, but what about strength of leg? Seawright supposedly has an explosive leg, so was he making field goal kicking look easy, while Kay was just getting the job done? The difference could be decisive in a game. If Seawright is everything that last year’s Scouts.com article said, then Tedford can’t keep that type of talent on the side-line for a year like this one with so many questions. That being said, if he does stumble, we are very fortunate to have a backup like Kay with his experience. Go Bears!

By: Running With The Pac: August 22, Freshman Gonna Have An Impact « Running With The Pac-10

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:31:25 +0000

[...] CA – California head coach Jeff Tedford named his starter, Kevin Riley will start against Michigan State. This means that Nate Longshore will be watching from the sideline, at least for the first few [...]

By: moreNCsarecoming

moreNCsarecoming — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:50:19 +0000

feveredbear Says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 am
Amy doesn’t like the new uniforms?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Never said that. I haven’t seen them and don’t care one way or the other. Great programs with a winning tradition don’t need to change uniforms.