BearTalk

After being nicked up for much of the season, Cal’s Jahvid Best said he finally was feeling pretty healthy down the stretch.

He ended up rushing for 698 yards in the Bears’ final three games.

We now pause to put two and two together.

It appeared the only thing holding Best back from having an even more monster season were the nagging injuries he incurred early on. When you consider he rushed for 1,580 yards despite missing one game and parts of three others, who knows where he might have ended up? As it is, he’s the third-ranked rusher in the country (131.67 ypg). Ball State’s MiQuale Lewis, who is fourth, has a chance to pass Best tonight if he rushes for 144 yards or more against Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl.

(By the way, I don’t know if it was ever officially stated, but Best did indeed win the Pac-10 rushing title. We had to wait for the bowl season to end, and the combination of Best’s 186-yard performance in the Emerald Bowl and Jacquizz Rodgers’ DNP in the Sun Bowl, Best ended up winning the crown by a good margin (Rodgers finished second at 113.9 ypg)

Of course, you can’t discount injuries. A running back needs to stay healthy to truly prove his worth. And questions about Best’s durability were definitely in play when he got to Cal. But some of his 2008 ailments were fluky in nature. He was in and out of the Maryland game after the crushing hit he took from Terps cornerback Kevin Barnes. But that was more the fault of quarterback Kevin Riley than anyone. Riley audibled into a quick screen which clearly wasn’t the right decision. Best was hammered as he tried to catch the ball, then infamously threw up on the field moments later.

And the dislocated elbow he suffered against Colorado State wasn’t a result of him not being durable, just one of those fluky plays where he landed awkwardly, a play that could have been avoided.

Best’s success this year surprised nobody who has watched him practice every day since he’s been at Cal. I’ve probably written this before, but after a couple of days of training camp last year, when he was a freshman, he had observers wowed with his athleticism and ability. And it became clear as a freshman that he was more than just a track star playing football. All one has to do is look at how he played gunner on punt coverage — something he had never done — to see the natural football instincts he has. Best was named All-Pac-10 first team for his work as a gunner.

Backup Shane Vereen had his moments — he actually only had 52 fewer carries than Best — and rushed for 715 yards (55 ypg). He and Best also had 27 catches each, tied for second on the team. When Best missed the Arizona State game because of his elbow injury, Vereen rushed for 93 yards.

Will Ta’ufo’ou established himself as perhaps the best fullback in the Pac-10, leading the way on so many of Best’s big runs. Never was that more apparent than the Emerald Bowl, when he had a couple of key blocks on crucial plays. The graduating Ta’ufo’ou will be one of Cal’s biggest holes to fill on offense next season.

2008 RUNNING BACKS GRADE: A