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Football: The magazines
By Jonathan Okanes
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 3:06 pm in Football, off-season stuff.
A couple of things I didn’t get to before vacation, and this is one of them: The preseason college football publications have been out for awhile. Here is a rundown of how Cal is being perceived nationally:
ATHLON
–Cal is picked 7th in the Pac-10.
–Cal is ranked 41st in the country.
–In the Pac-10, Cal is rated as having the No. 6 quarterbacks, No. 4 running backs, No. 7 wide receivers/tight ends, No. 6 offensive line, No. 7 defensive line, No. 3 linebackers and No. 8 defensive backs.
–Cal is picked as having the 12th-best recruiting class in the country.
–Linebackers Chris Martin and Cecil Whiteside and wide receiver/defensive back Keenan Allen are all rated among the top 100 recruits in the nation.
–Austin Hinder is rated as the No. 11 quarterback recruit in the country.
–Martin is rated as the No. 4 defensive end recruit in the country (he is projected as a linebacker, however).
–Whiteside is rated as the No. 8 linebacker recruit in the country.
–Nick Forbes is rated as the No. 14 linebacker recruit in the country.
–Dave Wilkerson is rated as the No. 16 linebacker recruit in the country.
–Allen is rated as the No. 2 athlete recruit in the country.
–Cal commit Mustafa Jalil is rated among the top defensive tackles in the 2011 class.
–Cal’s Sept. 25 game at Arizona is rated as one of the Pac-10′s key games this season.
–Linebacker Mike Mohamed and punter Bryan Anger are picked as All-Pac-10 first team selections. Running back Shane Vereen, offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz and defensive end Cameron Jordan were picked to the second team while wide receiver Marvin Jones, tight end Anthony Miller, safety Sean Cattouse and wide receiver Jeremy Ross were each selected to the third team.
–Center Alex Mack and wide receiver DeSean Jackson were picked to the Pac-10′s all-decade team.
–The Bears are projected to play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Fresno State.
–In a feature called “Scouting the Golden Bears” in which Athlon quotes unnamed Pac-10 assistant coaches, it was said that “The Bears have really been a hard team to figure out. Jeff Tedford is as good as any coach in the league, but they seem to be getting less out of their talent the last couple of seasons.”
–Cornerback Steve Williams was selected as Cal’s “Rising Star.”:
**FULL DISCLOSURE: I do Athlon’s season-preview for Cal, but I am not involved predicting where they will finish or with any of the other rankings. I did pick Williams as Cal’s rising star, however.
SPORTING NEWS
–Cal is picked 8th in the Pac-10.
–Martin is picked as the Pac-10′s top impact freshman.
–Cornerback Darian Hagan was selected as the Pac-10′s biggest underacheiver.
–Cal was picked as the Pac-10 team that is “descending” this year.
–Anger, Cattouse and Miller were picked to the All-Pac-10 team (only one team was selected).
–Jordan is picked as Cal’s “Next Big Thing.”
–Cal is picked as having the No. 3 recruiting class in the Pac-10.
–Jalil is listed among the 100 players to watch in the class of 2011.
LINDY’S
–Cal is picked to finish 7th in the Pac-10.
–Cal is ranked 43rd in the country.
–Vereen is ranked as the No. 18 running back in the country.
–Mohamed is listed as the No. 5 inside linebacker in the country.
–Anger is listed as the No. 5 punter in the country.
–Cal has the No. 11 recruiting class nationally.
–Martin is ranked as the No. 18 defensive end recruit (not listed at linebacker)
–Gabe King is ranked as the No. 30 defensive end recruit.
–Cecil Whiteside is ranked as the No. 38 linebacker recruit.
–Allen is ranked as the No. 5 defensive back recruit (Cal plans on using him primarily at wide receiver).
–Jalil is listed among the top defensive tackles in the class of 2011.
–Cal is ranked as having the No. 2 linebacker class in the country.
–Cal is ranked as having the No. 6 defensive end class in the country (that likely includes Martin as a defensive end).
–Cal is ranked as having the No. 10 defensive back class in the country (that likely includes Allen as a defensive back).
–Miller, Cattouse, Mohamed and Anger are all listed on the All-Pac-10 first team.
–Vereen, Schwartz and Jordan are on the All-Pac-10 second team.
–Cal’s game at USC, at Oregon State, vs. Oregon and vs. Stanford are all listed as games to watch in the Pac-10 this season.
–Jordan is ranked as the eighth-best NFL talent in the Pac-10.
–Cal is listed as having the No. 3 recruiting class in the Pac-10.
–Martin is listed as the Pac-10′s top newcomer.
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June 30th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Anything from Phil Steele?
June 30th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I have Phill Steele’s mag at my house. I think he had us tied for 3rd with Arizona.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Going from being taken too seriously and collecting high pre-season rankings to little or no media expectations has to be better place to start this season. Let the score board do the talking. I told myself not to get too caught up this year, but this team looks to have great potential. It’s One Team where the sum of the parts will make the difference, not individual rankings.
We should, however, be ranked #1 in one category…, best rapper in the Pac10.
Hey they will be fun to watch.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:25 am
as much as i relish the possibility that Cal may not have to deal with high expectations and all, i have two things to say about that. First, thanks to a rather easy first few games even if we start the season with no ranking chances are we will crack the top 25 ranking if we those games and booyaaa there goes the hype/expectations/possible letdowns…. Second, what does it say about us as fans and a program, if this perspective also applies to people directly involved (coaches, administrators, players…) that we seem quite OK with the above rather lowly perception of our program nationally???? If we like to think that we have made the transformation from a mediocre bottom dwelling losing program to a winning kind, shouldn’t we always expect that and nothing less? And that should anyone think otherwise, be offended?
July 1st, 2010 at 7:29 am
For the past three years my predictions have been spot on. I refused to buy the hype of the national media. Now 3 years late to the party the national media has finally woken up. Even though this program spends the second most amount of money of all Pac 10 teams it still falls woefully short of expectations. No Rose Bowl, no Heismans, No outright Pac 10 championsips, No BCS and with many of the teams improving it looks like Cal state goes back to the bottom third.
That’s OK. This board will still be an never ending hole of anti-USC comments.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:46 am
i think the 7th pick is a pretty fair assessment going into the season. hopefully it will light a fire under their behinds. u$c will finish last, because none of their games count this year, or next. it’ll be funny to see all the empty seats at the coliseum, and to hear the toejams try to rationalize that it’s because of a tough economy. cheat on!
July 1st, 2010 at 8:00 am
I have no problem with USC, heck their baseball team just won the NCAA championship. I think Steve Spurrier is quite the football coach.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:35 am
For the past 7 years my predictions have been spot on. I refused to buy the hype of the national media. Now 3 years late to the party the national media has finally woken up. USC has been cheating this whole time and we were right. I’m finally glad its official that they have cheated enough in this decade to have their wins vacated, have a 2 year bowl ban and 30 scholarship reduction. It’s easy to win when you cheat, let’s see how they do when it’s even.
That’s OK. This board will still be an never ending hole of anti-CAL comments.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:38 am
And, the blatant lying continues in the south lands…
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/10849/report-henderson-might-spurn-usc-for-miami
July 1st, 2010 at 11:08 am
sounds like henderson could sue u$c and/or the ncaa for the right to play somewhere else. they should nullify his letter of intent as it was signed under false pretenses. of course lane kiffin lied. why not?
July 1st, 2010 at 11:53 am
Seems to me that the various preseason rankings usually turn out to be more wrong than right most of the time. The problem is, if a team starts out with a high p.s. ranking and win its’ OOC games, it moves up in the rankings to levels that, many times, are not sustainable or justified. I think that, for a team like Cal, its better to start with a lower p.s. ranking and move up according to its record and stats rather than the pre season hype. At least, I hope that is the way it will work this year.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Well lads, there’s two sides to the coin.
Honestly, the Bears under-preformed last year. The D really slacked and didn’t meet expectations. Of course there’s passing game issues, inconsistent play from QB and WR. I think Cal fans have to realize from a national pundit/hack POV, Cal flopped.
Of course the football pundits are often idiots, so it goes. On the other side, *IF* the Bears address the passing game and D and they come to play, Cal can do quite well.
From my perspective I’m not drinking the kool-aid one way or the other, positive or negative. I believe Cal has a good chance at good season and even a chance to win the Pac-10 **IF** things break right.
My guess is 10-2 (7-2 in conference) could win the conference. We just have to wait and see what happens.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:32 pm
+1 Milo, you either drink the kool-aid and enjoy the game day atmosphere, or you complain all game or on the internet drive other fans to laugh at you. Is there really any alternative? I prefer to drink the kool-aid ever summer! Here’s to a NC in 2010!
July 1st, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Hey man, everybody is undefeated in July! Roll with it.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:19 pm
“…No Rose Bowl” Yeah, thanks to a cheating U$C in 2004 we would have gone to at least 1 Rose Bowl! Damn you cheating Trojans!
July 1st, 2010 at 11:20 pm
“That’s OK. This board will still be an never ending hole of anti-USC comments.”
Um yeah, this is a CAL board and not a U$C board, what did you expect?
July 1st, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Everybody outside of South Central hates U$C, besides poser fans who love to ride the bandwagon because they need to feel like they are a part of something larger then their sad and lonely pathetic selves.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Larry Says:
July 1st, 2010 at 11:20 pm
“That’s OK. This board will still be an never ending hole of anti-USC comments.”
Um yeah, this is a CAL board and not a U$C board, what did you expect?
______________________________________________________
From the beginning of my introduction to this board, I expected there to be a more intelligent awareness of college football. To my disappointment I don’t find that true even when it comes to your own program. When you lose a game, I read some of the funniest rants. So now with my expectations lowered I come here 1) to raise the level of the board’s intelligence and broaden its depth of college football; 2) to keep lies, rumors and innuendos about USC from getting out of control; 3) to find occasional laughter and levity when the board melts down after yet another disappointing season.
July 2nd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Moron, your post is nothing but a big lie and you seem to have a deep seated need to flatter yourself. The facts: (1) You do nothing to raise the level of the board’s intelligence or broaden it’s depth of college football, whatever that means. Your incessant trash talk only lowers the level of discourse here and you contribute nothing to any broad discussion of college football; (2) If you were really concerned about lies, rumors and innuendos about the u. of sleazy cheaters you would simply leave. Your presence here only exacerbates the anti south central sentiment that is posted here and, in any event, your contributions, such that they are, to this board do nothing to dispel or control them; and (3) you only find laughter at your own psychotic and completely over the top fixation with talking trash about a school that refused to admit you because you did not qualify.
In short, your so-called justification for spending such an inordinately large portion of your life being a major hemorrhoid to Cal athletics fans ls not only a pure figment of your imagination, it is completely laughable.
July 2nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I just archived your last 7 posts BlueNGold. 6 were responses to me and only 1 was marginally about football. You just proved my point. Now who is laughable?
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Sanctions, oh sanctions. Shame, shame, shame.
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:47 am
C’mon girls and boys. Get over it and talk football.
I believe the perception of Cal being 7/8 in the PAC-10 is a result of the QB situation and last year’s impotent pass defense.
There’s not much that can be done about the QB situation until next year; but, let’s hope the new defensive coordinator can get some results with the pass defense.
July 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Calduke- I think you should add last year’s O line to that list. They did not give any of the QB’s much protection. Hopefully this year’s addition will be a big improvement.
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
JO conveniently left out this magazine.
http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2010-07-03/college-football-countdown-no-62-california
July 3rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
When will the posters on this board address the problem with your unimaginative offensive schemes. Tedford’s offense is boring and predictable. Just ask the Oregon players.
July 3rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Mr. Moron this is not a board. It’s for comments to articles written by the two scribes. The fact is Mr. Moron is that you have been banned by the two CAL boards, CAL Sports Digest and The Bear Insider.Quite frankly I don’t care if you post your comments here or not. They’re as worthless as a three dollar bill!
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Morencumming likes negative attention- probably from being sexually abused so the meaner you are to him the more he likes it.
Where I live I hear more about UT Football, so was surprised to see Cal expected to finish so low in the Pac 10. My son starts UT Honors this fall – and will be a senior when Cal comes down to play UT.
July 5th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Moron must not have actually read the Matt Hayes article. He says some positive things, and those which are not so positive are things well known to and thoroughly discussed by posters to this blog. Too bad moron is so obsessed and fixated on getting back at the school that rejected it that it could not figure that out.
July 5th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
J O
Please hurry back. We are out of control.
July 5th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Hey Moron…U$C just took it up the butt from the NCAA and they made them whine like a child molester in the pen…sorta like OJ. Yeah, the NCAA has a really BIG one. Next up, the Pac-10 donkey punches $C. bahahaha
Okay ANG…you lads really need to add the “ignore user” function to this blog. If you guys did that, you’d get 4x the posts and even more hits.
July 5th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Classy post Milo. More like yours to the tune of 4x would really set apart this blog and make it more popular.
July 5th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
MoreNC –
I’ve seen your posts, you say that you bring insights and analysis. Actually, I don’t think I’v ever seen anything of note.
Perhaps, you should change your handle to “merepeattheobvious” because you seem to do quite well regurgitating the obvious. Just about everything you say has been repeated, is heresy, old news, and just frankly meant to piss people off. Seriously, your insights are about as good as saying that Lebron might sign with the Klippers, Nets, Knicks, Bulls, or even with the Cavs.
The “real” USC fans that I know are pretty decent people, heck I even play golf with them. One of them is a pretty big-time supporter and told me that it was pretty obvious that they had some issues. It’s the wanna be crowd like yourself that is really pathetic when it comes to repeating the obvious and drinking the Kool-Aid.
So, go call up your contact, meet him by the bus, offer to meet a Cal fan, or whatever it is that you do to get your “insightful” drivel.
July 6th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Ignore MoreNCS. It lives for the engagement. Download the GreaseMonkey script for FireFox (didn’t try it for IE) and be free forever.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/58785
July 6th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
If I download GreaseMonkey will it block all of MoreNCS and those who are communicating with MoreNCS?
July 6th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
U$C has released/lost 2011 super-prep recruit
Seantrel Henderson.
It pains me to say this, but, U$C will be better off with him gone.
July 6th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
It will just block MoreNCS. You still see the people that are responding, but you will no longer care since you won’t have seen the original post.
July 7th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Grease Monkey ALL DAY long.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?
If a lost troll (does Berkeley look like South Central?) comes out of it’s hole to post something negative, classless, mindless, morenic, etc. and can I see or hear said troll… did they actually say anything? I don’t know since Grease Monkey is the greatest thing since sliced bread… hahahahahahahahah
July 7th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
covinared Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Sanctions, oh sanctions. Shame, shame, shame.
_____________________________________________________
By now enlightened college fans would be able to sniff out the conspiracy. The 10 man committee which passed out these sanctions is comprised of a Domer, a Nebraska guy, a couple of SEC guys and headed up by a former Miami AD. What kind of evidence do they have? A 2 minute phone call between one of our coaches and a rogue wannabe agent. If this was anyone other than us there would not have been the sanctions.
July 7th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Sure, moron, its all a big conspiracy against ‘us’. Never mind that most sports writers (apart from the LA homers, of course) think the sanctions were justified. Never mind that the u. of sleazy cheaters itself admits that the rules were violated, just not so badly that meaningful punishment was deserved. Never mind that running a clean program means making sure that any appearances of unethical behavior do not take place. Never mind that the sanctions handed down are in line with others recently imposed by the NCAA against other schools. Never mind that you continue to be clueless and in serious denial about ‘your’ school (not that anyone here agrees that it is, in fact, ‘yours’, of course). All the sanctions in the world will not change that.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
I have no idea what the conversation is…..and loving it.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Conspiracy? BAhahahaha…yeah right, OJ is innocent and Reggie Bush didn’t free stuff and Mayo didn’t get cash.
Right…and there’s two (2) large bridges near me that you can have for only $5,000 bucks.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:19 am
Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo are guilty. That’s the point. THEY are guilty.
OJ is guilty too. So is Robert Rozier. So is Marriet Ford. What’s your point again?
BTW Byron Moore is transferring to Harbor JC. I thought I would post the news and save the rest of you from tripping over the other to see who would post it first.
July 8th, 2010 at 8:04 am
The hole the u. of sleazy cheaters athletic dept. is digging keeps getting deeper:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/07/07/sports/s140043D05.DTL
July 8th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Blue and Gold: who are the LA homers besides the daily trojan staff?
July 8th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Covinared- I am not a regular reader of the LA media, sports or otherwise. I made that comment on the assumption that at least some of the local writers had taken up the trojans’ defense by supporting their position regarding the severity of the sanctions. None of the national writers I have read have done so, however. If you are in SoCal, you probably have better information. If so, feel free to share it.
July 8th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Based on all the coverage I’ve read, you assumed wrong.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I will defer to you, Covinared.
July 8th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Let me be the first to break this news so that none of you break your fingers attempting to be the first. Read the link carefully.
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5365906
July 9th, 2010 at 8:14 am
Another trojan jumps ship. This is what happens when football players sign with a school because of its reputation as an NFL incubator in order to bolster their pro football resumes. I wonder how many others will be heading for the exit now that the u; of sleazy cheaters will not be included in the coaches and bcs polls during the suspension?
July 9th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
The reason why you have fewer transfers is because no one really wants your second string players. If they can’t play first string with you guys why bother with them. OTOH second and third string players at USC get drafted regardless (i.e. Thomas Williams) and some even star in the next level (i.e. Matt Cassel). Anthony Munoz didn’t even play his senior year because of injury and was drafted in the first round on his way to an NFL HOF career.
July 9th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Oh my, $C is purging football players like a model throwing up before a show.
July 9th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Its amazing what a football factory can do for its apprentices.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
It sucks when the only thing your football program is known for is that “lateral” play. Unfortunately it no longer ranks as the best play in college football.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
To 2x Gldn
Thank you for the info on Grease Monkey. I am giving it some thought.
Several times in the past individuals have asked JO to ban MoreNC, but, it hasn’t happen. I suspect one reason is that there are so many ‘posters’ here that seem to enjoy corresponding and exchanging ideas with MoreNC. If JO banned MoreNC, this would prevent the interaction of many of the posters.
The responses to MoreNC are extremely negative and seem to indicate a strong distaste for MoreNC; yet, they don’t enable Grease Monkey to block. Responding to MoreNC has become entertainment to many of the posters on this site and their comments dominate the comment sections.
If these many posters have such negative feelings about MoreNC why haven’t they enabled Grease Monkey.
If I choose to enable Grease Monkey I will still have to navigate through all these comments to MoreNC just to find something related to Cal Football
July 10th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Sanctions hurt us badly. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/409518-usc-trojans-recruiting-2011-commit-cody-kessler
Just remember – for every second and third stringer that transfers we have an opening for another recuit. It is as easy as spelling M-O-A-L-A?
July 10th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Actually Moron, given the 30 schollies taken away, $C will NOT have room for all the recruits you like. $C will be taking a knee and a kick to the groin.
p.s. For you mental health and interwebs types, do a search on “internet asperger syndrome”, I think that describes Moron pretty well…i.e, she/he is semi-retarded.
July 10th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Has the 13 year old QB withdrawn his commit yet?
July 11th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Clowning MoreNC’s is fun.
It feels better with some slap on the wrist punishment finally being handed down to $c, even if it is 6 years late. Seems the NCAA wanted to milk Carroll’s cash cow as long as possible.
Paying back $34 million (plus interest) for the stolen BCS bids would be justice.
Maybe the admins can correct its screenname to 1NCisComingAfter2012IfAnyRecruitsStay.
It does make a good point though. Reggie Bush is guilty, where is the NFL’s Big Ben style suspension of Bush for “bad decisions”?
July 11th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/07/usc-apologizes-for-story-accusing-alabama-florida-of-contacting-dillon-baxter/1
Dillon Baxter will fit right in! Here’s the best part of the article:
“Baxter, who ran for 2,984 yards on 261 carries last season in high school, has drawn comparisons to Reggie Bush”
…I think the comparisons extend beyond on field performance LOL
July 12th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Yes, Reggie Bush is guilty. He deserves to have his Heisman trophy stripped away. But that does not, in itself, mean the athletic dept. is blameless, or does not deserve the sanctions that were imposed.
It is unfortunate that the impact of sanctions of this nature fall upon players who were not involved in the activities that led to the sanctions being imposed. But that is the nature of this sort of punishment. Same thing happened at Cal when sanctions were imposed after the Bozemen debacle.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
The article below is not particularly germane to the topic of this thread, but its subject is one that merits discussion among the Cal athletics community, and this blog does not allow us common folk to start new discussions, so here it is:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_15498394
July 12th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
BNG: Please avoid intellectual topics and focus on usc and moren.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
BNG Pleasssssssssssse!!
Do not incorporate any Cal Bear’s sports related items
on this site.
Focus – Man – Focus