BGGB2;315920 said:

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Is Bridgford getting any looks at all this Spring? Or is he still recovering from injuries? Thinking ahead to 2011, if Brock and Beau are not showing enough development to push Riley now, then I hope Bridgford or Hinder would be ready to seize the reins by then.

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Bridgford is out of spring practice while he recovers from shoulder surgery. He is projected to be back in the summer.

BGGB2;315920 said:

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I have high hopes for Keenan Allen, but it's asking a lot to count on a true frosh to step right in at WR. I guess Julio Jones did pretty well a couple of years ago for 'Bama. But IIRC, even D-Jax and Hawkins did not set the world on fire their first year on the field at Cal (esp. Hawk, who also had the experience from being a soph transfer).

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There are 5 receivers in this class. Keenan Allen, Tevin Carter, Kaelin Clay, Terrance Motgomery, and JUCO transfer Coleman Edmunds.

While you can never count on freshman to produce immediately, and I'm sure some of those guys will redshirt, I would imagine they will get some production from some of them -- particularly Edmunds as a JUCO transfer.

Don't forget Zach Maynard for 2011. He has already thrown for 3,000 in a season.

Also, I wonder if you go back over the years and look at top 10 recruits who were running backs or receivers. My guess is that quite a few probably did some damage as freshmen. I don't expect 100 receptions from him, but I think he will definitely get the attention of the defense. Together with Marvin Jones and Anthony Miller I think that could be tough for a defense to manage.

GoCal80;315949 said:

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A meteoric rise in his first years at Cal, the thrilling Aaron Rogers era, then a series of underachieving teams with some amazing talent (Lynch, Jackson, Hawkins, etc) but a lack of something - heart? coaching? chemistry?

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You're forgetting "depth". But yeah, last year's losses showed something disturbing that we hadn't seen before, with pretty much every loss being a blowout, something Tedford teams simply didn't do previously.

drunkoski;315983 said:

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I'm virtually never wrong. No one is perfect. And yes high expectations have been proven to be ridiculous for many straight tedford seasons.

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BS, true, and true. Hell, two outta three ain't bad .

WR is definitely a position at which a first year player can star. Much like RB, the position lends itself to guys with great physical skills and FB instincts. I expect at least one of the newbies to be a major contributor at the position in the fall.

59bear;316020 said:

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WR is definitely a position at which a first year player can star. Much like RB, the position lends itself to guys with great physical skills and FB instincts. I expect at least one of the newbies to be a major contributor at the position in the fall.

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The crazy speed has to be respected and opens up space for others as well! Allen is a stud. Carter at 6-3 with those wheels? He contributes just by scaring the other teams' DC and cornerbacks!

59bear;316020 said:

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WR is definitely a position at which a first year player can star. Much like RB, the position lends itself to guys with great physical skills and FB instincts. I expect at least one of the newbies to be a major contributor at the position in the fall.

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True in theory, but if you look at Cal and the Pac 10 as a whole, the evidence says otherwise. Since Tedford's been at Cal, only two Cal WRs have even exceeded 20 catches as freshman: Jordan in 2004 with 29, 332, 2 TDs, and Jackson in 2005 with 38, 601, 7 TDs. And I think it is safe to say only one of those two was what you call an "impact" player.

Similarly, look around the Pac 10. The only freshmen who have been consistent, impact receivers in the Pac 10 last 10 years are Dwayne Jarrett and Mike Williams. A distant second would be the freshman seasons of DeSean Jackson and Mike Thomas (UofA), neither of which were in the same zip code as Jarrett and Williams. After that, the dropoff is even steeper.

It is actually a notoriously difficult position for freshman to make in impact in. Same goes for rookies in the NFL.

drunkoski;315983 said:

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I'm virtually never wrong. No one is perfect. And yes high expectations have been proven to be ridiculous for many straight tedford seasons.

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You're amazing. You said tell me when I'm wrong (which I declined to do out of laziness and apathy). Others pointed out times when you were wrong -- so now you're "virtually" never wrong?

I hope you work in politics.

drunkoski;316059 said:

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Others pointed out one example. Considering my 10,000 posts i'd say that is a pretty darn good track record. i'd bet good money you can't say the same.

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I am proud to say I am also "virtually" never wrong. How much you want to bet?

drunkoski;316059 said:

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Others pointed out one example. Considering my 10,000 posts i'd say that is a pretty darn good track record. i'd bet good money you can't say the same.

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selective amnesia at work....

drunkoski;316059 said:

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Others pointed out one example. Considering my 10,000 posts i'd say that is a pretty darn good track record. i'd bet good money you can't say the same.

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I think you're right very frequently, but don't be silly, you miss a lot too. Here's one example: you were completely wrong about Oregon last year.

Please don't deny it and make me go back into the archives to pull out the dozens of posts you made about them being soft after the BSU debacle.

Here are just a few undeniable tidbits ...

drunkoski;189131 said:

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turnovers and special teams tds are the only way we lose this game.

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You said that before we got disemboweled by Oregon. We lost despite having the turnover and special teams edge early on.

drunkoski;187857 said:

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oregon has been the very definition of a soft spread team. they got physically dominated by boise state for christ sake

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They sure didn't seem soft against the Pac-10.

And ... wait for it ... my personal favorite below. You started a thread titled "Let's face it we are a horrible matchup for oregon"

drunkoski;185061 said:

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1) the key to their team is their running game and our run defense has been excellent all season (though we haven't played a decent running team yet)

2) our pass D has showed weakness, but masoli has yet to have proven he can pass at all

3) our speed on D gives the spread problems

4) gregory has shut down oregon's offense since tedford arrived. even when we had mediocre/lousy defenses and they had elite offenses.

5) their dline is the weakness of the team and we have a great running game

Now i'm not saying we can't lose, but baring a bunch of turnovers i don't see a cal loss here.

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SDGldnBear;316035 said:

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True in theory, but if you look at Cal and the Pac 10 as a whole, the evidence says otherwise. Since Tedford's been at Cal, only two Cal WRs have even exceeded 20 catches as freshman: Jordan in 2004 with 29, 332, 2 TDs, and Jackson in 2005 with 38, 601, 7 TDs. And I think it is safe to say only one of those two was what you call an "impact" player.

Similarly, look around the Pac 10. The only freshmen who have been consistent, impact receivers in the Pac 10 last 10 years are Dwayne Jarrett and Mike Williams. A distant second would be the freshman seasons of DeSean Jackson and Mike Thomas (UofA), neither of which were in the same zip code as Jarrett and Williams. After that, the dropoff is even steeper.

It is actually a notoriously difficult position for freshman to make in impact in. Same goes for rookies in the NFL.

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The challenge for "true freshman" WRs is that they have to adjust to the speed of the college game, learn the offense and how to run their routes and, most importantly, get in-sync with their QB, all in only a few weeks of fall camp.

drunkoski;316078 said:

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you are correct. many times i am definetly too optomistic.

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How does that explain you being wrong about the big game this year? You thought we were going to get blown out.

drunkoski;221655 said:

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we better be in a holiday bowl or better in 2010 or 2011 or he should be fired. for christ sake, the furd is better than us this year. thye might blow us out in big game. when the hell is that acceptable?

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You even were wrong about predicting how you would feel. You said the following:

drunkoski;221863 said:

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if we go 8-4 even i wouldn't be calling for his head, but that seems extremely unlikely.

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and you still called for Tedford's head (granted you may have felt differently if we won the bowl game).


Also, had this nice tidbit about Toby Gerhart from the start of the season:

drunkoski;161876 said:

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i predict gerhart wont run for 1,000 yards this season. the loss of that oline coach will be a big factor and gerhart benefited considerably from that.

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This is a fun drill and has kept me occupied while on a long boring conference call.

I'm just raking you over the coals a bit. I've been wrong as much as anyone, it's the nature of sports for teams to perform other than as expected.

drunkoski;316093 said:

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it's the only time i've said we'd get blown out. i've said we would beat a lot of people we havent'. forgive me for thinking too highly of tedford most of the time.

i wasnt' calling for his head until we got our arse handed to us by utah.

obvously i am poor at predicting things about stanfurd.

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drunkoski;316093 said:

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it's the only time i've said we'd get blown out. i've said we would beat a lot of people we havent'. forgive me for thinking too highly of tedford most of the time.

i wasnt' calling for his head until we got our arse handed to us by utah.

obvously i am poor at predicting things about stanfurd.

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It's okay to be wrong (hey, I thought we would beat Oregon too), but making statements like "I am almost never wrong" just begs for the kind of nitpicking that Unit2 is doing.

drunkoski;316101 said:

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my season predictions have been pretty accurate over the years. anyone who follows my pick against the line threads will tell you picking individual games isn't my forte.

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You have only yourself to blame for this one, drunk, unless of course you intended to coax someone into wasting a bunch of time looking up every single post you've put up for the past year. In which case, bravo, sir, cuz that's just wicked! :beer:

You were one of the many voices here using the defection of WR recruits to Fresno and elsewhere as further evidence of Tedford's short comings as a coach. Players don't want to play for him, or words to that effect. I refuse to search for evidence because I have a life.

And I am right all the fracking time!



















Except when I am wrong.

OzoneTheCat;316106 said:

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You have only yourself to blame for this one, drunk, unless of course you intended to coax someone into wasting a bunch of time looking up every single post you've put up for the past year. In which case, bravo, sir, cuz that's just wicked! :beer:

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Wait, you think drunk might like this attention and enjoy things being about him?:confused:

89Bear;316127 said:

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Wait, you think drunk might like this attention and enjoy things being about him?:confused:

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Methinks he doth protest too much....verily.