I'm 53 years old and have been an ardent Cal fan for the past 10 years and a casual fan prior to that.

I'm hard pressed to think of a more talented WR run at Cal than we have had in the past 5 years. The end of the Jeff Tedford may not have produced QB's or RB's, but it sure produced WR recruits at an astonishing level.

Marvin Jones
Keenen Allen

Bryce Treggs
Kenny Lawler
Stephen Anderson
Maurice Harris
Darius Powe
Richard Rogers (TE)
Trevor Davis (not sure if he was a coach Tedford or Coach Dykes recruit/transfer)
Chris Harper

Now add to that list the amazing job Coach Dykes has done at recruiting WR's with superstar (NFL) potential

(Mega talent)

Demetris Robertson
Melquise Stovall
Carlos Strickland

(Great talent)

Brandon Singleton
Greyson Bankhead
Chad Hanson
Jordan Duncan
Kanawai Noa
ect....


None of these may ever rise to DeSean Jackson or Wesley Walker status, but for overall position depth, this is an historic run of WR talent by both Coach Tedford and Coach Dykes.

If I am blatantly missing someone on this list please add them ...

Lastly, I didn't think Coach Dykes could recruit nationally or the west coast at the level Jeff Tedford did, I was 1000 PERCENT wrong, coach Dykes is doing a superb job building something very lasting and special at Cal. I'm very excited about the future of Cal Football. Coach Sonny Dykes is a great leader and coach, Cal is blessed to have him.

Was Rodgers a good wr at cal?

More numbers of receivers since offenses use so many in today's game - but I'll take Wesley Walker and Steve Rivera, Joe Rose over the recent receivers. And while Dykes has done well, until he recruits some excellent defensive talent that shows it on the field, still not fully convinced.

Excellent defensive talent goes to school with elite defensive recruiters. The defense will get better


We have to find underrated guys and develop takes time

Since my first year being a Bear (1988), the best WRs (doesn't include TEs like Tony) I've seen:

1. Desean
2. Sean Dawkins
3. Keenan Allen
4. Brian Treggs
5. Lavelle Hawkins

I'm sure I'm missing someone. Honorable mentions in no particular order: Marvin Jones, Bobby Shaw, Lawler the Baller, Geoff MacArthur, Bryce Treggs, Mike Caldwell, Uwazeoke (sp), Dameane Douglas, Chase Lyman, Jonathan Makkonen and Chris Harper.

Wesley Walker was The Man my senior year. Blind in one eye too. Good career with the Jets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Walker?wprov=sfsi1

KoreAmBear;842711655 said:

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Since my first year being a Bear (1988), the best WRs (doesn't include TEs like Tony) I've seen:

1. Desean
2. Sean Dawkins
3. Keenan Allen
4. Brian Treggs
5. Lavelle Hawkins

I'm sure I'm missing someone. Honorable mentions in no particular order: Marvin Jones, Bobby Shaw, Lawler the Baller, Geoff MacArthur, Bryce Treggs, Mike Caldwell, Uwazeoke (sp), Dameane Douglas, Chase Lyman, Jonathan Makkonen and Chris Harper.

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When healthy, Chase was the best combination of size, speed and strength.

I think the history partly reflects cultural changes.

Although football has seen many great players and units involved in the passing game over the last 50 years, it was primarily a running game for most of that time.
And despite the fact that pure running teams still do better than pure passing teams, on average, RBs can't even get into the early rounds of the NFL draft any more. More often, the talent coming out of HS is moving to WR in college. Look at D. Robertson, who was primarily an RB in HS, recruited as an athlete and then converted to WR at Cal.

These days there are more passing centric programs in major colleges than there are running programs. Increasingly, the running portion is the dual threat QB, who also can pass to 3 or 4 WRs on any given play. This is what gave rise to the Colin Kaepernick's and Cam Newton's. Those guys would not be in the pros if they came out of running programs. You don't see Navy's QB getting drafted, for example.

Now, under Dykes, I think Cal is overdoing it a bit. I would love to trade 4 of our 3 star WRs for 4 3 star LBs, for instance. I'm not sure what it good it does anybody to have Patrick Worstell, Jake Austin and Matt Rockett sitting the bench while walk-ons with legacy names try to fill big gaps at LB.
So, yeah, Cal has the best group of WRs it's ever had under Dykes, going back to JT's last years. But at what cost? The answer to that is the answer to whether or not Dykes can recruit.

I'll say this about Dykes, almost every criticism or concern I have expressed about Cal football under Dykes eventually gets addressed by him. Most recently Dykes let Franklin go and with him the whole vertical blocking idea. Those were 2 things I thought would never change and they did. So, lets be clear, when I make an unfavorable comment about Dykes, it does not necessarily mean that I think Dykes is bad for Cal, although there are times when I lose patience and begin to think that we could do better with someone else. In general, I think Dykes and the football program under him are evolving to where we need to be as a program. I just hope he doesn't take forever to replace the coaches that still need to be replaced.

As I mentioned in another thread I believe our WR corps is better than most NFL teams.

Not so much, but had NFL qualities for his position..................

ducky23;842711661 said:

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When healthy, Chase was the best combination of size, speed and strength.

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There was that game against Oregon State in '04. IIRC - 5 catches for 175 yards. Unstoppable that day. Pretty good bowl game against VA Tech. I was intoxicated and do not remember that bowl game as clearly.

Geoff McArthur, DeSean, Keenan, Lyman playing in this system w/ Goff last year :beer:

goldenokiebear;842711649 said:

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More numbers of receivers since offenses use so many in today's game - but I'll take Wesley Walker and Steve Rivera, Joe Rose over the recent receivers. And while Dykes has done well, until he recruits some excellent defensive talent that shows it on the field, still not fully convinced.

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What in the world does Sonny recruiting defensive talent have to do with the topic of the thread?

Its hard to make any judgments until this group gets on the field and produces. Talent certainly is there but its unfair to compare incoming freshman to our past alumni that have already shown what they can do in game situations.

I think you need to include some big receivers like Tony Gonzalez, Wayne Stewart, Steve Rivera, Wes Walker and Sean Dawkins.

stanfurdbites;842711754 said:

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What in the world does Sonny recruiting defensive talent have to do with the topic of the thread?

Its hard to make any judgments until this group gets on the field and produces. Talent certainly is there but its unfair to compare incoming freshman to our past alumni that have already shown what they can do in game situations.

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Probably nothing to the topic, but the OP said this:
"Lastly, I didn't think Coach Dykes could recruit nationally or the west coast at the level Jeff Tedford did, I was 1000 PERCENT wrong, coach Dykes is doing a superb job building something very lasting and special at Cal. I'm very excited about the future of Cal Football. Coach Sonny Dykes is a great leader and coach, Cal is blessed to have him."

So, that's what defense has to do with this thread - the OP gushed about recruiting, building something amazing, etc. Last time I checked, defense has a little bit to do with the future and success of Cal football, so I made my comment in regards to the original post, not just the thread title.

ducky23;842711661 said:

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When healthy, Chase was the best combination of size, speed and strength.

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I don't recall his being a jumper.

[video=youtube;-kJaVLmkXVo][/video]

goldenokiebear;842711760 said:

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Probably nothing to the topic, but the OP said this:
"Lastly, I didn't think Coach Dykes could recruit nationally or the west coast at the level Jeff Tedford did, I was 1000 PERCENT wrong, coach Dykes is doing a superb job building something very lasting and special at Cal. I'm very excited about the future of Cal Football. Coach Sonny Dykes is a great leader and coach, Cal is blessed to have him."

So, that's what defense has to do with this thread - the OP gushed about recruiting, building something amazing, etc. Last time I checked, defense has a little bit to do with the future and success of Cal football, so I made my comment in regards to the original post, not just the thread title.

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yep...I would have responded the same way if you hadn't.

okaydo;842711778 said:

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[video=youtube;-kJaVLmkXVo][/video]

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Love this kid

bearblast;842711635 said:

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Wesley Walker

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I know you mentioned Walker in passing as being out of your time window, but newbies really have strong competition if any of them want to rank with Cal's top receivers.

RJABear;842711697 said:

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There was that game against Oregon State in '04. IIRC - 5 catches for 175 yards. Unstoppable that day. Pretty good bowl game against VA Tech. I was intoxicated and do not remember that bowl game as clearly.

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Yep, I was at the Or State game in 2004. Lyman was awesome, so was Rodgers. And freshman Marshawn ran back a kickoff bout 80 yards. Fun game for Cal fans.

I've watched Cal football since 1964 so I've probably forgotten more receivers than I can remember. But I will definitely vouch for Wesley Walker. He had sprinter's speed and the long bombs from Roth were things of beauty. He had a distinguished NFL career with only one eye. Try catching a pass with no depth perception. There have been many good and some great receivers over that 50 year period but the difference now is that the offense requires more and Cal has during the Dykes years stockpiled many good and perhaps some great ones. Where would they have played in the past? Defensive backs would be my guess. And no, I cannot or will not name the best over that period, not that it would matter. I'm looking forward to seeing the current group.

Some names from the past:

Michael Buggs
Floyd Eddings
Matt Bouza
Vince Delgado
Mariet Ford
Jesse Thompson
Andy Bark
James Devers
David Lewis - TE
George Freitas - TE
Na'il Benjamin
Robert Jordan
Wayne Stewart
Vinnie Strang
Rance McDuggal
Holden Smith

run2win;842712347 said:

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Some names from the past:

Michael Buggs
Floyd Eddings
Matt Bouza
Vince Delgado
Mariet Ford
Jesse Thompson
Andy Bark
James Devers
David Lewis - TE
George Freitas - TE
Na'il Benjamin
Robert Jordan
Wayne Stewart
Vinnie Strang
Rance McDuggal
Holden Smith

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Rance I was wondering when his name was going to be mentioned. Also Mike Ford when having 6'2" guys with legit 4.5 speed was rare.And iheanyi uwaezuoke another favorite of mine who became a niner for a while.

upsetof86;842712438 said:

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Rance I was wondering when his name was going to be mentioned. Also Mike Ford when having 6'2" guys with legit 4.5 speed was rare.And iheanyi uwaezuoke another favorite of mine who became a niner for a while.

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Mike Ford. Good add.

I'd add Steve Sweeney to the list. He had at least 2 game winning catches on the last play of the game, and several others that set up the winning score.

Jeremy Ross has had a pretty good NFL career so far...

Yep, another good add and someone I forgot.

Decent career but not really known for his hands.

Cal WR Corp ranked #10 out of 12 in the Pac 12 by objective source ESPN.

hanky1;842715217 said:

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Cal WR Corp ranked #10 out of 12 in the Pac 12 by objective source ESPN.

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Can't blame them. No one is proven.

cbadbear;842713195 said:

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Jeremy Ross has had a pretty good NFL career so far...

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[video=youtube;U6NzwlKprV8][/video]

hanky1;842715217 said:

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Cal WR Corp ranked #10 out of 12 in the Pac 12 by objective source ESPN.

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Saw that too - was surprised at low ranking even if not proven yet. Hope they feel compelled to update it a couple games into the season.

hanky1;842715217 said:

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Cal WR Corp ranked #10 out of 12 in the Pac 12 by objective source ESPN.

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sure. if the only consideration was ESPN's own whacked out recruiting rankings.