Golden Nuggets: More Info On Best

JO had a longer than usual Sunday night update focusing mostly on Best.  Holley, a fifth-year senior who is working on a thesis on cognitive dysfunction in football players, has some comments after the jump.  DeBoskie also has a few comments after the jump.

Tedford also talked with Best by phone today, and said he was "just fine, communicating, seemed to be much more alert." Teammates Shane Vereen and Brian Holley exchanged text messages with Best today and said Best reassured them that he was doing well.

"He just said, ‘I’m doing good. I feel a lot better this morning.’ That was about it," Vereen said. "That was very reassuring. I kept replaying it in my head, so it was good to hear from him. You always want that little extra confirmation from him that he’s OK. So we were able to get that."

Although Best won’t practice anytime soon, Tedford said he expects Best to visit the team as soon as he feels better. "I know the guys are excited to see him and can’t wait to see him," Tedford said. "That’s what I told him on the phone tonight, and he told me to tell everybody hello.":

Tedford said when he visited Best last night, Best actually recalled much of what happened on the play in which he was injured. He hadn’t seen a replay of it yet, but did see it today.
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"We have a responsibility to these players. We love our players," Tedford said. "To see them in harm’s way in any way, shape or form is always concering. Yeah, you lose a game, but anytime somebody gets potentially seriously injured, it really puts everything into perspective. That’s a kid’s life and a career, things like that. It was very scary at the time. It makes you feel blessed everything worked out fine.

"I was very concerned for him standing there with him. I was trying to comfort him when he came to — that’s a scary situation when you come to and there’s all the people around him. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know where we were, I was so focused on how he was doing. The game at that point really took a backseat. Then when I was comfortable he was OK, I saw the team back there and went to them, made sure they had a good feeling he was OK, he was moving and everything. I know that gave them a sense of relief because they were very concerned."

–Tedford said he received a text message from Washington coach Steve Sarkisian today. "He saw the play and was hoping Jahvid was OK," Tedford said.

After the jump we have TV coverage info for the Big Game (Vs, 4:30pm), more stories on Best and the team's response to his injury, post-game quotes, updated power rankings, a look at why Arizona is so excited for this weekend, a Murray State basketball scouting preview, and a recap of the rest of the weekend in Cal sports, highlighted by fantastic performances from women's volleyball and men's water polo.

"It’s a dangerous thing," Holley said. "You don’t only have to worry about immediate, short-term impairment, you have to worry about long-term impairment, too."

Holley said based on his research, there are 160 concussions in the NFL every year, and probably much more that go unreported. "It kind of reminds you how lucky you are to play and how close it is to ending," he said.

Holley said he didn’t watch as much football highlights on TV after the game last night because the clip of Best’s injury kept coming up. "It was harder to watch SportsCenter," Holley said. "I watched it once and then tried not to watch it again. It was pretty bad. I had the best view in the house when it happened."

Redshirt freshman Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson, who will now be the No. 2 running back behind Vereen, said Gould didn’t show the end of Best’s run when the team broke down film today. "He just showed him jumping and how the guy pushed him, but he didn’t show him land at all," DeBoskie-Johnson said. "When I saw it on youtube, I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ It almost made me want to cry. He looked like he was about to go through a seizure or something."

DeBoskie-Johnson said trainers and fans in the stands were in tears as Best was attended to on the field. "He has an impact on everybody," he said. "Jahvid is a good guy. He’s not conceited. He’s not boastful. He’s a real humble (guy). He always encourages us. That’s something I really like about Jahvid. Him going down like that, everyone was sad."

Cal Football

• Ruh roh:  The Big Game will be televised on Versus at 4:30pm.
• JO recaps Best's status.  He's expected to visit his teammates at practice sometime this week.
• Vereen had trouble sleeping Saturday night and was very happy to hear from Best Sunday morning.  Barbour said Best's fall was the worst on-field incident she's seen in her 29 years working in athletics administration.  Daily Cal follows up on Best's condition.  Not surprisingly, he has been instructed to rest this week.
  
• Cal falls to sixth in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings.
• Wilner gives Cal a D for their performance against OSU.  He was especially critical of the secondary and said Cal would lose the game regardless of whether Best was injured.  Additionally, he says the O-line has no chance against the conference's top defensive fronts.  He expects Arizona to tear Cal's defense apart.  Like last week, it's up to Cal's offense to keep up in the shootout.
• Deleshaun Dean and the rest of Arizona are anxiuosly looking forward to ther remaining four games, particularly since they control their own Rose Bowl destiny.
• JO has a sampling of post-game quotes.  Response to Best's injury is a major topic.