Ever since Nate Longshore's ankle exploded against Oregon in 2007, Cal fans have been looking for the next great quarterback for the Bears. Many of us now look ahead to what the highly touted Zach Kline will offer for the Bears in 2013 and beyond. After a couple weeks of practice, Jeff Tedford certainly was pleased with what he saw from the freshman.
Asked what he's liked from what he's seen from Kline in spring practice, Tedford answered with just one word: "Everything."
"Really impressed with him. Really impressed with him," Tedford said on Tuesday, after Cal's first practice back from spring recess. "He's got a good sense of humor, he's a really good leader. For a young guy to jump in the huddle and have a little presence about him, and things like that, you can tell he carries a lot of confidence."
...
"He's very calm. He's very respectful of the investment that the older guys have made, understands he's got a long way to go, so he's a quality player. He's going to be a great player before it's all said and done."That said, Kline is still just a freshman, and a young one, at that.
"He's still adjusting. It's not so much the throws; it's all the stuff that's happening right in front," Tedford said. "There's a lot of big bodies coming at you, moving really quickly. It takes somebody pretty special, when you're that young and when the people are that big and get moving that fast, to keep your eyes down the field. So, that's a gift, of being able to [do that], but he's got really good pocket presence. He's hung in there really well, he's slid in the pocket and kept his eyes downfield and threw some nice balls, so he has that. He has that gift of being in the pocket. Typically, when eyes come down, it's either they don't know what they're looking for or the game's happening too fast. So far, what I've seen, there's some times he doesn't know what he's looking for, and that's understandable, but I haven't seen the game happening too fast for him."
After the jump spring practice reconvenes after spring break, ESPN updates its NFL draft prospects, and softball maintains its iron grip on the #1 ranking.
Football
- Mychal Kendricks and Bryan Anger hold steady at third and second for their respective positions in McShay's latest round of draft prospects.
- McShay has no Bears in the first two rounds of his mock draft (Schwartz was a second-rounder in the last mock draft).
- Faraudo has notes and quotes from Tuesday's practice. Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson has decided to transfer to another school this fall after receiving his degree next month. Tedford noted that TE Richard Rodgers, LB Jason Gibson, and DB Avery Sebastian all had solid performances (hopefully Rodgers impressed as a TE instead of a punter).
- CalBears.com has plenty of coverage from practice including interviews with Jeff Tedford and Zach Maynard, as well as a photo gallery.
- Tedford talks about who did a good job filling in for the departed seniors on defense.
- CalBears.com has a story on the renovated facade of Memorial Stadium (and a great photo gallery tracing the progress).