In this interview, we asked Tedford the basic questions that every beat writer asks. And though the answers he provided are unremarkable,
they do confirm the basics of team progress that have been reported here.
Tedford seems pleased with team progress, and confident that the step-by-step hard work
will pay off with team performance. "That's what spring is all about," he
repeats to those who ask. It's a kind of spring mantra.
Clearly the competition at quarterback is not settled. As Tedford notes in
the accompanying video, he will soon make a "cut" down to just three
(from four) quarterbacks getting most the reps - he needs to focus training
efforts.
Longshore probably understands the offense, and can make defensive reads,
better than the others. His mobility is limited, and when pushed into a
scramble he is not as athletic as may be needed to make success out of
a
broken
play.
His
passes
recently have too often been low, including a few bouncers that would have
been more useful on a basketball court. The footballs he throws sometimes
seem to
be flying in a slightly nose-down position (probably easily correctable). He
has shown only modest ability to run down field on designed plays.
His pitchouts are adequate; he is a drop-back quarterback by training playing
in an option offense.
Kyle Reed consistently throws a beautiful pass, but can
be overwhelmed by
defensive
pressure. He has yet to learn
to make his
reads in just three or four seconds - and to execute on those immediately.
It may take another year of high speed drills for this to become a part of
his arsenal, but if and when it does, his prospects are unlimited because
the rest of the package - athleticism and speed - is already there.
Levy is steady, generally making good decisions, but has to put
full body effort into making the long pass that Reed can just flick. When
winding up,
Levy has been vulnerable to having the ball knocked away by back-side pressure.
He goes down field on QB running plays with the confidence of a former fullback
- it's
clear
he enjoys
busting
into a linebacker. Levy's pitches to backs circling out of the backfield
- and his ability to run the down-the-line option - are the best on the
team (though Ayoob is close).
Ayoob
is the surprise of spring, as has been noted in these pages, though perhaps
his emergence could have been
anticipated - that his comfort with the spread offense and
a year of tough lessons would serve him well. If there is a key issue
with Ayoob now, it might
be his tendency to make the occasional wild throw, offline or high, though
those have been less frequent than last year. Like the movie, he is "the
natural",
moving well with the offence, making good pitches, making
his share of the passes down field, and - his special gift among these quarterbacks
-
weaving his
way through blockers and tacklers as he picks up yards on quarterback runs.
The conventional wisdom is that Joe was overwhelmed last year by
trying to develop new quarterback skills while also learning a new offense - then trying execute all that at D-1 speed. It may be that the step "back" (for him) to
the spread offense will be the key that lets him achieve his potential.
Given the ill-mannered abuse Joe took from some fans last year, a Joe Ayoob re-ascendance onto the Memorial Stadium stage would rival even the come-from-nowhere
performance of Steve Levy in winning the two final games last year.
"Do you believe in miracles?" in Al Michael's famous phrase?
Descending from the clouds of what-if, here is coach Tedford's eminently more practical view of the present status.
Click here to see the video.
©Copyright 2006, BearInsider.com and Scout.com.
All rights reserved.
If you haven't done so already, subscribe to The Bear Insider
so you can participate in this active online Cal community and get access
to the members-only content from the nation-wide Scout.com network.
Bear Insider staff writers visit the Insider discussion board regularly,
and are available to discuss questions you may have about this article and Cal Athletics.