Jahvid Best made his sort-of-return to the Cal football team in its first day of spring ball Monday.

That’s pretty good news for a program that just lost what was supposed to be their No. 1 tailback heading into the spring. Best won’t be involved in anything where he can get hit, but he will be participating in individual drills and he’ll be working on his own every now and then.

And Best may be the Bears most prolific weapon next fall after the departure of not just dynamo DeSean Jackson, but receivers Robert Jordan and Lavelle Hawkins and tailback Justin Forsett. Let’s just say that on a team with little star power, Best as the best shot of shining next year.

More tidbits from Cal’s first practice:

• Nate Longshore, Kevin Riley and Brock Mansion all took snaps under center yesterday. Longshore was sent out with the first-team offense; Riley took reps with the second team and Mansion participated with the third team whenever passing drills or scrimmages took place.

Now, if you’re wondering about the whole quarterback competition, Bears coach Jeff Tedford said that he isn’t even remotely ready to name a starter. But he did like what he saw from his quarterbacks.”They did good,” Tedford said. “I am really happy with everybody. I thought they handled the huddle really well and did a nice job.”

In my opinion, Longshore will be taking snaps with the first team for the duration of the spring. It’s not like he lost his job at the Armed Forces Bowl; Riley just performed really well. And the spring is where the rust comes off anyways. It’s the fall where anyone will know if Tedford is going to make a change at quarterback.

• The Bears defense worked a little bit out of the 3-4 defense Monday. Rulon Davis, Derrick Hill and Tyson Alualu were the down linemen with Worrell Williams, Zack Follet, Mike Mohammed and Anthony Felder as the linebackers.

• Davis himself looked pretty impressive and anxious to be on the field after missing the most of the second half of last year with a foot injury. He showed a lot of intensity, including one tackle where he ripped freshman tailback Covaughn DeBoskie’s helmet off. If Davis is playing like that, out of that 3-4 defense, offensive tackles will be shaking in their Nikes if they have to line up against him next year.

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