It’s always interested me that Cal hasn’t had a traditional Spring Game to close out its spring practices in least the four years that I’ve been in Berkeley. Maybe it’s because coach Jeff Tedford doesn’t believe in all the hoopla that surrounds a Spring Game.

Last Saturday was no different.

But what Saturday did give to the Bears was closure on what can be seen as a spring of getting over the past.

A few more notes from Cal’s final spring practice. (Click here to read more…)

5:17: So that’s it for the Daily Cal’s live blog of the NFL Draft. Chris Berman may have just put it best: this year’s Draft wasn’t “sexy.” Almost half of the first-round picks were lineman. A lot of skill players were passed over until the late first and early second rounds. Cal’s big-name receiver wasn’t taken until the 49th pick, although he did beat the changeover to ESPN2.

And yet, what’s strange is that DeSean still managed to become a big figure in the Draft. Along with the other big-name receivers, like Malcolm Kelly, James Hardy and Limas Sweed (who was finally picked 54th by the Steelers), Jackson’s name came up repeatedly mainly because he fell so far from where he was projected. Yes, he was called “diminutive” and “small,” but the ESPN guys talked several times about his speed and his playmaking ability. We’ll see how he holds up taking hits in the NFC East.

The Draft continues until the end of the second round this evening, with rounds three through seven tomorrow. Cal still has hopefuls for tomorrow—Lavelle, Justin Forsett and Thomas Decoud, to name a few. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for them as well. From all of us here at the Daily Cal Draft live blog—and by that I mean my roommate and myself—thanks for tuning in.

4:57: And there it is. DeSean Jackson goes to the Philadelphia Eagles with the 49th pick. I’m pretty sure there was a mock that predicted that. Just not in the second round. So DeSean goes to the Eagles, where he’ll be catching passes from Donovan McNabb and trying to boost a receiving corps that was anchored last year by Kevin Curtis, a 3rd-round pick out of Utah State in 2003.

4:52: DeSean is on the phone. I repeat, DeSean is on the phone. And wearing sunglasses indoors.

4:48: The Bengals take Jerome Simpson, a wide receiver from Coastal Carolina. Yes, it’s an obscure school. But he makes one-handed catches and he definitely jumped over a standing defender during a game. I guess DeSean never did that.
(Click here to read more…)

It’s been sometime since I or anyone else at the Daily Cal has paid attention to the NFL Draft. But with just a few days before now and one of the most over-hyped weekends of the sporting calendar, it’s kind of hard to stay away from it.

It’s also been somewhat surprising to see what the so-called pundits have been saying about former Cal receiver DeSean Jackson. What’s prompted all of this is what Stewart Mandel wrote today on SI.com. (Click here to read more…)

So by now, you’ve probably read that Jerry Rice showed up at Cal’s Pro Day to keep an eye on his newest pupil, receiver DeSean Jackson. But just because Rice was the only one there with 197 career touchdown catches and a golf ball-sized Super Bowl ring dangling from his necklace doesn’t mean we can overlook the other important sightings yesterday at Memorial Stadium.

They included:

1. Yahoo Sports columnist (and Daily Cal alumnus) Michael Silver—helped Rice pen his autobiography and used to write for Sports Illustrated.

2. Hall of Famer James Lofton—recently hired as wide receivers coach for the Oakland Raiders.

3. D-Jax’s future—brighter than the reflection from his mentor’s jewelry. (Click here to read more…)

Everyone knows that DeSean Jackson is fast. But the fastest? Maybe.

Jackson’s official 40 time at the NFL Combine (4.35 seconds) was the fastest of any receiver in Indianapolis. This should help D-Jax, especially when it comes to countering is small-frame. Jackson measured in at 5-foot-9 and 169 pounds. That’s extremely small into today’s NFL.

This has some scouts worried, as Gil Brandt, a current NFL.com analyst and former Dallas Cowboys scout told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“See, this is why it’s hard to grade somebody like that,” Brandt said. “But sometimes they ‘engage’ those (smaller) guys up on the line of scrimmage and they’re not strong enough to get off the bump.”

Jackson’s time, however, wasn’t the fastest unofficial time. That went to App. State’s Dexter Jackson, who some scouts clocked in at 4.27.

How did other Cal athletes do? (Click here to read more…)

I love mock drafts, for any sport. I love the NFL mock draft this year, especially since this may be the last year in awhile where we all see a former Cal football player get picked in the top 20.

Don Banks over at SI.com still thinks that DeSean Jackson is going to join former Cal great Marshawn Lynch in Buffalo. I guess Marv Levy still loves to rekindle his old Cal connections.

But how great would it be to see former-oft-injured Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards sling the ball to Jackson every Sunday? I’m sure Edwards his licking his chops because in his four years with the Card, he never got a chance to throw to anyone like D-Jax.