By ERIC GILMORE
Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)
BERKELEY, Calif. - The ink wasn't even dry on quarterback Joe Ayoob's letter of intent last December when he was christened as Cal's "next Aaron Rodgers" by Old Blues. It was basic football fan logic. Cal coach Jeff Tedford recruited Rodgers to Cal from a junior college. Rodgers led the Bears to back-to-back bowl games, was named All-Pac-10 in 2004 and became a hot NFL prospect.
Tedford recruited Ayoob to Cal from City College of San Francisco. So of course Ayoob will fill Rodgers' monstrous shoes, lead Cal to more football glory and develop into a first-round NFL draft pick.
"The expectations are high," Ayoob said Thursday after Cal's first scrimmage of training camp. "I enjoy that. I like the expectations to be high because I feel like I do better when the expectations are high. "I raise my game to where it needs to be to do that." At this point, Ayoob is trying to raise his game high enough to become Cal's starting quarterback. He's battling redshirt freshman Nate Longshore for the job.
This fight is far too close to call now. And it could stretch through the month of September before we have a true winner. After all, Rodgers didn't start at Cal until the fifth game in 2003, taking over for Reggie Robertson. Eventually, Ayoob should prevail. You don't recruit junior college All-Americans to sit on the bench. You recruit them for immediate help.
If Tedford had felt Longshore was his long-term answer at quarterback, he wouldn't have pursued Ayoob. That doesn't mean Tedford will hand Ayoob the starting job. Ayoob still has to hold up his end of the deal.
Ayoob struggled during spring practice when he admittedly had "no clue what was happening on almost any play."
Now Ayoob has a much firmer grasp of Cal's offense, but he has struggled at times throwing the ball in practices and scrimmages.
Despite the comparisons, Ayoob is not a Rodgers clone. He doesn't have Rodgers' laser-like accuracy. He's less disciplined.
Ayoob, though, is more athletic than Rodgers. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he's an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than Rodgers. He's quicker, faster and, according to Tedford, more creative, than Rodgers, too.
"Joe is kind of a street baller," Tedford said before camp opened. "He can make things happen. So one of our challenges in the fall is going to be to harness that a little bit."
Harness but not kill that creativity, Tedford added.
Ayoob said Tedford's "assessment" was fair. He was a street-baller of sorts at CCSF, where he threw for 5,790 yards and 55 touchdowns and ran for nine scores in two seasons, going 23-1 as a starter.
"I had a great quarterbacking coach, but he kind of left what happened on the field to me," Ayoob said. "And therefore I would run around, make a lot of plays, do a lot of different things.
"And over here, (Tedford's) kind of tried to keep me in the pocket more, make my reads and then if something breaks down I'm able to use my street-ball skills to make something happen with my feet."
You can't question Ayoob's athletic genes. His father, Joe, started on Clemson's basketball team for three seasons in the 1960s and was a team captain.
Ayoob said he has six cousins who earned Division I football scholarships, including former 49er Matt Willig, a 6-8, 315-pound offensive tackle now playing for the St. Louis Rams.
Ayoob was first-team all-league in football, basketball and baseball at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael. He said he can dunk a basketball with either hand.
"No doubt about it," Ayoob said, smiling.
Until Ayoob plays in an actual game_Cal opens its season Sept. 3 against Sacramento State_we won't truly see all of his skills.
Quarterbacks are untouchable during practices and scrimmages. Ayoob doesn't have to run for his life then make something out of nothing.
"When you're in the game, you're pretty much playing unconscious," Ayoob said. "You're able to do things that you wouldn't normally be able to do in practice.
"That's the way I see myself. I consider myself a gamer. I play better in games than in practice." Cal fans consider Ayoob the next Aaron Rodgers. We'll soon find out if that's true.
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