Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer
Desmond Bishop keeps his nasty side well hidden -- only giving it free reign when he's playing football or playing video games. "You don't want to play video games with him," said quarterback Joe Ayoob, Bishop's teammate at Cal and at City College of San Francisco. Bishop, soft-spoken and polite, will make his transformation from mild-mannered college student to hard-nosed middle linebacker again tonight when No. 13 Cal (3-0) plays at New Mexico State (0-3). Bishop leads the Bears in tackling with 25 stops, 20 of them solo. In the past three years under defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, safeties -- who often play relatively shallow at Cal to stop the run -- have led the team in tackles. Bishop is reminiscent of an earlier era -- a classic linebacker who thrives in the mayhem in the middle. He even knows who Ray Nitschke and Sam Huff are, having studied highlight reels from the 1950s and '60s. He also has contemporary role models in Ray Lewis, LaVar Arrington and Brian Urlacher.
He is quick to the ball, ranging from sideline to sideline, and is a solid, straight-on tackler. It just comes naturally. Bishop was already unconsciously making sophisticated "reads" -- looking for clues from the opposing offense -- when he was playing high school ball in Fairfield.
"It seemed like I was reading," he said. "I wasn't. I was just going off natural (instinct)." Bishop began to really learn the position at City College, and is taking it to another level at Cal. He said he starts his reads with the tight end, goes to the tackle and then the backfield -- looking for a player's positioning, his first step, whether he is pulling or not, and the flow of the play. But he's not really thinking about any of that. "When the ball is snapped I have one thought -- play downhill," he said. Bishop is also fine tuning his technique. For example, he said he's learned that he's a more powerful hitter and quicker to make a lateral move if he keeps his elbows in close to his body. "He's one of those guys that understands football," said Gregory, who praised Bishop for making the transition from junior college to Division I in minimal time. "A lot of guys, it takes them a while to adjust," he said. "But the second day of spring ball he became our starting Mike (middle) linebacker." "There's nothing about him that isn't Division I caliber," outside linebacker Ryan Foltz said. "He's big, he's quick and he's smart." "Playing next to him is comforting," added outside linebacker Anthony Felder. "You feel comfortable doing your job because he's so comfortable doing his." At 6-foot-2, 245 pounds, Bishop is relatively big for a linebacker by Cal's standards.
"He's not going to break any weight room or speed records," he said. "But he plays very hard. He's not a guy we put out in space. He's in the box, tackle to tackle." Away from football he leads a quiet life on campus. "He's really a relaxed kind of guy," Ayoob said. "He doesn't go out and do a lot. He's fine with staying in, joking around and playing video games." Ayoob says Bishop plays video games the same way he plays football.
"He gets aggressive, likes to talk," Ayoob said. "He's definitely two personalities." "I want to be considered one of the best players," Bishop said. "When the game is on the line and it's third and short, I want to be the one to make the play." Bishop was recruited by USC, Oklahoma and twice by coach Urban Meyer -- once at Utah and then at Florida after Meyer changed jobs. "I had a vision of Cal being one of the premier, dominating collegiate teams," he said. He said he also took an immediate liking to the players at Cal -- saying he wanted to "rally up" with people like tailback Marshawn Lynch and defensive tackle Brandon Mebane. "Coach (Jeff) Tedford says we're a family," Bishop said. "I grabbed that concept and ran with it."
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