Contra Costa Times: Former walk-on is no pushover

Cal football notebook

BERKELEY -- Cal will be facing college football's walk-on poster boy when Oregon State visits Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Beavers senior wide receiver Mike Hass has taken the neglected high school star story to another level. Despite putting together a monster senior season (79 catches, 1,739 yards, 21 touchdowns) at Jesuit High School in Portland, Hass got no scholarship and walked on at Oregon State. After redshirting in 2001 and playing on special teams in 2002, Hass finally drew the interest of the Beavers' coaching staff during fall camp in 2003. He was awarded a scholarship and caught 44 passes for 1,013 yards and seven touchdowns. Such a tale is heart-warming enough. Cal has similar such stories, such as current starting offensive guard Aaron Merz, who developed from a walk-on to one of the conference's top linemen. But Hass has zoomed even higher. In 2004, he caught 86 balls for 1,379 yards and seven touchdowns. He was selected as a first-team All-Pac-10 wide receiver. This season, he has 47 catches for 831 yards and four touchdowns. He has a current streak of nine consecutive 100-yard receiving games, two short of the NCAA record held by USC's Keyshawn Johnson (1994-95) and Pacific's Aaron Turner (1991) from Pittsburg High. Hass already holds the Pac-10 record of 293 receiving yards in one game against Boise State in 2004. If he averages six receptions and 58.2 yards per game for the rest of the season, he will pass James Newson (2000-03) as the Beavers' all-time receiver in yards and catches. "It's a great story," said Oregon State coach Mike Riley. "Mike has kept plugging away. I still remember that fall camp when we didn't have any depth and he got lots of reps." Once he got a chance, Hass (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) blossomed.

"He's always had a lot of inner confidence," Riley said. "But that confidence has grown with his production. He goes into football games now thinking he is going to make plays. He is strong and he can catch the ball all over the place. He has a very good first step." While Hass has dominated many of the teams he has faced, he had just two catches for 26 yards against the Bears last season. Cal coach Jeff Tedford is expecting a much tougher time Saturday. "No matter what you do, they always find him," Tedford said of Hass. "He runs good routes and he's got great body control. He is deceptively fast."

Pure talent

While Hass' talents might be deceptive, Riley said there's no hiding the terrific athletic skill of Cal sophomore tailback Marshawn Lynch. "It's scary," Riley said. "I don't know that one guy can tackle the guy. When he gets surrounded, he's still trouble. He is a very impressive back." Lynch, who has rushed for 435 yards in the four games he's played in, carried only four times last season against Oregon State. He ran for 24 yards and caught one pass for minus-5 yards. Oregon State is allowing only 120.4 yards per game rushing, so it should be a good battle.

No reach

Tedford said that instant replay of freshman DeSean Jackson's end-around in the first quarter against UCLA took so long that he had plenty of time to discuss strategy with Jackson. "I went over to him three times," said Tedford, who tried to explain to his freshman that reaching out with the ball with one hand is dangerous. Jackson was being tackled at the 1-yard line when he reached out with one hand and jammed the ball just inside the pylon for what he thought was a touchdown. However, the instant replay showed that the ball came out of his hand before he could smack it into the ground. The ball rolled out of the end zone. Since the replay official couldn't determine if the ball had broken the plane of the end zone before it came out of Jackson's hand, there was no reversal of the call on the field that Jackson was down at the 1. A reversal would have given UCLA the ball at the 20. Tedford told Jackson that he likes his passion but to stretch out with two hands on the ball next time.

End run

Cal leads the Pac-10 in defense, allowing 306.33 yards per game. ... Since losing to Oregon State at Memorial Stadium in 2003, Cal has won 10 consecutive home games.