CAL AND ASU HAVE TALENTED LINEBACKERS
By Jay Heater
With Cal headed into its Pacific-10 opener at home today against Arizona State, it's time to turn up the heat. So, then, it might not be a coincidence that senior linebacker Mickey Pimentel will be making his first start. Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter has thrown for 842 yards and nine touchdowns in three games, so Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory is hoping Pimentel, who has 1 1/2 sacks so far and last year made 8 1/2 tackles for a loss, can set the tone early. ``Mickey had a great game last week,'' Gregory said. ``He has earned it.'' Although Pimentel has had the most snaps at outside linebacker, junior Justin Moye started the first three games there. Gregory said that Moye will continue to see substantial time and noted that he has played well in the first three games.
Pimentel, though, is something of a beast. The 6-foot-2, 238-pounder transferred from Pima Community College in 2005 and quickly proved he has the speed to fall back into coverage and the strength to take on offensive linemen. But Pimentel won't be the only high-energy linebacker on the field at Memorial Stadium. Arizona State is blessed with Derron Ware, a 6-4, 217-pounder who leads the Sun Devils with 15 tackles and an impressive four sacks. Ware, a transfer from Michigan State, played last season for the Sun Devils but had just eight tackles in nine games as a safety. ``He totally got lost here,'' said Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter. ``He had attitude issues, a woe-is-me attitude. He got in the doghouse and I didn't know if he would pull out of it. ``We decided to switch him to linebacker in the spring. He really appeared to be too light to be a linebacker.'' Those four sacks tend to indicate that Ware has found his position.
Ware has had plenty of company crashing the backfield of Arizona State's opponents: The Sun Devils have 18 sacks this season. Their target today will be Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, who will be starting the fifth game of his career. Cal Coach Jeff Tedford said Arizona State tends to bring pressure from all over. ``They do a very good job of disguising things well.'' Although that's the case, Tedford said his sophomore quarterback has done an exceptional job of reading defenses and seeing blitzes. ``Nate has had very good vision,'' Tedford said. ``He has been seeing and doing the things we have trained him to do.'' Cal, meanwhile, has just five sacks; defensive tackle Brandon Mebane leads the Bears with two sacks. And Arizona State has surrendered only three sacks this season. Pressure could be important for Cal as its defensive backfield is inexperienced. ``We're doing OK in our secondary,'' Gregory said. ``But there still is a little bit of a learning curve. We really have three new guys back there who haven't played a lot.''
Gregory added that he has been most surprised by the play of free safety Thomas DeCoud, a junior who leads the team with 23 tackles after being a reserve a year ago. ``I feel really good about Thomas,'' Gregory said. ``I think it's an example of a guy who knows that it's his turn. He is a totally different player than he was a year ago.''
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