Thursday, November 30, 2006

Marin Independent Journal: Ayoob's Final Stroll at Cal

ON THE TOP shelf of a glass trophy case marked "Bowls" inside the Hall of Fame Room at Memorial Stadium is a 50-cent program and a $2.75 student ticket stub from the 1959 Rose Bowl, the last time Cal played in Pasadena on New Year's Day. There is also a black-and-white photograph of Cal's starting offensive unit from that game including Joe Kapp, the Bears' legendary quarterback. When Joe Ayoob of San Rafael came to Cal two years ago, he hoped to become the Technicolor version of Kapp; a man revered at Cal for the ages for his never-say-die attitude after leading the Bears to the singular goal they possess and obsess about on the eve of every season: A Pac-10 championship. "I wanted to come in my senior year having a year of experience under my belt and make a run for all the marbles, which we did this year," Ayoob said the other day. "I just wasn't the quarterback." The once ballyhooed Ayoob is now the underachieving backup quarterback at Cal who, on Saturday in the Big Game against Stanford, will be introduced for the last time at Memorial Stadium as part of Senior Day. Please stand. He should be applauded. In the past year, Ayoob, who arrived on campus with sky-high expectations, was booed by fans, ridiculed by media, banished to the bench in favor of a converted fullback and eventually demoted to fourth string after last season. It was enough to bring any human to his knees, which it did with Ayoob (he is still the holder on field-goal and extra-point tries).

But Ayoob could have transferred to another school with much lower expectations. Family members recommended that he do so, but the former Terra Linda High star gutted it out.  "If something goes wrong in life, you just can't run from it. If things didn't go the way I wanted them to here, why would I pack up and leave? I wanted to stick it out and prove that I could play," Ayoob said this week, relaxing in Memorial Stadium before practice. "There are other reasons. I didn't want to sacrifice this (Cal) education to go play one more year at a Division II school. I figured I can play here - which I know I can."  Unfortunately, Ayoob hasn't thrown a pass in a game since mop-up duty against Portland State, a Division II school, on Sept. 16. Yet his body language doesn't suggest that he's angry or upset. In fact, in Cal's last game at the L.A. Coliseum, the backup QB was seen consistently encouraging and enlightening the starting QB, Nate Longshore, and Bears teammates in a huddle on the sideline during timeouts. "There's no point in sulking on the sidelines. That's not going to get anything accomplished," Ayoob said. "So I just try to go out there and have as much fun as I can and enjoy all the experiences."

Ayoob doesn't appear to harbor any resentment or regret. He wishes Cal coach Jeff Tedford would have given him one more chance to start last season. Instead, Tedford made third-string quarterback Steve Levy the starter and put Levy in situations that he could succeed - in the Big Game against a struggling Stanford team and against a mediocre BYU team in the Las Vegas Bowl with more than a month to prepare for it. Then, in the offseason, Cal brought in a new offensive coordinator, Mike Dunbar, and instituted a new spread offense, similar to the one Ayoob was successful with at City College of San Francisco. Ayoob, however, has not been given the keys to this car, which he can handle like his 1967 Chevy Impala.  "I feel I can run this offense really well," Ayoob said. "My mobility would be a big factor and add another dimension to the offense. It is tough last season trying to fit into an offense that I wasn't totally accustomed to and then this year bringing in an offense I'm really familiar with and not getting an opportunity to play." Coming into this season, Ayoob rose from fourth string to a neck-and-neck battle with Longshore. The message to both on the eve of the season-opening game - a humbling 35-18 loss to Tennessee in Knoxville - was that both would play. "I sort of came in against Tennessee (in the third quarter, trailing 35-0) when things were all said and done," Ayoob said. "I kind of got the feeling there that that was going to be my role." Longshore rebounded from a rough debut and Ayoob didn't throw another pass after the Portland State game when Longshore threw four first-half touchdown passes. So Ayoob has had to be content as a holder and playing on the Bears' on-side kick recovery "hands team." His most thrilling play came two weeks ago when Ayoob made a tackle on a missed 55-yard field goal attempt against USC.

Ayoob just wishes he had one more chance to prove he could be the starting quarterback at Cal. "What I'd like is to be back next year for that first game and play Tennessee in front of this crowd and show them what I can do," the 22-year-old Cal senior said. "That's what I would like." Instead, Ayoob will make his last playing appearance in uniform at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. "It'll be the last time I run out that tunnel and it'll be emotional, but I'm about 98 percent sure I won't cry," Ayoob said. "In a football sense, I'm ready to move on and to do bigger things." Ideally, Ayoob would love to show pro football scouts he could play for their team, whether it's in the NFL or NFL Europe; whether it's indoors in Arena Football or outdoors in Canada. In the spring, Ayoob will earn his degree in social welfare at Cal but, he said, "I want to keep trying to play (football)." That's part of the Cal educational experience, too. "If you want to do something bad enough, you've got to keep working at it no matter what anybody says," Ayoob said. "Last year was hard and a lot of people gave me a lot of crap for it. I listened to them at first, but I kind of put them behind me and said, 'I can do this.'" Ayoob just hasn't been given another opportunity in game action. But that's not what he's going to remember when he leaves Cal. He'll remember the sound of the stadiums in L.A. and Tennessee and Oregon. "Coming into the stadiums right before you start the game. Seeing 100,000 people all looking at you," Ayoob said. "Going into the Rose Bowl (to play UCLA) last year with the thing packed and knowing you're about to play." Ayoob doesn't know if he'll play this Saturday, unless Cal's offense comes back to life and Stanford is as bad as advertised. But, in at least one respect, Ayoob will leave Memorial Stadium on Saturday and Berkeley in the coming months being remembered like Joe Kapp. "As a guy," Ayoob said, "who didn't quit."

 

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