Orange County Register: Tedford Has Raised Cal's Profile

He starts from the toes. "The first thing he does is straighten out your footwork," Aaron Rodgers says. "He makes sure you're not closing yourself off. Then he works with the hips and the core, getting the torque you need to get through the ball. Then he works with your hands and getting the ball up. 'On the shelf,' he calls it. He wants it up there so you can get rid of it quick." On up to the brain.

"He knows how monotonous it is to draw plays on the board all day," Rodgers says. "So he came up with these checkers. Just a set of checkers, and you put the names of the positions on them, and you put them on a table. And he's the defense. You put 'em in formation, and now you have to call out the stress points of the protection, who's open, where the ball should go. It's a cool way to do it. It really carries over, too." Jeff Tedford is America's chief manufacturer of college quarterbacks. In turn he has built a football program on a vacant lot at Cal. On Saturday the Golden Bears come to the Coliseum in search of their first Rose Bowl bid in 48 years. They were last here in 2004, when Rodgers completed 23 consecutive passes, and the Trojans needed a defensive stop to beat Cal, 23-17. They will bring a foul mood Saturday, since they blew a 17-3 lead at Arizona last Saturday. And this time, theyhave Reggie Bush, disguised as DeSean Jackson.

Read the entire article here.