Contra Costa Times: Cal notes: Injuries hamper tackle's progress

TEPPER expects to be ready for season

By Jonathan Okanes

Mike Tepper's quest to replace NFL draft pick Mike Gibson as Cal's starting left tackle is getting off to a shaky start.  Tepper underwent surgery on his left pectoral muscle in May and compounded things by suffering a pulled hamstring Monday morning, just hours before the beginning of training camp for the 2008 season. Tepper probably won't practice for at least a week and then be limited for most of camp.

"My summer has been pretty bad," said Tepper, who started every game last season at right tackle. "We as offensive linemen are going to play injured, but you want to go fresh into the season. Starting off with some pretty serious surgery and a pulled hamstring isn't the best way of doing it. I'm confident I will be ready, but I'm nervous."  Tepper suffered the pectoral injury while lifting weights. He said he didn't warm up as well as he thought and "felt a pull." He had surgery two days later.  Tepper anticipates being able to practice in a full capacity by the last week of training camp and expects to start the season opener Aug. 30 against Michigan State. The quarterback competition between fifth-year senior Nate Longshore and redshirt sophomore Kevin Riley never got going in the spring because of a pectoral injury to Longshore. Longshore is fully healed, so the battle was able to resume Monday.

But there really wasn't a whole lot of opportunity to evaluate because the first day of practice was a little shorter than usual. The session was heavy on drills, although there were some seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 situations. Neither quarterback especially stood out.  Tedford was happy with the first day of practice, especially the performance of his young receiving corps. The Bears have a heralded group of incoming receivers. "The young receivers really did a nice job today," Tedford said. "But consistency is the thing. As you go through camp, there is a lot of information. Staying up with the learning curve is going to be very important with some of the young guys."