By Matt Kawahara
Tuesday's practice saw the return of both Shane Vereen and Anthony Felder -- two important pieces of the 2008 Cal football team's puzzle who had missed multiple practices due to injury. With Jahvid Best given the day off to rest, Vereen -- sidelined for several days with a bruise on his lower leg -- started out taking most of the snaps with the second-team offense and rotated into the first team at times with Tracy Slocum.
Vereen seemed to be running comfortably in his first day of full contact, taking his first handoff in the Bears' situational drills right up the middle for about 10 yards. "He wasn't 100 percent," head coach Jeff Tedford said. "He's still feeling his way through a little bit, still has a bruise on his lower leg. He's trying to do what he can do, but he's not 100 percent." Still, Vereen said that he woke up Tuesday morning feeling like the injury had seriously improved, thanks in large part to an intense physical therapy session on Monday. "It's a little sore, but any injury the first day back's going to be a little sore," Vereen said. "Compared to where I was a couple days ago, now I feel 100 percent better. Just gotta keep working through it." The redshirt freshman tailback from Valencia, Calif. -- thought by many to potentially be the thunder to Best's lightning -- had a few explosive moments, including a 40-yard gain over the middle on a screen pass from quarterback Nate Longshore.
"I think I'm still a step slower than where I need to be, or where I'd like to be," Vereen said. "It's just going to take a couple more times, a couple more practices." Ready to welcome him back to practice is the Bears linebacking corps, also bolstered by the return of honorable-mention All-Pac-10 performer Anthony Felder.
Following Monday's practice, Tedford stated that Felder had a swollen knee and that there was really no timetable for his return. But the senior was in pads and participating in full-contact drills on Tuesday evening.
"It's feeling well," Felder said of his knee. "I got some images taken, and I think it was just a false alarm. It was more of a precautionary thing."
Cal can breathe a small sigh of relief, as Felder was the conference's 12th-leading tackler in 2007 with 7.8 per game and is key to the Bears' transition this season to a 3-4 defensive scheme. "I think we're coming along," Felder said of the defense as a whole. "It's going to take a little while for things to gel, but guys are fired up about it. There's a lot of passion on this defense." Felder said that he is having to learn a different role for Cal's switch to the 3-4 and that he's looking forward to the season opener against Michigan State on Aug. 30 for the new scheme's first real test. "I'm not really going to be free-flowing to the ball as much," he said. "I've got to take on more blocks, so I try to put on more weight this offseason. It's a different system, but the way it looks on paper is we're going to be a little more aggressive, which is nice."
Unfortunately for the Bears, Felder's return was countered with injuries to two other members of the linebacking crew. Junior Devin Bishop suffered a sprained thumb and tore several ligaments and underwent an operation on Tuesday morning, but should be back in one week, according to Tedford. Worrell Williams, a senior who was second on the team with 105 tackles last season, came off the field clutching at the right side of his abdomen after reaching for a scrambling Kevin Riley during team drills. Tedford said that Williams has an abdominal strain, and that the timeline for his return is uncertain. “Those things are kinda weird," Tedford said. "You never know how long those things are going to keep you out. Even though it may be something small, it could still be debilitating as far as moving and twisting."
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