Monday, October 13, 2008

SF Chronicle: Best returns to practice

By Rusty Simmons

Link.

Jahvid Best practiced Sunday for the first time since dislocating his left elbow Sept. 27, and the Cal tailback said he's "confident" he'll be in the lineup Saturday at Arizona.  "I'm progressing way more than I thought I would," Best said. "It was a promising day. I went from not being able to move my elbow to this, so we've got a lot of things to look forward to."  Best lifted light weights Saturday and caught passes and participated in non-contact drills Sunday. The nation's leader in all-purpose yards per game (215.5) fell twice, including once on his left elbow, and reported no pain. "I was a little worried at first, but falling didn't hurt, so that will help with the mental aspect," Best said.  Cal coach Jeff Tedford was a little more cautious, saying he will continue to evaluate Best's injury each day.  Tedford was more exact in dealing with Nate Longshore's status. The senior quarterback, who sat out Sunday with a slipped disk in his back will return Tuesday, according to Tedford.

"He could have gone, but we wanted to give it another day to settle down," Tedford said. The disk is back in place, and Longshore said it "felt great" Sunday. He played through a similar injury in 2006, when he threw for 3,021 yards and 24 touchdowns. Tedford has said that Longshore and sophomore Kevin Riley will continue to split first- and second-team repetitions this week, and he hasn't set a timeline for naming Saturday's starter.

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