San Francisco Chronicle: Quarterback competition begins

By Rusty Simmons

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Cal coach Jeff Tedford doesn't anticipate going into training camp with a set No. 1 quarterback, despite declaring open a competition among three candidates as spring practice begins today.  "It's going to be wide open in the spring," Tedford said. "I'm not expecting to have the one guy by the end of spring ball. Because some of the guys are young, you have to let the progression happen and see how they compete in fall camp."  Junior Kevin Riley comes back with the most starts, best numbers and the longest display of guts at quarterback. The "younger guys" are sophomore Brock Mansion, a long, athletic specimen who could become something, and Beau Sweeney, who thrilled at times while running opposing offenses on the scout team last year. Readers who inundated The Chronicle with e-mails and clogged up fan chat rooms over the last year about the Nate Longshore-Kevin Riley quagmire the last two seasons might be able to relax for a moment. Tedford's comments about the current quarterback competition are similar to what he said about every position group during an informal hourlong media conference this week.

He mentioned some form of "competition" 27 times, while neatly avoiding the naming of a starter at a single position. The closest he came was to call three-year starting corner Syd'Quan Thompson "a pretty good lock," and "we have a pretty good punter coming back." Clearly, Thompson is joined by Jahvid Best, who recently jumped out of his wheelchair after offseason surgeries, and will become a starter and a Heisman candidate by September. Freshman All-American punter Bryan Anger and defensive end Tyson Alualu certainly have places reserved. The rest appears up for grabs, and once we forget about the sexy quarterback situation, we'll get down to the rest of the team. The offensive line has seven players with at least one collegiate start to compete for five starting jobs. There are three starting receivers fighting with two injured guys, who might have been the top two last year. And there are three returning safeties for two spots, all of whom are being threatened by a pair of redshirt freshmen. "I think competition is great, but you have to let it surface and you have to create situations to let them compete," Tedford said. "We have to compete in everything we do. We have got to compete in 1-on-1's, we have to compete in drills and we have to compete in our turnover circuits."