BY Gerald Nicdao
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Riley stood about 20 yards behind junior Nate Longshore. Riley didn’t have his red “untouchable” shirt on. Instead it was in his back pocket. Instead of a helmet, Riley was wearing a headset. And taking the place of the football was a game chart—a list of all the plays that the Cal football team was going to run through that day. Coach Jeff Tedford was also standing with him, periodically asking Riley what reads he saw and how he would go about attacking the particular defense that’s on the field. That’s the way Riley spent the final practice of spring ball. After Longshore’s reps were in, it was sophomore Kyle Reed’s turn. Following Reed, junior Bryan Van Meter ran the offense. And after Van Meter, sophomore Cory Smits took some plays under center.
The only quarterback not to see action was Riley, who broke the index finger on his throwing hand and had to sit out the final week of spring practice. “I was bummed out. I wanted to be out there,” says Riley. “I just have to do therapy as best I can so I can get out there as fast as I can. There’s nothing that I can do about it, so I tried not to have a bad attitude about it.” Missing the last week of spring practice was a disappointment for Riley. This spring was the first time Riley was able to be fully immersed in the Bears’ offensive schemes. As a redshirt last fall, Riley got close to no reps with the Cal offense. Instead, he ran the scout team offense, learning the intricacies of opponents’ schemes and playing them against the first or second team defense in practice. “It’s always difficult being a redshirt, because you’re behind a few guys and you’re only getting reps in fall camp,” says quarterbacks coach Kevin Daft. “Once the season starts, you’re running the scout team more than anything. So it’s tough because you’re running someone else’s offense and you don’t get to learn our stuff as much.”
But Riley was still able to take a few things out of being a redshirt in the fall. He says being on the scout team enabled him to adjust to the speed of the collegiate game.
Riley was also able to learn aspects of Tedford’s pro-style offense. All of this enabled him to have a productive spring before he broke his finger. “He did real nice job taking the board work and transferring it onto the field,” says Tedford. “He was picking up the offense well and throwing the ball well. It’s too bad that he had to miss the final week of spring ball.” It should be to no one’s surprise that Riley has been able to grasp Tedford’s offense so quickly. The Portland, Ore., native was rated the No. 1 prospect coming out of Oregon by both SuperPrep Magazine and Rivals.com. He was the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Oregon. He also threw 55 touchdowns his final two years at Beaverton High. These are gaudy resume builders for someone who chose to take on an initial backup role for the Bears, instead of signing with either Oregon or Oregon State.
In addition to Longshore, quarterbacks Steve Levy and Joe Ayoob were slated to be ahead of Riley on the depth chart even before he signed with Cal. Riley said he knew he was not going to get much playing time his first year, but that it didn’t deter him from committing to the Bears. “Anywhere you go there’s going to be competition,” says Riley. “Any quarterback who is going to be a good player is going to have the confidence in himself that he’s going to start at any school. If you don’t think that, you’re not going to play.” It’s that competition that Riley says he lives for. With Levy and Ayoob both leaving the team due to graduation, there is now an open spot for the backup quarterback position behind Longshore. For most of the spring, Riley battled Reed for that spot until both were injured the last week of practice.
“It’s always good to have competition,” says Riley. “It makes you work harder, study harder. You just want to keep on doing everything that makes you better than the other player.” Even with how much he has learned over the spring, Riley says he knows that there is still room for improvement. “Last year I knew that I wasn’t ready to play,” says Riley. “That’s why this spring was such a big deal for me, just trying to get the playbook in my head.” Riley will rely on that confidence when fall practice begins and his battle with Reed to be Cal’s No. 2 gunslinger heats up. The summer should give Riley, who will be out for three months, enough time for his finger to heal and to resume preparation. “Both of them will start over again in fall camp,” says Tedford. “Both had pretty much the same amount of practice since Kyle got hurt a day after Kevin got hurt. They’re fairly equal. They’re both still young enough where they’re still learning.”
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