Sunday, August 17, 2008

Contra Costa Times: Cal's Levy a bigger version of his brother

Link.

 

Guard Eric Levy heard it was a pretty fun experience to be a member of Cal's football team, and he got the scoop from a pretty reliable source. Steve Levy, Eric's older brother, would know. He spent five years in the Bears' program and had a memorable moment when he quarterbacked Cal to a win over Stanford in the 2005 Big Game. Eric Levy, a transfer from City College of San Francisco, missed his brother's Big Game heroics. But he was able to see Steve and the team play in person several times while attending CCSF, and yearned to be a part of it. "To come here and see my brother out on the field, it's something you can't even describe," Eric Levy said. "You just want to be a part of that. I wanted to do whatever it took to get here." Levy is a bigger version of his brother. They have similar mannerisms and personality traits. It's just that Eric is 6-foot-2, 275 pounds. Levy had some convincing to do to have offensive line coach Jim Michalczik take him as a walk-on. After his first year at CCSF, Levy switched to the defensive line because he felt it would enhance his chances of being recruited by a four-year school. But he tore his ACL and meniscus during spring ball the next year and sat out the season.

So the Bears took Levy despite the fact he hadn't played football in over a year. Cal's coaching staff was familiar with Levy, not only because he's Steve's brother, but because he also attended Cal's summer camp in high school. "At that time, our needs were different," Michalczik said. "He's not here because he's Steve's brother. We wanted to bring Eric in to give him a chance."  Levy originally went to Maryland as a recruited walk-on. After redshirting his first year, Levy decided he wasn't happy with the Terps and transferred to CCSF. He has an uphill climb if he ever wants to make an impact with the Bears. Cal is deep on the offensive line and Levy is at the bottom of the depth chart. "As soon as I got healthy, I wanted to be a Bear," Levy said. "(Steve) said it would be one of the best experiences of my life, that I would remember it forever. I have no words to tell you how awesome it is."

On the sidelines

Wide receiver Michael Calvin and strong safety Marcus Ezeff joined a growing list of injured Bears. Calvin has a sprained toe, but Tedford said it's not serious. Ezeff suffered a thigh bruise, the same injury that kept him out of four games last season.  "We don't want to push him," Tedford said. "We want to make sure it heals properly." Other Cal players on the sidelines are left tackle Mike Tepper (hamstring, pectoral muscle), nose tackle Derrick Hill (sprained ankle), nose tackle Mika Kane (sprained ankle), linebacker Worrell Williams (abdominal strain), linebacker Zack Follett (groin) and cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson (sprained shoulder). Tedford said Thompson is "very uncomfortable right now" and likely won't play in Tuesday's scrimmage. He said Follett probably would be practicing if it were the regular season.

 

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