Monday, August 17, 2009

Daily Cal: Fullbacks Vie for Starting Job While Striving to Meet Ta'ufo'ou Standard

By Matt Kawahara

In Will Ta'ufo'ou, the Cal football team lost a 6-foot, 255-pound fullback who could bulldoze a linebacker, surprise you with his speed, catch a pass out of the backfield and -- despite guiding 1,500-yard rushers in back-to-back years -- probably go unnoticed on campus.

In Ta'ufo'ou's replacement, the Bears are looking for somebody who can do all of those things (the latter is probably optional) and fill what running backs coach Ron Gould right now calls a "void" in the backfield. Fortunately for an offense riding a streak of seven straight seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher, Ta'ufo'ou taught his potential replacements quite a bit before he left.

"I learned a lot of things from Will, man," says senior Brian Holley. "Playing fullback, it's not glorified, its not anything. Just be humble, go in there and get the job done. That's what I learned from Will. He did that every day."

Link to rest of article.

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