Walk-on student-athletes are not like you or me

[Because I forgot to mention this before: The Chronicle, while not the most sterling example of journalism ever, had a great subheadline for their fall camp preview: "Bears might even live up to expectations." Do you think we've been burned by our (not even very) high expectations before?]

Last week, the Chronicle ran an article about Tedford's success with, and appreciation for, walk-ons.

Why is he so successful?

Walk-on quarterback Bryan Van Meter, a sophomore out of Aptos High School, will make the trip to Tennessee as the Bears' third-string quarterback. That position was open due to the suspension of senior quarterback Steve Levy, who has been competing against senior Joe Ayoob and sophomore Nate Longshore for the starting job.

Making the traveling team was somewhat of a surprise for Van Meter since red-shirt freshman Kyle Reed had been generally taking most of the snap behind Longshore, Ayoob and Levy. Tedford said Van Meter's knowledge of the offense set him up to make the trip.

Van Meter has been at Cal the same amount of time as all-everything recruit Kyle Reed (Reed redshirted last year; Van Meter didn't), but Tedford obviously think if things have gone so far south he needs his third-string QB, it's better to go with the guy who knows the playbook than the guy who will try to force things because he knows he can. (Also: Van Meter is a white kid from rural, fairly wealthy Aptos, and Reed is a black kid from one of the most ethnically mixed cities in the US who went to Oakland public schools. Not that this has anything to do with why Van Meter is "smart" and Reed is "athletic.")

Poor Timmy

On Friday during practice, Tim Mixon, Cal's starting CB and punt returner, tore his right anterior cruciate ligament.

He was a 2nd team All-American at CB and top 15 in the nation in yardage returning punts last year.

Ouch! Poor Timmy.

(On the bright side, even though he's a senior this year, he lost nearly all of his sophomore year to a torn ligament in his left knee, so he might be able to get a sixth year of NCAA eligibility; or he might just go in the NCAA draft, since he is a highly regarded a pre-season All-American candidate.

But still: poor Timmy.)