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Turning a 1-10 team into the 7-5 squad from a year ago was an outstanding coaching effort, but Tedford will have to summon all of his skills to get his 2003 squad into bowl contention. The Bears lost 24 seniors from the 2002 team and almost every key player -- including quarterback Kyle Boller, tailback Joe Igber and defensive end Tully Banta-Cain -- is gone. "This will be a learning process for me," Tedford said. "I haven't seen this much turnover in a program before. The transition of losing so many players is new to me. We're going to find out right away how important our high school recruits and our junior college transfers are going to be for us." Tedford has just three returning starters on defense -- none of whom started more than seven games -- and six on offense. He will have to depend on a recruiting class that featured 10 junior college transfers and 19 freshmen. OFFENSIVE KEYS: After four years of Boller, Cal's search for a new starting quarterback might be the key to the season. The only quarterback with experience is junior Reggie Robertson, who played in six games (including two starts as a freshman) over the past two seasons. Robertson was in a battle with sophomore Richard Schwartz in the spring, but the starting assignment might go to junior college transfer Aaron Rodgers, who will have to learn the Bears' offense in preseason camp."It would be very difficult to play a quarterback in this system without a lot of repetitions," Tedford said. "But Aaron is very smart. We feel very good about him." The starting tailback job is also in question. If completely healthy, senior Adimchinobe Echemandu is the likely candidate. He missed the entire 2002 season after blowing out his knee in a spring scrimmage. If Echemandu doesn't win the job, redshirt freshman Marcus O'Keith, Cal's marquee signee in 2002, appears ready to make his move. Cal has plenty of experience at wide receiver, but with the exception of the incoming freshmen, little speed. Leading the group is senior Jonathan Makonnen, a gifted possession receiver who led the Bears with 54 catches in 2002. DEFENSIVE KEYS: Coordinator Bob Gregory has major work to do on a defense that returns just two players who started more than half of the Bears' games last fall. Cal's interior line appears to be in the good hands of tackle Lorenzo Alexander, an honorable mention all-conference pick in 2002, and either Josh Beckham or Tom Sverchek, who combined for seven starts last fall. However, the Bears have issues at end after losing their top four players to graduation.Cal suffered significant losses at linebacker, but change might be a good thing. A steady group has given way to a quicker, more athletic set of linebackers. Outside 'backer Wendell Hunter came into his own last season with 43 tackles and was pushing for a starting assignment at the end of 2002. Sophomore rover Donnie McCleskey took over the starting role midway through the season and averaged 5.4 tackles in his seven starts. SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior punter Tyler Fredrickson would like to pull double duty but has yet to place-kick in a college game. As insurance, Tedford signed Lucas Everett from Sierra (Calif.) College to compete for both jobs.Replacing Powell as the punt returner and LaShaun Ward as the kickoff returner might be even more difficult. Tim Mixon leads the candidates for punt-return duties while the kickoff return position is wide open. FINAL ANALYSIS: Two major things need to happen for Cal to approach its 7-5 record from a year ago. First, many of the 10 junior college transfers will have to earn starting spots immediately and play well at a much higher level of competition. Second, the Bears need a couple of players on each side of the ball to develop into all-conference type talents.Still, this Cal team is too inexperienced and the schedule is too tough to expect much in 2003. The Bears might take a step back in the second year of the Tedford era, but this is clearly a program on the rise. • Click here for complete index of 2003 team previews
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