California head coach Jeff Tedford has taught a few well-known quarterbacks in his coaching career.
Five top 20, first-round NFL draft picks have come from Tedford’s guidance, including the No. 1 and No. 3 picks — David Carr of Fresno State and Oregon’s Joey Harrington — in the 2002 draft.
In his second season as head coach of the Golden Bears, Tedford may have a future top draft pick in transfer sophomore Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers spent his first collegiate season at Butte College in Chico, Calif., where he garnered Division I attention while leading his junior college to a No. 2 national ranking.
“He certainly is a great find,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “He’s really the first guy that Jeff’s recruited in a long time. He picked a good one.”
The Chico native threw for 2,408 yards and 28 touchdowns in his sole season at Butte, where the team went 10-1.
“I told my junior college coach that if I had a good year, I’d like to get out in one year,” Rodgers told the Copley News Service in a story that ran in Illinois’ State Journal-Register. “He was totally approving of me doing that.
“I felt Cal was a great fit. Being able to play for coach Tedford, who is one of the top quarterback coaches in the nation, and playing in a program on the rise, it was a perfect fit.”
After junior quarterback Reggie Robertson started the first four games for the Golden Bears — leading them to a 1-3 record — Tedford handed the starting role to Rodgers.
With Rodgers under center, California is 4-2. The sophomore has completed 127 of his 217 pass attempts — an impressive 58.5 percent — for 1,614 yards and 10 touchdowns with three interceptions.
“Aaron is settling in and feeling more comfortable,” Tedford told the Contra Costa Times. “He made some plays against Arizona State, keeping his eyes down the field when things were breaking down. He made some plays you don’t draw up on the board.”
Rodgers was named the Pacific-10 Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week after the Golden Bears stomped Arizona State, 51-23, at Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday. In the victory, Rodgers completed 17 of 22 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns.
“Our rushing attack (327 yards the previous week against Arizona) opened up our passing game against Arizona State,” Rodgers told the Contra Costa Times. “They had a lot of eight-man fronts trying to stop our run.”
Wide receiver Geoff McArthur and tailback Adimchinobe Echemandu have made the impact in Rodger’s smoothly running offense.
Echemandu, Rodgers and McArthur, “in my mind, jump-started their offense and are getting better each week,” Bellotti said.
McArthur has 1,037 receiving yards and seven touchdowns this season while Echemandu has run for 1,009 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Rodgers has had three 250-plus-yard passing games in his six starts.
“I’m still looking for that complete game, and I haven’t played it yet,” Rodgers told the Daily Californian after Saturday’s victory.
When reminded of his Player of the Week-worthy performance, Rodgers replied:
“Well, I did have five incompletions. I can get rid of those.”