#7 - Zach Maynard/ Quarterback/ California Golden Bears/ Junior
Coming into the 2011 season, Cal has a stacked roster, built on blue chip recruits and a quarterback who came to Berkeley by way of Transfer.Dual threat lefty quarterback Zach Maynard started his career that lasted 2 seasons at the University of Buffalo under former head coach Turner Gill from 2008-2009, coming out of high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. The cal coaching staff has built a nice pipeline to the Greensboro area and have locked down the city pretty well in recruiting. Three blue chip recruits from Greensboro( Keenan Allen, Gabe King, and Chris McCain) also signed with Cal in 2010 .
Maynard started as a sophomore at Buffalo in '09, throwing for 2,694 yards and had a touchdown to interception ratio of 18/15. The 6'3 195 lbs. redshirt junior also did some damage with his legs his sophomore year, gaining 455 yards on 87 carries with a touchdown on the ground. After the 2009 season, Maynard transferred to California where his dual threat ability to run and throw brings a new quarterback element that Cal has never had under head coach Jeff Tedford. The 10th year head coach and his offensive coordinator since 2009, Andy Ludwig, have had great success at grooming young throwers into riflemen with poise and professional mechanics who end up in the NFL. Trent Dilfer and David Carr at Fresno State, Joey Harrington, A.J Feely and Akili Smith at Oregon, and most recent, Brian Johnson at Utah ( Ludwig) and Aaron Rodgers (Tedford) at Cal, were all great college quarterbacks and all but Johnson have started in the NFL where both Dilfer and Rodgers each won super bowl rings. Maynard comes in with a grasp of the college game already at this level, and has two years as a starter to learn and thrive under the tutelage of Tedford and Ludwig. The junior lefty also has some star receivers to throw to help his cause this season. Senior Marvin Jones caught 43 balls for 651 yards and 6 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2009, and added 765 yards on 50 receptions with 4 touchdowns last season as a junior. Jones has had good career statistics with 1,424 yards on 94 receptions with 10 touchdowns in three years. Sophomore blue chipper( who I have as my #21 under the radar player to watch in 2011) Keenan Allen is back in the mix at receiver with beastly senior tight end Anthony Miller. The 6'4 265 lbs possession receiving tight end is another main target for Maynard to throw to, giving the junior quarterback a arsenal of weapons to this season. Tevin Carter is another target at receiver to watch for in the Golden Bear offense in 2011.
Cal has struggled with consistency in the past 4 seasons, but this season, adding a quarterback who can bring multi-dimensions to the position can help the bears overcome their lack of consistency at QB since Rodgers left campus in 2006. And even the super bowl winning Rodgers didn't play college football with the most nimble feet in the universe; the guy was rather slow. I am interested to see what Maynard can bring to this Golden Bear team and if the first year starter in the PAC 12 will live past the fact that most first year starters in the PAC 12 , don't fare too well historically. ( Darron Thomas, Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley and Jake Locker are the recent exceptions). I expect big things from a very talented California team in 2011, but the difference between a 9-3 and 7-6 record all rests on the pressured left shoulder of Maynard.
Author: Ronald Hill
Photo: Courtesy of buffalonews.com
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