"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

By Anthony Gimino

Taking a little break from all the hoops talk, let’s look at the preseason best in Pac-10 football. By now, you might have seen one or more of the magazines and their accompanying rankings.

There is a certain logic to picking a preseason team, so there ends up being mostly a consensus of opinion among the publications. What you rarely get are wild predictions, because, trust me, no magazine editor wants to take the heat for a pick that looks screwy in June. Even if it turns out to be right, who really remembers several months later?

So, what we’ve done here is give you the best logic we can, accompanied by a brief breakdown, along with a player at each position who definitely could crash the party.

QB — Jeremiah Masoli, Oregon

Comment: The Pac-10 has such a dearth of experience here that the only sensible choices are Masoli or Washington’s Jake Locker. I love watching Locker, but the guy is less than a 50 percent career passer and he still has a way to go to be Tim Tebow-lite. So the pick here is Masoli, who has a perfect blend of running, passing and moxie in Oregon’s read-option offense.

Watch for: Aaron Corp, USC … or maybe that should be Matt Barkley, USC

RB — Jahvid Best, Cal; Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State
One of the Pac-10′s best positions, and it’s not an easy call leaving off Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount and Stanford’s Toby Gerhart … and Arizona’s Nic Grigsby is a fifth 1,000-yard rusher from last season. But this is more of a case that — to use a double negative — you can’t NOT put Best and Rodgers on the first team. Best is the nation’s top home-run threat (sorry, C.J. Spiller at Clemson) and Rodgers won the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award as a freshman. Know this about Best: He had seven rushes of at least 60 yards last season.

Watch for: Joe McKnight, USC

WR — Damian Williams, USC; James Rodgers, Oregon State
One of the Pac-10′s worst positions, and the inexperience at quarterback will make connections even harder to find. Williams, after a season in which he became the Trojans’ go-to guy, is an easy pick. Rodgers’ contributions on the fly sweep and in the return game, make him a great all-purpose pick, if you were inclined to do that. Problem is, who would you then put at first-team receiver? If nothing else, Washington’s emerging De’Andre Goodwin should have a good statistical year if the Huskies take to coach Steve Sarkisian’s pro-style offense.

Watch for: Marvin Jones, Cal

TE — Rob Gronkowski, Arizona
No explanation necessary.

Watch for: Ed Dickson, Oregon

OL — C Kris O’Dowd, USC; OG Jeff Byers, USC; OT Charles Brown, USC; OT Shawn Lauvao, ASU; OT Chris Marinelli, Stanford
O’Dowd definitely is on the fast track. Last season, he became the 14th sophomore offensive lineman to earn first-team All-Pac-10 honors. Five of the previous 13 ended up being first-round picks, and four turned into Pro Bowl players — Olin Kreutz, Tony Boselli, Bob Whitfield and Roy Foster. Brown is considered a first-day NFL draft pick in 2010, but the league’s senior talent along the line is thin.

Watch for: OT Mike Tepper, Cal

DL — DE Dexter Davis, ASU; DE Tyson Alualu, Cal; DT Brian Price, UCLA; DT Stephen Paea, Oregon State
You could go several different ways at this position. Would a second-team unit of DE Will Tukuafu (Oregon), DT Lawrence Guy (ASU), DE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim (Washington) and bundle-of-talent DE Everson Griffen (USC) be much worse than the first team? Arizona’s Brooks Reed and Earl Mitchell should be somewhere in the discussion as they enter their second seasons on the line. Cal’s still-improving end Cameron Jordan has all-league skill, and Stanford, collectively, has a strong unit.

Watch for: DE Cameron Jordan, Cal

LB — Reggie Carter, UCLA; Keaton Kristick, Oregon State; Mike Nixon, ASU
Minus the usual USC All-Americans, this is a rather uninspiring group. More exciting will be to see the rise of UCLA’s Akeem Ayers and Cal’s Mike Mohamed, who had 87 tackles as a reserve last season and can play any of the linebacker spots in the Bears’ 3-4 defense.

Watch for: Michael Morgan, USC

DB — FS Taylor Mays, USC; CB Syd’Quan Thompson, Cal; Alterraun Verner, UCLA; Walter Thurmond III, Oregon
The Pac-10 does well in the secondary. As a West Coast honk, I’ll take Mays over Tennessee’s Eric Berry as the best safety in the country, and this trio of corners compares to the top three in any conference (well, maybe except for the SEC).

Watch for: Devin Ross, Arizona

K — Kai Forbath, UCLA
His accuracy, plus his long-range success — 6 of 6 from 50-plus yards — makes him the best in the country.

P — Bryan Anger, Cal
He’s a sophomore who will be an All-American before his career is over.

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