Best offensive player: Junior RB Shane Vereen. Get to know the name because it could reach household status before Halloween. Vereen is so talented, the Bears might not even miss Jahvid Best. In fact, when Best was injured late last year, the former backup erupted for 565 yards and six touchdowns on the ground in the final four games alone. Not only does he run with tremendous jets and vision, but he has a blue-collar work ethic and the burning desire to become the next great back in Berkeley. Don’t bet against it happening.
Best defensive player: Senior LB Mike Mohamed. In a 3-4 defense, you cannot have enough playmaking linebackers. Mohamed sure qualifies. Tasked with becoming the leader of a rebuilt corps in 2009, he responded by making a Pac-10-high 112 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two sacks, and three interceptions en route to a spot on the all-conference first team. At 6-3 and 238 pounds, he has the range and fundamentals to constantly be in a position to make key plays.
Key player to a successful season: Senior QB Kevin Riley … again. While it’s not as if Riley is being asked to channel Carson Palmer in his final year, the program desperately needs better play at quarterback. Sure, his numbers don’t look all that bad from a year ago, but they don’t tell the entire story. Against the better opponents on last year’s schedule, he had a habit of disappearing and accounted for just three touchdowns in five losses, hardly the mark of a transcendent quarterback.
The season will be a success if ... the Bears wind up no lower than second on the Pac-10 ladder. It’s a big challenge in a conference that has a growing number of quality and tightly-packed programs. Naturally, everyone in blue and gold will be pointing to the school’s first Rose Bowl since 1958, but that’s a reach for team that probably won’t even the year ranked in the Top 25.
Key game: Nov. 20 vs. Stanford. The Big Game has gotten even bigger now that the Cardinal has joined the race for Pac-10 supremacy. This is the middle game of a three-week, season-ending homestand that will dictate where the Bears spend the holidays. After pulling an impressive upset on the Farm last November, they’d love nothing more than to make it eight wins in the last nine games with their chief rival.
2010 Schedule
Sept. 4 UC Davis
Sept. 11 Colorado
Sept. 17 at Nevada
Sept. 25 at Arizona
Oct. 2 OPEN DATE
Oct. 9 UCLA
Oct. 16 at USC
Oct. 23 Arizona State
Oct. 30 at Oregon State
Nov. 6 at Washington St
Nov. 13 Oregon
Nov. 20 Stanford
Nov. 27 Washington
