Elite 11 QB makes his decision

It took a little longer than he expected, but Beaverton (Ore.) quarterback Kevin Riley was finally able to make known publicly what he had done silently almost two weeks ago.

In the early part of July, Riley dropped us a call to let us know he had committed to Cal. Only problem for Riley was he had not talked to Bears head coach Jeff Tedford yet and wanted to wait to tell the head man of his decision before going public. That happened earlier today.

"Yeah, I told coach Wilcox but I felt I owed it to Coach Tedford to hear it from me before he had to read it somewhere," Riley said. "He was on vacation in Costa Rica and I tried to call him a couple of times on his cell phone but could never reach him and since it was a dead period, he couldn't call me back.

"I was finally able to reach him and he was excited for me. I had known Cal was where I wanted to go for awhile now but just wanted to wait it out a bit before making my decision. I'm a fan of Coach Tedford and the offense they run. He has had some great success with quarterbacks and I really liked working with him at the Cal camp.

"I know they have a lot of good young quarterbacks at Cal already in Nate Longshore and Kyle Reed but anywhere I go, there is going to be great competition so I'm not worried about it. I'm eager to compete and I feel like I picked the best school for me."

Riley, 6-1, 195 pounds had a strong showing at the NorCal Nike camp and then really wowed onlookers at the EA SPORTS Elite 11 in Las Vegas. It was there that Riley was selected to the final EA Sports Elite 11 later this month and after seeing him throw head to head with some of the nation's top signal callers such as Matt Stafford, Zack Frazier, Jevan Snead and Demetrius Jones, there is no doubt Riley is truly one of the nation's best at his position.

"I'm excited about the Elite 11, it has been a goal of mine for awhile," Riley said. "It's going to be a great time and I can't wait to get out there and compete with the other quarterbacks in the country."