9/4/2014 football Edit

Rankings Rewind: Strong start for Kessler

Mike Farrell

National Recruiting Director

Jalen Jefferson's late interception sealed Cal's win over Northwestern.

The Cal Golden Bears have not had a great deal to be excited about in recent years, but during a season opening 31-24 victory over Northwestern, fans were definitely able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Part of this was due to the play of redshirt junior linebacker Jalen Jefferson, who finished with 16 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, one sack and an interception that sealed the victory.

Jefferson redshirted in 2011, and then played in eight games in 2012, making seven starts. He contributed with 47 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. Last season he started 11 games, missing one due to an injury. During his 11 games he totaled 64 tackles, three sacks and one interception. He comes into the 2014 season as the active leader in sack and tackles for a loss, while being second in tackles.

At St. Bonaventure in Ventura, Calif., Jefferson impressed during a junior season that saw him total 70 tackles, six sacks and one interception. He definitely took his game to the next level as a senior with 110 tackles, five sacks, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. With recruiting, by the end of the spring after his junior season, Jefferson held offers from Cal, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State and Iowa State. His initial plans were to wait until National Signing Day to make a decision. An official visit to Cal in October changed everything as he committed by the end of his weekend at Berkeley.

Jefferson was a 3-star athlete in the Class of 2011, the No. 53 recruit in California and the No. 41 athlete nationally. He was not ranked nationally overall. While he does have almost two full seasons remaining at Cal, at this time his ranking seems correct. It is also difficult to judge his performance last season playing on a team that went 1-11 and on a defense that gave up an average of 45.9 points per game. The potential is there, but he will need to continue to show improvement to be considered a higher-tier player.

Eric Kendricks

Three-star, Class of 2010

Eric Kendricks returned this interception 37 yards for a touchdown against Virginia.

While a majority of the attention at UCLA has gone to Myles Jack, the Bruins defense has a number of other impressive weapons. One of these is senior linebacker Eric Kendricks, who was named the Pac-12 defensive player of the week after he totaled 16 tackles, a forced fumble, which was returned for a touchdown, and returned an interception 37 yards for another touchdown during the victory over Virginia.

Kendricks has led the Bruins in tackles each of the past two seasons, with his 150 tackles in 2012 being the most by a UCLA player since 1978. He made a quick impression at UCLA after redshirting in 2010, by playing all 14 games in 2011 and finishing second on the team with 76 tackles. Then after his impressive 2012 season, he followed that up by being a team-captain in 2013 and earning honorable mention all-conference honors.

Hoover High School in Fresno, Calif., was home to Kendricks, where he saw time at linebacker, quarterback, running back, kicker and punter. Team captain in both his junior and senior season, Kendricks finished with 85 tackles and two sacks as a junior and then 117 tackles, two interceptions, plus 14 touchdowns, as a senior. Recruiting was slow to take off for Kendricks, but after he won the LB MVP at the Palo Alto Nike Camp in the spring of 2009, things began to pick up. Following the camp, Fresno State and Nevada became his first two offers. After camping at UCLA during the summer, which is where his father played in the 70's, he became firmly entrenched on their radar but did not receive an offer until late October. It only took a couple of days for him to decide that he wanted to follow his father's footsteps in Los Angeles.

Kendricks was a 3-star recruit in the Class of 2010, No. 92 in California, the No. 60 outside linebacker nationally, but not ranked nationally overall. With his performance at UCLA, an argument can be made that Kendricks was slightly undervalued coming out of high school, but as with his offers at that time suggest, he has surpassed expectations. Credit should definitely go out to the UCLA staff for identifying his potential early.

P.J. Walker

Two-star, Class of 2013

P.J. Walker led Temple to a surprising blowout win over Vanderbilt.

Temple does not get a great deal of national attention, but after an impressive win Thursday night at Vanderbilt, people definitely took notice. Leading the way for the Owls was sophomore quarterback P.J. Walker, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for a third touchdown, during the 37-7 trouncing.

Despite a 2-10 season in 2013, one of the bright spots for the Owls was the play of the freshman quarterback, who became a starter in week six against Cincinnati. In his time on the field last fall, Walker finished with 2,084 yards and 20 touchdowns. His touchdown total set a freshman record at Temple, while his yardage total was the fourth best single-season mark in school history.

Walker played his high school football at Elizabeth High School in New Jersey, where he was a four-year starter. In 2012, as a junior, he was named the state's offensive player of year after leading Elizabeth to a state title while passing for 2,168 yards and 18 touchdowns. Walker committed to Temple in June after his junior season and also held offers from Connecticut, East Carolina, Rutgers, Toledo and UMass. However, some of the offers were as an athlete and not a quarterback.

As a two-star dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2013, Walker was not ranked nationally, at his position or in New Jersey. Obviously it is still early to fully predict how Walker's career at Temple will play out, but at this time it is quite possible that he was greatly undervalued by everyone coming out of high school. He plays with confidence, has a very strong arm and can also cause havoc with his mobility. It should be interesting to see how his game progresses in Philadelphia over the coming seasons, but one thing is for sure -- the questions about whether he can play quarterback at the FBS level have been answered.

Henry Coley

Three-star, Class of 2010

Henry Coley and the Virginia defense harassed UCLA all day.

While Virginia may have lost the game against UCLA on Saturday, the Cavaliers still showed that they should be a team to watch this season. Leading the way for the defense was linebacker Henry Coley who finished with 14 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and a pass break-up.

Coley played his high school football at Bayside High School in talent rich Virginia Beach. He saw playing time on the varsity level at Bayside as a freshman and sophomore, but then jumped onto the recruiting radar after a junior season that saw him finish with 93 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss and nine sacks. At Virginia, after redshirting in 2010, Coley saw limited action in 2011 because of an injury, but then started his first game in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. In 2012, Coley started the first eight games of the season and finished with 40 tackles and 4.5 tackles for a loss. He came back in 2012 and was a starter for all 12 games. He lead the team with 91 tackles, plus had 8.5 tackles for a loss and one sack. This season, he is one of the four captains.

With recruiting, Coley had to wait until May after his junior season to pull in his first offer from Navy, which was quickly followed by Louisville, Temple, Liberty and Richmond. The offer from Virginia finally came in June, and after a couple of visits, Coley committed to the Cavaliers in early July. With rumors of a coaching change swirling around Charlottesville, rumors also began to surface that Coley may be looking around. However, despite his close relationship with Coach Al Groh, Coley stuck with Virginia and decided to play for Coach Mike London. Coley can actually be credited with starting the Bayside pipeline to UVa followed by Demetrius Nicholson, Anthony Cooper, Taquan Mizzell and Quin Blanding.

Coley was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2010, but not rated nationally, at his position or in Virginia. He has had a very productive career at Virginia and in hindsight should have been ranked a little higher. As long as he continues to progress as he has been, a career in the NFL is not out of the question.