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CCSF loses most of its offense -- and reloads
By: Jake Curtis, Chronicle Staff Writer
Every year City College of San Francisco sends a bunch of players to Division I-A programs, and every year it maintains its spot among the elite junior-college football programs in the country.
This season, for example, George Rush's Rams returned only one offensive starter. Nonetheless, after a 40-0 victory over a Fresno City College team that was nationally ranked, CCSF (3-0) finds itself ranked No. 1 in the country in this week's JC Grid-Wire poll heading into Saturday's game at West Valley.
Cal wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins, who played at CCSF the past two seasons, is not at all surprised that a team that lost 10 offensive starters can retain such dominance.
"They had 10 other guys right behind us who were just about as good," he said, "and they probably have 10 other guys behind them who are about the same."
Cal has been the biggest beneficiary of CCSF's talent load since Jeff Tedford came to Berkeley. This season alone, four former CCSF players have started games for the Bears -- Hawkins, quarterback Joe Ayoob, linebacker Desmond Bishop and defensive end Fahim Mujaahid Abd Allah.
Although Hawkins was a big-time high school recruit, Ayoob and Bishop were virtual nobodies. Bishop was not ranked among the nation's top 100 outside linebackers as a Fairfield High School senior, and Ayoob was not among the top 200 quarterbacks coming out of Terra Linda High in San Rafael.
After two years at CCSF, they were among the top-rated JC players in the country.
Ayoob's quarterback replacement at CCSF is 5-foot-10 Andrew Strom, who received little recruiting attention out of Novato High but is getting the job done at CCSF with six touchdown passes against two interceptions. He is aided by running back Tyreece Jacks, a Woodside High graduate who's averaging 6 yards a carry, and the one returning starter, wide receiver Maurice Purify.
Replacing Bishop as the linebacking star is Larry Grant, who had signed to play at Division I-AA Murray State out of high school and now, two years later, is considering high-profile Division I-A schools. Against Fresno, Grant intercepted two passes, had a sack and blocked a punt that he returned for a touchdown.
Safety Mathew Harper is the other defensive standout for CCSF, which has recorded shutouts the past two weeks.
"This team has real good team chemistry and great team speed," Rush said. "I like this team."
He's reluctant to compare it to some of his past teams at CCSF, and there are bits of Rush's past teams scattered around the country. Former CCSF players who currently are starters at Division I-A programs include Chijioke Onyenegecha (Oklahoma cornerback), Albert Toeaina (Tennessee offensive tackle), DeQawn Mobley (Texas A&M safety), Cornealius Fuamatu-Thomas (Nebraska offensive tackle), Maurice Porter (Kansas State safety) and Isaac Watts (UNLV defensive end). In addition, Antwaun Sherman is the leading rusher at Idaho, and Randy Sims was scheduled to be a starting linebacker at Arizona before he was slowed by injuries.
And there will be more to come. |
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