Jahvid Best is fast, really fast.
Ridiculously fast, said Minnesota Gophers linebackers coach John Butler who, like everybody else associated with the Gophers defense, has been watching hours of film of the California running back.
“He’s a Heisman Trophy-caliber back who has, at any time, the ability to go 99 yards for a touchdown against anybody,” Butler said. “He has ridiculous speed. Our kids know that.”
So this is where it starts.
The eighth-ranked Bears have a number of offensive threats. Backup running back Shane Vereen is a great run-receiver dual threat.
Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig has come over from Utah to add spice to the Bears attack. Wide receivers Marvin Jones, Verran Tucker and Nyan Boateng all have big-play ability. You don’t score 50-plus points in consecutive games for the first time since 1973 without a wealth of offensive skill.
But it starts with Best, who has good size (5-10, 195 pounds) and sprinter speed. Best ran the 100-meter race in 10.31 seconds to win the California state championship as a high school senior and his 40-yard time is between 4.3 and 4.4.
Gophers coach Tim Brewster said Best will be unlike any back his Gophers have seen.
“Because he’s so fast,” Brewster said. “I don’t know that we’ve faced a back as fast as he is.”
The Bears have been an explosive bunch, with 24 plays of at least 15 yards in the first two games. Best has been involved with eight of those, six runs and two receptions. Best is fifth in the nation with 281 rushing yards, a number that would be higher had he not sat out the final quarters of two blowout victories over Maryland and Eastern Washington. Even more impressive is his 10.4-yard per-rush average. No wonder ESPN has him ranked third in its Heisman Watch.
“I just know that since I am the marked man, I have to be on my P’s and Q’s,” Best said after practice Wednesday, the day before Cal came to Minnesota. “I can’t mess up. I can’t afford to mess up.”
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He hasn’t missed yet. Since the start of the 2008 season — which ended with him gaining 1,580 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns — Best has run for more than 100 yards 10 times. California is 8-2 in those games. Four times he has failed to reach 100 yards, and Cal is 2-2.
Best’s big-play threat fuels Cal’s play-action passing game, one reason quarterback Mike Riley has remained turnover-free through two weeks.
Bottom line: The best way to slow Cal is to slow Best. The key word here is slow. Because you probably won’t stop him.
“To defend a guy like him it’s not one guy, it’s 11,” Butler said. “One guy gets out of his gap, does what he’s not supposed to do, he’ll find it and he’s gone.”
The Bears enter with the sixth-ranked rushing offense in the nation at 293 yards per game. Minnesota is ranked 92nd in rush defense, allowing 175 yards, a number that is at least partially skewed by having played Air Force’s triple-option, run-oriented attack.
The Gophers’ best chance at slowing Best lies with the linebacking corps, which has been a strength of the Gophers defense.
“They’re big, physical guys,” Best said. “Their D-line is huge, and their linebackers are huge. It’s going to be a physical game.”
It has to be, said Gophers linebacker Lee Campbell.
“You have to attack him,” Campbell said. “He’s going to run, he’s going to find cut-back lanes. We just have to come downhill and attack.”