Pro Career Next Route for Cal’s Uwaezuoke?

There are three games left in Iheanyi Uwaezuoke’s college football career, but Uwaezuoke is already thinking about his future.

He has to.

A receiver at California, Uwaezuoke had hoped to finish his senior year No. 2 on the school’s receptions list and with the Golden Bears battling for a Rose Bowl berth.

But those expectations have likely died; the Golden Bears are struggling at 2-6, 1-4 in Pacific 10 Conference play, and the standout from Harvard High (now Harvard-Westlake) still is recovering from thumb surgery.

Uwaezuoke, who missed the first two games because of torn ligaments in his thumb, has 27 catches for 459 yards, including seven for 150 last week in one of the best games of his career. But it was another Cal loss, 33-16 to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Uwaezuoke has 111 receptions (currently tied for eighth with Matt Bouza) and needs 29 to overtake Mike Caldwell (139) at No. 2 on the career list.

But he might soon be more concerned about a career in professional football.

His effort against UCLA included a 17-yard touchdown, for which he catapulted himself like Superman to make an airborne reception in the end zone.

His acrobatics made highlight films across the country.

Uwaezuoke saw the play for the first time Sunday, sitting on a couch next to former Cal defensive lineman Stafford Evans. The catch so excited Evans, 6 feet 3, 275 pounds in his playing days, that he jumped on the lap of Uwaezuoke (6-2, 195) and nearly squashed him.

The catch highlighted the explosiveness and athleticism of Uwaezuoke, who started at Cal as a non-scholarship player but now looks more like an NFL prospect.

“In my mind, I’m a prospect,” Uwaezuoke said. “I think if I can get in the right situation, I could realize my potential even more so. It seems like, from high school to college, it’s been a slow, steadily evolving growth and maturity toward my potential.”

Uwaezuoke was touted more highly as a safety than a receiver at Harvard. He had 24 receptions for 324 yards to go with 81 tackles his senior year. But last season he established himself as Cal’s big-play receiver with 56 catches for 716 yards and five scores.

Uwaezuoke continued to improve during the summer by working out daily with future NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice of the 49ers.

“People call and talk to me about this big Cinderella story about me,” Uwaezuoke said. “Walking on at Cal and getting a chance at the pros . . . I think it’s taking form. I’m enjoying the game. I’ve gone through so much just to get to where I am now. I started from scratch.

“Hopefully, there will be a fairy-tale ending.”

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Carlos Baker will be the first to admit he is a wide-eyed freshman at Nevada Las Vegas. But those wide eyes have served him well.

Baker, 18, has caught 19 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown while averaging 17.9 yards a reception.

In an entire season last year at Burbank High, Baker caught 22 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 11.1.

“It’s hard, but I have a great coaching staff and I’m getting playing time,” said Baker, who was expected to use 1995 as a redshirt season but was rushed into a starting role because three of UNLV’s top four receivers are either injured or no longer in the program.

“I’m not taking it for granted, because the talent level in college is so awesome,” Baker said. “I just like to sit down and just watch these guys.”

And they must enjoy watching Baker. In his past two games, against San Jose State and Nevada, he has 12 receptions for 268 yards.

“I’m having a great time,” said Baker, a two-way standout at Burbank. “It’s a totally different experience from high school. The strength and speed . . . the linebackers are as fast as the defensive backs in high school. The DBs are stronger and quicker.

“You can’t reverse your direction after catching the ball because a linebacker is coming at you at a high rate of speed. Everything you do has to be very precise.”

But for a player who didn’t know whether he would be a receiver or defensive back before the season, let alone play, Baker already has made big strides.

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In the toughest fall of his life, former quarterback Todd Preston refuses to go near Nippert Stadium on the Cincinnati campus on game days.

“I’ve been staying away from it as much as I can,” said Preston, the Bearcats’ starter in 1994 whose career ended because of a back injury. “I miss it. I think I’d be more frustrated just going to the games. That’s the stuff you really miss. This is the first year Ihaven’t played football since I was 9 years old.”

Preston, a senior from Westlake and Moorpark College who completed 54% of his passes for 538 yards last season, has three herniated disks in his lower back that probably will require surgery.

Preston might soon be advising his younger brother Casey, a junior at Westlake, on what it takes to be a college quarterback.

“I tell him you have to work really hard in college,” Todd said. “It’s more of a business.”