Quarterbacking Cal Anything but a Snap

Jared Bazar and Chris Ciccone were watching the California-Fresno State football game on television a few weeks ago, paying close attention to their former high school teammate, quarterback Kyle Boller.

Bazar and Ciccone used to catch Boller’s passes at Newhall Hart. They never complained about the bruises on their forearms from Boller’s powerful spirals and couldn’t understand the criticism they were hearing.

“The announcers were saying he was throwing the ball too hard and the balls were bouncing off his receivers’ chests,” Bazar said. “What were they thinking? We were looking at each other like, ‘What are you talking about? We caught his passes.’ ”

At the midway point of his sophomore season at California, Boller is struggling with unfulfilled expectations. His bullet-like passes that once led to comparisons to John Elway are not being caught consistently, leading some to ask, “Is Boller overrated?”

The answer is an emphatic “no” from those who watched Boller pass for a state-record 4,841 yards and 59 touchdowns his senior year at Hart.

“He’s got skills that quarterbacks only dream about,” said Dean Herrington, Boller’s quarterback coach at Hart. “He’s been put in a tough situation. I think he’s kind of embarrassed. He has such great character, he takes the blame for things and isn’t going to point fingers.”

California, 1-4 before today’s home game against UCLA (4-1), is averaging 13.8 points a game and ranks 105th among 114 Division I-A teams in scoring. So the pressure is growing for the Golden Bear offense to produce. Boller, who’s 19 and not used to failure, is facing the toughest test of his athletic career.

“Mentally, he’s going through some hard times,” said his father, Bob. “It’s hard to watch your kid out there, taking a beating. He’s trying his best. He’s not having the success he thought he’d have, for a million different reasons.”

Start with an offensive line that’s never had the same group of five players together for consecutive games because of injuries. Sacks are down to 11, compared to last year’s total of 36, but the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Boller is still taking punishment, raising the specter that he might not make it through the season. Last year, he separated his shoulder in the next-to-last game and required surgery.

Boller doesn’t help matters because of his pride and determination.

“Sometimes he’s too tough for his own good,” Herrington said. “He’s going to hang in there and get the ball off. He’ll take hit after hit after hit. He’ll never want to come out. He picks himself up, but when those huge guys are hitting you, you can only take so much.”

As a true freshman, Boller started eight games and passed for 1,303 yards and nine touchdowns while completing 38.6%. This season, he’s stronger, faster and more experienced. He has raised his completion percentage to 46.8 and passed for 784 yards and four touchdowns.

But he has been unable to develop timing with his receivers, resulting in overthrown passes and blown opportunities because of miscommunication. Injuries and inexperience with the receivers have exacerbated the problem.

“I try to make sure I keep my confidence up when things are going bad,” Boller said. “When you keep losing games, it’s easy for your confidence to go down the tubes. I take each practice and try to get better.”

Coach Tom Holmoe insists that the offense is improving. The Golden Bears rushed for a season-best 255 yards last week in a 30-10 loss to Arizona State. Holmoe said Boller’s erratic performance is understandable.

“If Kyle would be at Florida State, he wouldn’t have to be the guy that carries the team,” Holmoe said. “I think the transition [from high school] has been tough. There’s a number of factors. The expectations were too high. The offense was not set up when he got here for him to just come in and take off. He hasn’t played a lot. He played one year at Hart, one year at Cal. That’s two separate systems.”

Boller has discovered one way to bolster his spirits. Whenever he’s feeling down, he’ll flip in a video of one of his high school games. His favorite is a game against Burbank in which he passed for 474 yards and seven touchdowns in less than three quarters.

“It makes myself know I can do it,” he said.

Maybe he is destined to follow the path of his favorite player, Elway, a prep All-American quarterback at Granada Hills High. In four years at Stanford, Elway had one winning season, then was the first player taken in the 1983 NFL draft.

Bazar watches his former teammate on television and has no second thoughts about his ability.

“I think the Elway comparisons are correct,” he said. “He has all the tools you need to be a great quarterback. A lot of people are saying, ‘Oh, he’s not what everyone thought he’d be.’ But the offense isn’t clicking.”

With California on a four-game losing streak and facing consecutive games against No. 13 UCLA, No. 11 Washington, USC, No. 23 Oregon State and No. 9 Oregon, the next few weekends won’t be without challenge.

Holmoe says he hasn’t lost confidence in Boller.

“I really feel he’s improving and learning,” Holmoe said. “As this offense continues to develop, he’ll continue to develop. I believe he will be a guy who can carry the team.”