Spotlight #1: Oregon RB LaMichael James

Spotlight #2: California WR Marvin Jones 

15:00: Cliff Harris is not going to start tonight. He’s reportedly still in Oregon’s doghouse because of his off the field issues. I’m going to be spotlighting Cal’s top senior receiver, Marvin Jones, instead.

13:11: Jones with a short catch complete.

12:47: Jones targeted again, but this time it’s inaccurate.

10:12: James with a nice cut block on a pass play. He fearlessly took on a bigger guy and held his own.

10:01: James with a 53 yard touchdown run on a weird misdirection play. He had nothing but open field in front of him. That won’t happen in the NFL. He still displayed his awesome speed on this play.

9:15: Marvin Jones gets position on a high ball, but is completely held by the defensive back. He draws the interference call in the end zone.

8:38: Jones double covered, but the ball was extremely inaccurate long in the end zone anyway.

8:18: LaMichael James goes with an outside run, but the defense isn’t fooled this time and he’s taken down on first contact behind the line.

5:51: Jones with a short catch on 3^rd and 11. 4^th down.

5:05: James on a punt return, very small gain after being unable to break a tackle on a spin move.

4:23: James stuffed on 3^rd down. Does a little too much dancing there, but there wasn’t a lot to work with.

4:02: James will get it on 4^th and 1. Avoids a couple tackles with quickness.

3:35: LaMichael James on an untouched outside run for 47 yards. He’s amazing in space, but he doesn’t do well after contact. He’s taken done here on first contact and doesn’t get this run without an excellent outside run. You can’t deny the speed, but with his size, he’s been pretty boom or bust so far tonight.

0:40: James with an inside run for about 4. He needs to run inside more consistently.

0:09: James stuffed for a loss, but it took a couple guys after a bounced off a couple hits.

2^nd quarter

14:37: Jones recovered a muffed punt after his team’s kick returner muffs it. A real heads up play.

12:31: James stuffed in the backfield again for a loss of 2. He also comes up a little gimpy and leaves the field.

11:44: Jones targeted near the sideline and Jones is able to catch the ball, stay in bounds, and pick up the first.

9:23: He’s back. Here’s boom LaMichael James, with a 39 yard run. California is doing a terrible job of containment on the outside and Oregon’s blocking has been great. James is so fast too so that definitely helps, but he’s not breaking any tackles after contact. 10 carries for 136 yards and a score tonight.

7:06: Keenan Allen plucks one out of the air in double coverage. Allen is a mere sophomore, but he’s currently Cal’s top receiver over the senior Marvin Jones and he should be a 1^st or 2^nd rounder when he comes out. He’s big, fast, and has great hands.

6:05: Back-to-back wow catches by Keenan Allen. The quarterback was in trouble moving around in the pocket, Allen comes back to the football and makes a nice catch near the ground in the end zone for the score. The quarterback Zach Maynard, who hasn’t played well today, struggling big time with accuracy, threw a perfect spiral through a very tight window here for the score.

5:50: Boom James here against, 30 yard run to the outside thanks to some more phenomenal blocking.

5:26: And here’s bust James, he breaks one tackle in the backfield, but is still stopped for a 4 yard loss.

4:48: Bust James again here, he has nowhere to go and can’t do anything with it. 2 yard loss. He’s only been good tonight he’s had good blocking.

 

3^rd quarter

9:59: James has a very impressive moving the chains type drive, rushing for 30 yards on 7 carries. Every gain was between 2 and 8 yards and he showed some decent between the tackles runs.

8:41: Jones was a 18 yard reception.

8:22: Jones targeted, but it’s not completed.

6:56: James carries a pile with him on this play. He’s been much better at getting yards between the tackles in the 2^nd half. He picks up 16 yards here. He’s at 214 yards (200 for the 3^rd straight game) and a score on 23 carries.

4:30: James with some fight in between the tackles, fighting his way to 5 yards.

3:28: James with two more short carries of 3 and 4 yards.

2:58: James leveled in the backfield. That happens too often.

0:08: Marvin Jones targeted near sideline, but the ball was too far out of bounds. Jones couldn’t have kept it in bounds, but an excellent job of catching it anyway. That’s a tough one to go get.

4^th quarter

14:52: James on another big run, pushed out at the 3 for a 15 yard gain.

14:16: James with a goal line carry, not going anywhere, almost fumbles. James is down with an injury. It looks bad.

14:06: Marvin Jones with an 11 yard completion.

12:22: Quarterback Zach Maynard targets Marvin Jones, but it’s inaccurate.

11:30: Maynard complete to Jones this time, 15 yards after a few moves, down to the Oregon 22.

11:09: Pass incomplete to Jones on 4^th and 8.

0:03: After the quarterback switch for California, Jones is targeted 3 times inaccurately.

0:00: Before the injury, James had 30 carries for 239 yards and a score, but he was really boom or bust tonight. He’s awesome in space, but he’s not going to get that much space at the next level. He’s struggled against teams like LSU and Auburn, teams who are disciplined defensively. In the NFL, everyone is disciplined defensively.

He’ll be a nice change of pace back with his amazing speed, but at 185 pounds, he can’t hold up as an every down back and he’s not good enough between the tackles to pick up consistent yardage and consistently move the chains as a feature back. One final note, I liked the way he handled his injury. He’s got a really positive attitude about it (dislocated elbow) and is going to try to play through it this week. Great toughness and character.

As for Marvin Jones, he caught 6 passes for 66 yards, but didn’t particularly impress. He’s nowhere near as talented as Keenan Allen, who had 9 catches for 170 yards and a score and a few highlight reel plays. Jones has some nice stats and he has nice size, but I can’t see him being anything other than a depth receiver and a late round pick at the next level.