Nate Longshore

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Nate Longshore
Longshore in 2006
Longshore in 2006
College California
Conference Pac-10
Sport Football
Position QB
Jersey # 6
Class Redshirt Junior
Major American Studies
Career 2005 – present
Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight 233 lb (106 kg)
Nationality USA
Born June 30, 1986 (1986-06-30) (age 21)
Flag of California Canyon Country, CA
High school Canyon High School,
Santa Clarita, CA
Championships
Pac-10 (shared)
Bowl games
2006 Holiday Bowl, 2007 Armed Forces Bowl

Nate Longshore (born June 30, 1986 in Canyon Country, California, U.S.) is an American football quarterback for the California Golden Bears, a college football team for the University of California Berkeley. Longshore was the team's starting quarterback from 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons, and spent the 2004 season as a redshirt. He led the Bears to a share of the Pac-10 title in 2006.

Contents

[edit] Before College

Longshore graduated from Canyon High School in 2004. He set ten school passing records and rang up 6,750 yards and 64 touchdown passes during his career. Rivals.com rated him the No. 8 "pro-style" quarterback in the nation and the 17th-best overall player in California.[1]

[edit] College Career

[edit] 2005

After redshirting his freshman year, Longshore was chosen to succeed Aaron Rodgers, who left for the NFL, to be California's starting quarterback. Longshore's 2005 season ended in the season's first game with a fibula injury and ligament damage in his ankle against Sacramento State.[2] Joe Ayoob took over starting duties for Longshore.

[edit] 2006

Main article: 2006 California Golden Bears football team

Longshore entered spring practice in 2006 in a heated battle for the starting quarterback job with veteran senior Joe Ayoob. During fall practice, head coach Jeff Tedford named Longshore the starting quarterback the week leading up to Cal's season opener at Tennessee.[3] Coach Jeff Tedford particularly liked Longshore's mental understanding of the game of football.[2] Despite passing for only 85 yards in a lopsided loss to Tennessee and being replaced by Ayoob in the second half of the Tennessee game, Longshore remained the team's starter.[4][5][6] He led the Bears to a 10-3 record, a share of the Pac-10 title for the first time since 1975, and a victory in the 2006 Holiday Bowl. He was named the co-offensive MVP of the Holiday Bowl.

Longshore was particularly effective in his first full season as California's starting quarterback. He became the second quarterback in California school history to throw for 3,000 yards. He was second in the Pac-10 in passing touchdowns with 24 and second in passing efficiency at 141.6. He was an honorable mention Pac-10 honoree and earned various player of the week awards.[1]

[edit] 2007

Main article: 2007 California Golden Bears football team
Longshore releases a pass under pressure at the Armed Forces Bowl
Longshore releases a pass under pressure at the Armed Forces Bowl

Longshore entered 2007 as the established starting quarterback.[4] In the preseason, Longshore was rated as the No. 5 quarterback in the nation by The Sporting News and ESPN's Mel Kiper ranked him the 3rd best junior quarterback in the country.[1] Longshore lead the Bears to 5-0 start and a number #2 ranking with wins against #15 Tennessee and #11 Oregon, but suffered a sprained right ankle that resulted in a bone spur in California's close victory over Oregon. Longshore missed the Oregon State game, Cal's first loss. He returned to start the Bears' last six regular season games, but he and the Bears were not the same, winning only one game, against Washington State. Cal sustained two losses against two of the Pac-10's worst teams, the Washington Huskies and the Stanford Cardinal, who beat Cal for the first time in five and six years, respectively. Longshore started for Cal at the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl, but was replaced by backup Kevin Riley in the second quarter, who finished the game and was named the game MVP in Cal's 42-36 victory over Air Force.

Longshore faltered over the second half of the season, throwing 11 interceptions compared to 9 touchdowns over the team's final six regular season games. His struggles were particularly apparent in the fourth quarter of close games where he threw several interceptions in critical game situations that prevented California from making a comeback.[7] Cal won just one game during that rough six-game stretch, and fell from being national title contenders to barely bowl eligible. Some Cal fans blamed Longshore for the team's decline. In that one victory, against Washington State, Longshore was booed by the home crowd after throwing 2 interceptions.[8]

The extent to which the ankle injury affected Longshore's performance is uncertain. Some media reports and telecasts have noted the injury on several occasions, some saying it was causing him to limp, while others have claimed that it was having more of a mental impact.[7][9][8] If Longshore chooses to return for his senior year, he will complete with Kevin Riley and redshirt freshman Brock Mansion for the starting position in 2008.[10]

[edit] Personal

Longshore is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [11] His father Todd Longshore passed away on April 24, 2006 of a blood clot.[12] [13] Older brother Nick Longshore, a former offensive linemen for Brigham Young University, graduated in April 2007. His younger brother Ben Longshore, was a senior quarterback at his alma mater, Canyon High School of Santa Clarita, California, and walked on to Utah State as a freshman in 2007 [1].[14] Longshore is known for his good sense of humor inside the huddle.[14] Longshore has said that he reserves two tickets for Jessica Simpson at every home game, in the hopes that she will come. [15] He is a motorcycling enthusiast.

[edit] Career Statistics

[edit] Passing

Year Team G-GS Comp-Att Comp% Yards TD INT Long Yds/G QB Rtg
2005 Cal 1-1 8-11 72.7 131 1 1 44 131.0 184.6
2006 Cal 13-13 227-377 60.2 3,021 24 13 62 232.4 141.6
2007 Cal 12-12 230-384 59.9 2,580 16 13 49 215.0 123.3
Totals 26-26 465-772 60.2 5,732 41 27 62 220.5 133.1

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Player Profile
  2. ^ a b 2-man race for starting Cal QB
  3. ^ Tedford selects Longshore as Cal's starting QB
  4. ^ a b Longshore opens camp as the hair apparent
  5. ^ ROCKY TOP HORROR SHOW
  6. ^ Longshore still has coach's confidence
  7. ^ a b 2007 California Golden Bears football team
  8. ^ a b Tedford stands by his man
  9. ^ EARLY HIBERNATION
  10. ^ Tedford primed for QB debate
  11. ^ FitzGerald, Tom. "ON A MISSION: Cal QB Nate Longshore is a Mormon so his choice about how and when to serve the church could be big for the Bears", San Francisco Chronicle, 2006-12-22. Retrieved on 2007-01-24. 
  12. ^ Clark, Adam. "Todd Longshore, Santa Clarita Parks Commissioner, Dies at 49", Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, 2006-04-26. Retrieved on 2007-01-24. 
  13. ^ [Berman, Shmirit. "Cal's Quarterback Turns Adversity into Triumph", North Gate News, 2006-11-11. Retrieved on 2007-01-24. 
  14. ^ a b Longshore Triumphs over Tragedy
  15. ^ Simmons, Rusty. "CAL NOTEBOOK: Bears, used to blowouts, might face squeaker", San Francisco Chronicle, 2006-10-04. Retrieved on 2007-01-24. 

[edit] External links