Every once in a while a Cal football player comes along who deserves far more recognition than he gets, deserves more playing time and to be handed the ball more, yet he remains the ultimate team player. These class acts are few and far between. This Saturday we lose one of those class acts in Chris Manderino.

This guy was a great athlete as a freshman and has only gotten better every year. He runs great routes out of the backfield, has great hands, and if I need 2 yards up the middle, I’d hand it to Manderino every time. Additionally, he’s a great blocker. Cal has had great success running the ball for the last few years having a 1000 yard rusher in each of Manderino’s 4 years as fullback. I’m not an expert on stats, but somehow I doubt that’s ever happened before. Additionally, somehow I doubt that it’s a coincidence.

So let’s all raise a glass, or a cold one if you prefer, to one of Cal’s best kept secrets and class acts: Chris Manderino. Everyone in Berkeley will miss you. We wish you the best of luck and hope some NFL team is lucky enough to have you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Sports, Sports - Cal Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.