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Sports in the City
Follett leads Bears on and off the field
By Michael Murphy

FollettCal linebacker Zack Follett is a minister of mayhem, a dealer of destruction. He plays football with maximum intensity and possesses the physical attributes, including exceptional quickness and great tackling technique, to create the total package that makes him a big-time player.

  The Golden Bears’ head coach, Jeff Tedford, sees all that and more.
  “The physical growth with the size and the speed has been pretty natural,” he observed. “But I think he’s grown more as a person. He’s been through some adversity, but he continues to be a leader for the team, so that’s really where you see most of the development.” 

Follett understands and accepts his progression.
  “It’s a whole different role that I’m playing as far being a leader,” he noted. “The young guys are looking toward me. A lot more eyes are on me, so there’s a little more weight on the shoulders, but that comes with the job.

  “I’m definitely much more involved. My freshman year, I was in on third downs here and there and I was kind of running out there like a little puppy, just trying to make plays. And now it’s more about understanding defenses and schemes. Coach Gregory [the club’s defensive coordinator] has done a great job to try and put me in position to make plays and I’m relishing that opportunity.”

  After a stellar career at Clovis High where he was named first-team all-state, Follett was heavily recruited, and decided on the Bears for one very specific reason.

“I felt Cal had the best shot to beat USC and I always wanted to beat SC,” he declared. “So far we haven’t done it, but we get one more crack at them this year [Nov. 8 in Los Angeles]. And Cal is close to home and the Bay Area is a great place to live. I enjoy it. Good choice.”
  His family would agree. Follett’s parents, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends make the three-hour trip to Berkeley to watch and cheer on No. 56.

“My family comes out every game. The whole section CC is taken up by them, and they have even more tickets this year,” he said with a big smile.

  “I was the youngest out of all of my [14] cousins, and in order to play with them in basketball or football, I had to go at them so much harder and be that much more aggressive. So, I think that is what helped raise me. Clovis was a great place to grow up. There are four high schools in town and mine was kind of the blue-collar workers. It’s an awesome place to raise kids and for sports programs.”

  Cal has been ranked consistently in the Top 25 during Follett’s tenure, but after starting the 2007 season 5-0, the team nose-dived, losing six of seven before taking on Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl in December. After falling behind 21-0 midway through the second quarter, the Bears stormed back to win 42-36.

  “It was big because that slide we were on … there was no stopping the bleeding,” he admitted. “I think once [backup quarterback Kevin] Riley came in there, when we were down 21, and it looked like it was going to be the same thing, he gave the team the spark that we needed, and we haven’t looked back.” 

  Riley completed 16 of 19 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns to earn MVP honors and is competing with senior Nate Longshore for the starting position this season.
“I definitely see us being a team that a lot of people are going to underestimate,” Follett said with defiance. “We have a lot of talent. Jahvid Best is amazing and our running backs are stacked. Quarterbacks have been there. With this new [3-4] defense, I’m really excited about it. Right now, I can see us making a big impact in the Pac-10.”

Follett has been Cal’s sack leader in each of the last two years and is on the watch list this season for numerous honors, including the Butkus Award (top linebacker). Patrick Willis won the Butkus trophy as a senior at Mississippi in 2006, and as a rookie in 2007 with the 49ers, he was named first-team All-Pro and Defensive Rookie of the Year.

No doubt Follett has dreams of playing in the NFL, especially with many of his former teammates in the league, as well as opponents against whom he’s had success.

“I’ve been working on pass rush with [defensive line] Coach [Todd] Lupoi, and he’s really developed my game,” he avowed. “I came in not really knowing what to do and just relied on athletic ability. I think I’ve learned how to go against good guards, especially the ones with great techniques. Once you have the arsenal of your moves and you make that a habit, then everything falls into place.”

Tedford, the offensive guru, recognizes the skills and tenacity of a player like Follett, but feels he still has major upside.

  “I don’t think anyone at this level has reached their full potential. There’s always growing, always learning,” the coach said. “But Zack’s doing a nice job of tapping into it, there’s no question about it. He’s a big-play guy. He makes an impact on the football field. When you game-plan, you have to keep an eye on him because he can do some things that are pretty special.

  “He’s very fast and a great tackler. He can drop into coverage. He can come off the edge. He can do it all. He’s a difference-maker.”

  Those talents were on display in the 2007 home opener against Tennessee, when Follett sped in from the edge and nearly tore Vols quarterback Eric Ainge in half, viciously knocking the ball loose. Teammate Worrell Williams scooped up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown, setting off pandemonium at a packed Memorial Stadium.

  The game was nationally televised and the sack has been viewed thousands of times on the Internet, but there’s another side to Follett than just football.

  “I have a fish tank, a salt-water aquarium. It’s pretty sweet,” he disclosed. “It’s on YouTube, actually.”

  Yes, it is. It’s quite a trippy video of Follett’s fish swimming around a coral reef with an ethereal voice singing about a beautiful life while watching the world go by.

  Follett’s time in the East Bay has produced evolution on – and off – the playing field.

  “You definitely have to find yourself at Cal. It’s a change of scene from my hometown,” he observed. “I’m surrounded by good guys and I think Berkeley has definitely mellowed me out, which I needed ‘cause I was a little tightly wound coming out of high school.

  “Coming from Clovis, a very conservative town, into Berkeley, and listening to all the liberal talk, the far left that is out there … it’s good. I wouldn’t necessarily say I agree with all of it, but it’s made me a lot more conscious toward things like the environment. I’m taking a lot of landscape architecture classes and just listening to other people’s thoughts helps me better understand what they are about.”

  Opposing offenses know where Follett is coming from and the senior linebacker knows where he is going.

  “If I had a dream team to play for in the NFL, it would probably be somewhere close to home because I’m a big family guy,” he admitted. “San Francisco would be cool. San Diego would probably be the ideal place.” 

First, Follett knows he has to take care of the business at hand.

  “I haven’t really put together a full season since I’ve been here. Freshman, in and out. Sophomore year, backup. Junior year, I got hurt a couple of games. But I think this year, with this new defense, this is going to be my best season.”

  Cal fans are counting on it.

E-mail: michael@northsidesf.com



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