Tracking Tedford's next big thing. (College Football).(University of California, Berkeley football coach Jeff Tedford and his opinion about quarterback Aaron Rodgers)

A warm welcome, please, for Aaron Rodgers. The next big thing on the West Coast. The next can't-miss prospect who will have every-one from Mel Kiper to Mel Tillis singing his praises for years And the kid hasn't played a down of major college football.

Why all the hype? Says California coach Jeff Tedford: "Aaron has it all."

There's your proof. The best quarterbacks coach in the country has said it, and you'd better believe it. How could you not? In the last 10 years, Tedford has churned out All-Americans and top draft picks about as easily as Berkeley spits out activists.

It began with Trent Dilfer, who blossomed under Tedford at Fresno State, was a first-round pick in 1994 and eventually won a Super Bowl with Baltimore. Before Tedford left Fresno for Oregon in 1998, he molded a young freshman named David Carr, who became the No. 1 overall pick in 2002. Among the quarterbacks he tutored at Oregon were first-rounders Akili Smith ('99) and Joey Harrington (2002) and fifth-rounder A.J. Feeley ('01).

Last season, his first at Cal, Tedford resurrected Kyle Boller's career, and the one-time underachiever became a first-round pick by the Ravens. Team officials have been so impressed with Boiler's knowledge of the game, he may begin the season as the starter. Now Tedford takes on Rodgers, who a year ago was playing for the Butte College Roadrunners in something called the Community College League of California. But make no mistake, Rodgers has a future--if for no other reason than he signed to play for Tedford.

"I've had some awfully good coaches," Dilfer says. "Jeff Tedford is the finest coach I've ever been around."

The process of transforming a quarterback isn't complicated, it isn't part of some secret playbook Tedford has carried throughout his career. It's based on three steps: mental and physical toughness; knowledge of the game; and fundamentals and mechanics. Just about any quarterbacks coach at any level could spout off that list, but few can teach it with the precision and perfection of Tedford. Once a quarterback believes in the system, he believes in himself. Physical toughness and sacrifice then are polished with fundamentals and mechanics.