Art and design junior Bryn Hobson’s art was on display in Sally Loo’s Wholesome Café from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15. — Courtesy photo

Carly Rickards
wire@mustangdaily.net

In the throes of a very busy fall quarter, a friend and I were craving acai bowls and good conversation — we needed an escape from the mounting stresses of school and work. We found time to meet at Sally Loo’s Wholesome Café in the middle of a warm October day, and, for an hour or so, eluded reality.

Sally Loo’s periodically displays local artwork, but I had never noticed until that afternoon. I walked in and was suddenly struck by the images hanging on the brick walls. Penciled, sketch-like drawings accented with bouquets of bursting red pulled me in — literally. I found myself standing just inches away from the pieces, admiring and considering their meaning. I deemed the art to be distinctly intimate. I saw hope and frustration and subtle tones of sensuality. Above my head, hand-painted red leaves were strung across the ceiling, dancing and bouncing in the wind each time a customer opened the door.

The pieces were for sale, and I wanted to buy one, but had only brought enough cash for lunch. I thought maybe I’d come back in a few days to make a purchase, but the frenzy of fall quarter kept me away, and eventually a different artist’s work was up on the walls.

Nearly five months later, I was rushing out of class, late for an interview I was conducting as a favor to a friend. He wanted to film a profile on the owners of Sally Loo’s, Jen and Brandon Manuele, and recruited me to help. We met on a Monday in the café, when it was closed, as to avoid loud background noises or distractions.

All the chairs were upside-down on the tables with the exception of one, where a young man was sitting with his laptop. In my rush, I didn’t register that he seemed out of place. The only other people in the restaurant were the owners, two videographers and myself. While the videographers set up, I spoke with Jen and she told me a little bit about the shop, and mentioned the artwork that is displayed on the walls in one-to-two month rotations. I immediately remembered the pieces I had seen in October, and described them to her as “sketches with red detailing.”

The young man sitting behind his laptop overheard my description of the art that had stuck with me for months. He looked up at me and said, “That’s my roommate, Bryn Hobson.”

I took down Bryn’s name, thinking he would be a good candidate for our “Mustang Makers” series. Later that evening, I Googled “Bryn Hobson” and came across his “365″ blog. I was thoroughly impressed and intrigued by his experiences — so much so that I was asked to tell his story.

Stock Photo

Kassi Luja
kassiluja.md@gmail.com

J.J. Jenkins
jjjenkins.md@gmail.com

Music, lights and gold gramophones.

That’s just some of what will come together onstage during the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Two Mustang Daily staff members go head-to-head with their predictions for “music’s biggest night.”

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

KL: “Babel” by Mumford & Sons

“There’ll be no value in the strength of walls that I have grown/There’ll be no comfort in the shade of the shadows thrown/You may not trust the promises of the change I’ll show/But I’d be yours if you’d be mine.” — “Lover of the Light” by Mumford & Sons

Boom.

That’s the same band that brought you the famous lyric, “where you invest your love, you invest your life.”

Mumford & Sons’ sophomore album “Babel” doesn’t disappoint. The band sold 600,00 copies in the album’s debut week in the U.S., according to Billboard, making it the second-biggest album debut of the year.

“Babel” features songs ranging from the lyrically beautiful “Lover of the Light” and “Below My Feet” (my two favorites on the album) to power songs bursting with adrenaline, such as “Babel” and “I Will Wait.”

And it wouldn’t be Mumford if the band didn’t return to its banjo-strumming roots. Thank goodness.

As Rolling Stone wrote in its review of the album, “… it’s the band’s lyrics, and Mumford’s delivery, that define the album’s sound.”

And then there’s The Huffington Post’s review: “(The band’s) sophomore release is epic for a number of reasons: the gripping emotion, vulnerability, dark moments, the banjo — all elements for a great musical composition. And then there is Marcus Mumford’s voice.”

Yes and yes.

Musicians are storytellers. And Mumford & Sons’ album “Babel” tells stories I could listen to over and over again.

The folk quartet’s songs breathe raw emotion to the point where you’ll find yourself empathizing with the character(s).

Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Country Winston and Ted Dwayne: Prepare your speech.

While The Black Keys’ seventh studio album is no doubt impressive with hits such as “Gold On the Ceiling” and “Lonely Boy,” it isn’t enough to snag a Grammy for this category.

JJ: “CHANNEL Orange” by Frank Ocean

I’ve held a grudge against the Grammys for a long time, especially in its premier category. My disgust was epitomized in 2011 when Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” won Album of the Year despite losing the Best Rock Album to The Black Keys’ “Brothers.”

But for the first time in years, I’d be highly surprised if the Academy disappointed me again. As a long-time fan of The Black Keys, a win for “El Camino” would be a much-deserved reconciliation for being snubbed two years ago, but it was “CHANNEL Orange” that truly stood above the rest. Frank Ocean didn’t just redefine a genre, he created a new space between R&B, hip-hop and pop without turning to a plethora of guest vocalists.

Plus, you won’t find a more finely produced album out there. Every time I crank up my headphones on tracks such as “Forrest Gump” and “Super Rich Kids,” another textural gem jumps into my ears and gives the song a new dimension. In any other year, Jack White’s debut solo-album “Blunderbuss” could have made a run for the crown, but it has a few dead spots that create a more uneven listening experience.

SONG OF THE YEAR

KL: “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran

Fun.’s “We Are Young.” Now that is a song — a refreshing beat, great vocals by Nate Reuss and an overall great hit from the indie-pop group.

While Fun. will probably win the award, I can’t help but root for the talented underdog: English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.

Sheeran penned the lyrics of “The A Team” (being the lyrical genius he is), and delivers its dark tone in ear-pleasing fashion. The song is the story of a woman at a homeless shelter where he once played a gig, Sheeran told Rolling Stone.

A great melody accompanied by dark, truthful storytelling — hello, gramophone.

JJ: “Adorn” by Miguel

A case can be made that Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” deserves a nod in this category for the way it burst onto the scene and became the song of the summer. Heck, when I was in China this summer a driver who didn’t speak a word of English knew the lyrics.

Then again, a similar argument could be made for “Gangnam Style” and I don’t want future songs of the year to be determined by their YouTube views. That’s why my pick is “Adorn” by Miguel. The California-native refocused his style for “Kaleidoscope Dream” after a confused 2010 album, “All I Want Is You.” Adorn sets the tone for a new mellowed-out Miguel, supplemented by hip-hop beats that don’t overpower his vocals.

BEST NEW ARTIST

KL: The Lumineers

Not only does the band have a great hit with its song “Ho Hey,” but with songs such as “Stubborn Love” and “Submarines,” The Lumineers should be able to come out with the win.

And those are just three of the songs this folk rock band graced the rustic music scene with in its 11-track, self-titled album debut.

JJ: Alabama Shakes

The logical choice for Best New Artist would be Frank Ocean, since I already awarded him my Album of the Year, but I like to mix things up. Plus, Ocean has been part of Odd Future and appeared on Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Watch the Throne,” so he’s not exactly “new.”

Conversely, no one knew about Alabama Shakes a year ago. Heck, drummer Steve Johnson wasn’t far removed from a day job at a nuclear power plant when I started listening to Ocean’s EP “Nostalgia, Ultra.” Alabama Shakes’ lead vocalist Brittany Howard gives the band a powerful female voice that can extend from raspy rock, like on “Hold On,” to sweet and smooth, like on “Goin’ to the Party.”

Only Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys can match her on vocal range from a rock ‘n’ roll group. The Lumineers are finding a niche in the folk-rock scene that Mumford and Sons exploited with “Sigh No More” and “Babel,” but, to me, there isn’t enough variety in that genre to garner too many awards.

BEST ROCK ALBUM

KL: “Mylo Xyloto” by Coldplay

Let me start off by saying I love The Black Keys. The duo’s soulful style is effortless — Auerbach and Carney, you guys are top-notch.

But they’re up against Coldplay. C’mon, now (Sorry, J.J.).

Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto” may have received criticism for the band’s new sound, but Coldplay is Coldplay; fans need to be kept on their feet.

And the London crew does just that with colorful beats throughout its 14-track ensemble.

Vocalist Chris Martin’s energy on this album is contagious, especially with songs such as “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” and “Hurts Like Heaven.”

And then there’s “Charlie Brown” — an electric anthem filled with beats that will get you to play the air guitar while jumping up and down within the first minute.

Coldplay can do no wrong.

Apparently, if you want to stand out in my predictions, be British (I joke).

JJ: “El Camino” by The Black Keys

The genre categories are fairly light on substance this year, especially the rap category since Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “The Heist” missed the Sept. 30 cutoff date.

And, let’s be honest: If 2 Chainz is nominated, nobody wins.

The rock category should garner the most competition with relative newcomers Jack White and The Black Keys squaring off against mainstays Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay. I’m sure White would be more offended if he won, so my pick here is The Black Keys for “El Camino” based solely on the superiority of their music video for “Lonely Boy.”

ASK THE EXPERTS

Boo Boo Records customer service employee Ryan East and owner Mike White gave their predictions for album of the year and best new artist.

Album of the Year

“I thought there was a lot of hype around (Frank Ocean’s ‘Channel Orange’),” East said.

“I like all of (the nominees for album of the year), but The Black Keys’ (“El Camino”) is such a great album,” White said.

Despite his opinion on “El Camino,” White said Mumford & Sons will probably take home the win based on its current popularity.

Best New Artist

“I’ve got to go with Alabama Shakes just because that debut album was so incredible,” East said. “I have high hopes for their sophomore (album). They have a great sound.”

White said he thinks the award will go to The Lumineers.

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement that empowers entrepreneurs to dive into their ideas on a Friday and leave Sunday with a finished product. — Photo by Maggie Kaiserman

Lexi Scott
alexandriascott.md@gmail.com

Ambitious ideas became tangible realities this weekend.

Hosted by Cal Poly, Startup Weekend SLO is an entrepreneurial event where members pitch business ideas Friday, develop them Saturday and present the finished products by Sunday evening.

The global grassroots movement is an interdisciplinary collaboration of students and people in the community, event organizer and recreation, parks and tourism administration senior Eric Duarte said. The small groups have just 54 hours to create a business model, the coding and designing, while also getting market validation for startup ideas.

“All you need is people, whiteboards, some computers and some time to make it happen,” Duarte said.

The ad hoc startup companies varied from mobile apps for travel pics, political trends, selling things, rating anything, or finding the best seats at an event, to websites that connects religious leaders to churches, local farmers to consumers and borrowing and lending among friends.

Computer science senior Sunjay Dhama fostered an idea for an app which can predict stock trends through Twitter. Dhama was inspired by a friend who works at Netflix, he said. The company is already using twitter to find out if a part of the system is down.

When Mustang Daily spoke with Dhama and his team – compiled of economics senior Dallas Brown and Systems and Marketing Solutions CEO Bob Dumouchel – the group had a better grasp of how the app would run but still unsure of the name.

Basically, their idea is to extrapolate a tweet to find a positive or negative sentiment toward a particular stock. They use Twitter’s API integration program to assign keywords for different moods and then behavioral economics comes into play.

“Understanding the English language is not easy especially when it’s encrypted in 140 characters,” Dumouchel said.

Another group of the weekend came in with an idea to make anyone with a smartphone a superhero for the day.

Send out a stress signal with this mobile app and be rescued by someone in the community – theme song and all. “Superheroes everywhere” aims to turn social good into a competition. The more good deeds someone does the more points they receive, engineer management and statistics graduate student of California State University, East Bay Jerry Chang said.

“Rather than companies making softball teams and competing with each other they can compete by doing good for the community,” he said.

The point of Startup Weekend is not necessarily to end the weekend with a business or project, but rather for its members to understand their strengths and weaknesses and the process of producing something, innovations and new initiatives lead for Startup Weekend, organizer Joey Aquino said.

Aquino first worked with Startup Weekend as an organizer and now he journeys around the world to find like-minded people in the 108 countries in which the non-profit operates.

“I’ve been to a handful of places and culturally its so different,” Aquino said. “But you get everyone together for Startup Weekend and there is a common theme of passion and hope.”

HBO’s “Girls” was perhaps one of the most discussed television series last year. Now the hip “dramedy” is back: The show’s sophomore season premiered on Sunday with an episode that opened doors to fresh developments and new conflicts.

“Girls” portrays four 20-something females’ tumultuous post-college lives in New York City. The show’s writer, director and lead actress Lena Dunham, whose self-inspired character Hannah Horvath wears her own awkwardness like a kind of superhero cape, met both high praise and sharp criticism for the initial 10-episode season.

A Huffington Post critic dubbed the show authentic and original. However, women’s interest blog Jezebel was one of many outlets to point a finger at the cast’s lack of diversity.

Season two, episode one seems to function as a promise to expand on the show’s triumphs while reconciling with past shortcomings.

1. Hannah seems happier

For a series that was originally built on the misfortunes of its main character (the first season opens with Horvath’s parents telling her she is monetarily cut off), “Girls” seems to be entering new territory with Horvath’s nearly constant bounciness throughout the second season’s first 30 minutes.

The brilliance of Dunham’s semi-autobiographical character lies in her stark humanness. The well-meaning millennial wins the audience’s affection by resembling (in manner and form) a person one might actually know, rather than some Hollywood construction of perfection. Viewers learn to root for Hovarth as the perpetually defeated underdog of season one.

Horvath’s elevated attitude, relatively stable social life and new love (or at least love-making) interest might not equate that underdog winning the World Series, but at least these things indicate she had a good run at the playoffs since the first season finale.

2. Donald Glover

In what might be a brashly obvious rebuttal to the aforementioned critiques of the show’s cultural monotony, African American writer-turned-actor-turned-comedian-turned-rapper Donald Glover makes his “Girls” debut as Horvath’s new friend with benefits within the first three minutes of season two. Glover is no stranger to television — his high-profile career began as a writer for NBC’s “30 Rock” and progressed to include the role of Troy Barnes on the same network’s “Community.”

As if to prove there is no form of show business he can’t handle, Glover signed a deal with Glassnote Records in 2011 and released his first bona fide album under the rap moniker Childish Gambino later that year.

As Sandy on “Girls,” Glover assumes a degree of the charming boyishness that defines his character on “Community” — one could easily imagine Barnes running through the aisles of a bookstore shouting about boners the way Glover does in this new role.

3. Shoshanna gets fierce

After being wronged by a guy, Horvath’s friend Shoshanna Shapiro — easily the most adorable character on the show — decides she is going to put her “big girl pants on” and give Ray Ploshansky (the wrongee) the cold shoulder she thinks he deserves.

Unfortunately for Shapiro, this newly acquired sassiness proves to be about as intimidating as a spiked collar on a chihuahua. Her quirky brand of vindictiveness has her spewing hilarious one-liners practically prepackaged for Twitter.

4. Two Golden Globes

If you don’t want to take my word for it, check the results of Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. You’ll find that Dunham took home trophies for Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical).

“This award is for every woman who’s ever felt like there wasn’t a space for her,” Dunham said after accepting her best actress award.

“Girls” has also been nominated for multiple Emmys, Critics Choice Awards, Writer’s Guild of America Awards and other honors. Last year, the show won an Emmy for its casting.

“Girls” airs Sundays at 9 p.m.

Some rode by themselves, while some relied on their companion’s help. Some peddled with their legs, while others used their arms. But for all, it was a cheerful and humbling scene Wednesday afternoon as more than 200 veterans biked through Cal Poly’s campus in a week-long ride to aid veteran rehabilitation, awareness and fundraising.

The injured soldiers began the annual tour Sunday in San Francisco and plan to finish the 450-mile ride Saturday at the Santa Monica Pier near Los Angeles.

Cal Poly ROTC members joined Cal Poly University Police to help direct the injured soldiers on their way through campus, cheering them along and offering thanks for their service.

Local project coordinator Jim DeCecco was among those who gathered to support the riders. He began working with Ride 2 Recovery, the nonprofit organization that sponsors the tour, during its inaugural year in 2008. Since then, the elementary school teacher from Oceano has taken his class out to watch the veterans ride each time it comes down the Central Coast. But Wednesday was the first time the riders came through Cal Poly’s campus, something DeCecco said he was excited for.

“The veterans are awesome,” DeCecco said as he waited for the riders to come down U.S. Highway 1. “It’s such a humbling experience being around these guys. They appreciate everything.”

Retired Army Staff Sgt. Nick Mikulsky rode on several different legs of the tour in past years, before coming to study kinesiology at Cal Poly this fall. Mikulsky, 29, said he would like to be riding again if school did not conflict with the tour’s schedule.

“It’s a blast,” he said just minutes before the first wave of cyclists arrived. “There’s 200 guys trying to get everybody through the ride. At any given spot, you can find someone out there trying to help someone else.”

After serving two tours in Afghanistan and two more in Iraq, Mikulsky switched to the Army reserve, where he was deployed to a base in Texas. With more than seven years of military experience, he came to Wednesday’s ride to cheer on the veterans biking down the coast.

“It’s a phenomenal thing,” he said, “to get them out of their comfort level and get involved with something like this.”

Illustration by Bryce Snyder.

Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net

The California State University (CSU) is here to serve students, citizens and taxpayers of California. But through a lack of transparency, the CSU failed the system and its students last Thursday when Mustang Daily was repeatedly denied access to a public document — all over a $0.20 check.

It began when Mustang Daily requested an email sent from CSU Chancellor Charles Reed to campus presidents that was related to a story about politics in the CSU published today. Under the California Public Records Act, everything sent from a calstate.edu email account is public record, but we were initially told the email could not be provided because of CSU policy.

After checking the Public Records Act to see if there were any access limitations between chancellors and presidents (there weren’t), we filed a formal records request with the CSU. In a response addressed to “Daily Mustang” the next day, we were told we could either schedule a meeting at the CSU headquarters in Long Beach to review the document, or pay $0.20 per page for a mailed letter or email.

Since Mustang Daily is without a Long Beach bureau, we decided to request an email. We offered to pay with credit or debit card, to which we received a response that the CSU has, “no way to process that kind of transaction, so payment must be in the form of a check.”

Knowing that processing a check through the Mustang Daily state account could take weeks, we offered to have a friend near the CSU headquarters go pay the office $0.20 in person with a quarter. We were even prepared to let the CSU keep the change.

But that offer was also refused. This time, the spokesperson said it was because there are no cash registers at the CSU office, and once again told us payment must be with a check.

In the end, the document was provided to us by another source, free of charge. And though we were able to move forward with the article as planned, the CSU’s actions demonstrated behavior that is contradictory to its mission statement: educate the state’s students and provide an environment where research is valued and supported. It is key that the CSU upholds these guiding principles and doesn’t succumb to red-tape bureaucracy so that those who fund the CSU can understand how their money is being spent and serve as part of the decision-making process.

Sometimes websites malfunction. Most of the time, this only results in a little bit of stress for those involved: the page takes forever to load, a picture isn’t showing up or the right article won’t pop up.

But other times, it’s to the point that other people start freaking out, as was the case this weekend.

On Saturday, we began getting comments online accusing Mustang Daily of censoring other comments for the “Why Race Matters” conservative column. These comments ranged from curious to furious, accusing the paper of eliminating comments with no explanation because they were too conservative or too liberal. We were even accused of being a “mouthpiece” for the “pigs” in administration.

And the worst part was nobody had a clue what had happened to those comments. Mustang Daily policy when removing a comment is to put in our own comment alerting readers to the fact that something was deleted and why, along with a note to contact us with any questions. No such comments appeared beneath the article in question, and there was no record of any comments even being deleted on the website. So what happened to these comments?

After several frantic texts between me, the managing editor and the web editor, we were stumped. Why would these comments have just vanished, with no record?

Then this morning, one of our reporters pointed out what we’d been missing — we had switched hosts over the weekend. Prior to this, our adviser made sure we were aware that some information posted between Thursday and Monday could accidentally be deleted. And there was the answer to our problems. Because we were switching servers, it seems like some comments (and some articles actually) were lost in the transition. Luckily, everything is sorted out now, and the website is running smoothly with our new host.

In short though, I’d like to apologize for any confusion that may have arisen from missing comments this weekend, and I encourage anybody who notices their comment is missing to re-post them at their convenience. The Mustang Daily doesn’t make a policy of removing comments with no explanation, and I encourage you to let us know if you ever notice this problem again. Without readers alerting us, we would never have known there was a problem, so thank you for being the watchdogs on the watchdogs.

Last week, after writing the article on it, I had the privilege of going to see “The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other,” and I will be the first to admit I didn’t have any clue what was going on 60 percent of the time.

But the 40 percent I did understand was amazing.

The first indication this was going to be a less-than-normal theater experience (which is saying something in the theater world) was the lack of an actual plot synopsis anywhere online. After pulling up the Wikipedia page on “The Hour,” I realized why everyone else was so vague: The only explanation for the play is that Peter Handke wrote it after sitting in a café for an afternoon with a glass of wine.

When writing the article, the best explanation I received was from play director Josh Machamer.

“What (Handke) is doing is extrapolating us as voyeurs to see the amount of different characters and the amount of different people that walk through one particular space,” Machamer said. “That space is something that is physical; it is something that is metaphorical, that we can start to connect the dots of the stories that people take with them, not just within this particular space, but within the space that they bring with them.”

For those of you who just went, “Huh?” believe me, I get it. But after watching the show on Saturday, I can totally see what Machamer was saying.

The pre-play starts with a squarekeeper — played by Matthew Herman — sweeping throughout the University Union (UU) Plaza, at times interacting with the audience and passers-by by making them move their feet or even chasing them across the plaza. All of this occurred to the sound of upbeat, jazzy music playing through a set of wireless headphones. Every once in a while a mechanical voice — of whose message I haven’t yet fully grasped — would alert the audience members that the play was set to start in such and such minutes. As the anticipation rose through the chilly plaza, audience members bundled up under blankets and with hot drinks (Starbucks for me of course) to stay warm.

Finally, the play began with an actor walking across the “stage” with a shaking hand, and from there, everything exploded. Increasing exponentially in speed, more and more actors crossed the plaza wearing sterile white jumpsuits (which play an important part later), until all action stopped, as an actress in a red hat and heels crossed the stage.

All eyes were riveted on the character who I could only assume was the “beauty” — one of three continuous characters appearing throughout the production, played by Nora Doane — as she literally strutted across the plaza in bright, red heels. The quiet click-clack of her heels, in contrast with the loud music of before, was surprisingly impactful. I don’t know if the point of this was to emphasize the beauty’s role in the production, or if it was meant as commentary on the power of appearance in our society, but whatever it meant, from that moment I was hooked into the production.

As characters swirled, twirled, ran, marched, crawled, tumbled, cantered and dragged themselves through the plaza, my eyes were constantly drawn to new people and situations. While all of the ensemble had wonderful moments, one actress in particular fascinated me almost every time she walked across. Shelby Lewis, who I’ve seen perform with Smile and Nod, had such an expressive face in every character she brought to the stage that I would pretty much only watch her at times. Close to the end, when she stumbled across stage blindfolded, I was struck by how frightening taking those steps must be, and how much trust there must be between cast members to be willing to do that.

The other standout for me was Amy Shank as the “fool.” Her wide-eyed observation of the chaos surrounding her was the calm in the middle of a storm. Though she was branded a fool — someone less than everyone else — she seemed to be the only one who realized how at times ridiculous and funny, or by contrast sad and awful, the people around her were. She was truly an outsider, like us audience members, looking in, which made her moment of realization at the end all the more powerful. The joy on her face when she realized she could remove her white jumpsuit, and become a distinct person separate from the uniformed world of the previous hour, made all of the confusion about the meaning of the play fade away, leaving me with a sense of wonder at how everyone has an individual story, even if we don’t realize it.

I can’t even begin to guess the message of some of the interactions (try as I might, I just can’t wrap my head around why Moses walked through carrying the Ten Commandments, or why a bird-person fluttered about with a cage in hand), but I still came away from the performance with an awareness that wasn’t there before. Now, maybe instead of walking through the UU with my headphones in, obliviously heading to my next class, I’ll take a moment to wonder about the people walking past me. Who are they? Where do they come from? What is their story?

And maybe if I go watch the performance again, I’ll get the answer.

Photos by Nha Ha.

Ken Orvick contributed to this review.

Asa Jackson had 199 tackles for Cal Poly and took two interceptions back for touchdowns in 2011. -Courtesy photo

Sports Blog

Asa Jackson was a four-time all-conference selection at Cal Poly. He was one of two players to start as a freshman. He was named the best defensive player in his conference, twice, and was named a third-team All-American.

All of that should lead Jackson to be drafted in this weekend’s NFL Draft. But how much of a contributor will Jackson be to an NFL franchise?

Well, it’s hard to say.

“He has strong footwork and understands how to cover in man,” his combine profile on NFL.com states. “There is little denying his speed and athletic ability give him a great shot to compete at the next level and the potential factor in his game could affect his value from a mid-round pick to even higher.”

Regardless of where he is taken, there’s one criticism scouts across the board have on Jackson: He didn’t play against NFL talent.

That’s not quite true.

Take Cal Poly’s schedule into account over the time Jackson’s been on campus. The team hasn’t been shy about playing Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, as Jackson was a part of Cal Poly’s epic 36-35 overtime loss to Wisconsin as a true freshman. Even since then, Jackson and the Cal Poly defense has gone up against FBS schools like San Diego State, Fresno State and Northern Illinois, along with Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) powerhouses Montana and Eastern Washington.

And he’s played against NFL talent on the practice field, as well.

He’s matched up against Ramses Barden, who was drafted in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the New York Giants, Tre’dale Tolver, who did this against Wisconsin in 2008, and Dominique Johnson, who dumfounded one of the FCS’ best cornerbacks — Trumaine Johnson — during Cal Poly’s win over Montana two seasons ago (watch the top of the screen at 5:40).

That being said, I’ll tell you one thing. Jackson may be the most aggressive corner I’ve seen while covering Cal Poly, which is a good and bad thing. Teams use this aggressiveness to their advantage, as San Diego State did on a double move that turned into a 30-yard touchdown in 2008.

But at the same time, there have been countless times where Jackson’s put the team on his back and used that aggressiveness to his advantage. Consider the game against South Dakota Sate in the Mustangs’ home opener last year. With the Jackrabbits threatening to score, Jackson undercut a route, intercepted the pass and ran it back 100-yards for a score. He then ran another back 52 yards for a touchdown against Central Oklahoma two weeks later.

That type of playmaking and aggressiveness has made Jackson invaluable to the Mustangs for the past four seasons.

And it’s led others to believe he could be an everyday contributor.

“Jackson has the athletic ability, technical skills and innate instincts to be a starting NFL cornerback,” Jimmy O’Brien wrote on Draftbreakdown.com. “In both zone and off-man coverages, he’s NFL-ready to contribute immediately as a third corner or nickel back, eventually working his way into a full-time role.”

Contrary to that belief, Jackson will be a project, just like many players drafted out of the FCS. So, I won’t go as far as to say that Jackson could start off being an every down cornerback. However,  Jackson’s quickness, agility and nose for the ball are second to none. He has a knack for making big plays, and has the unique ability for stepping up when his team needs him most.

That alone will buy him some playing time, most likely — as O’Brien wrote — as a nickel or dime back.

From there, it’s really up to him.