Who's going to win? Incessantly, the crowd replies Cal.

But if a certain redshirt freshman has anything to do with it, the Bears faithful might be adding another syllable to the homegrown chant in 2008.

It's been a week since Cal opened fall camp, and expectations are slowly rising in Strawberry Canyon despite its omission in the Coaches' Poll.

For one, a healthy Jahvid Best and an equally rejuvenated Nate Longshore have Memorial Stadium brimming with hope for the first time since the waning seconds of that fateful mid-October game in 2007. Not too many have seen, but a certain oversized wideout has also been an unlikely source of optimism for the Bears.

Here's to getting to know all 6-foot-3 of him.

According to mother Nancy Lauridsen, Michael Calvin began his football career at the tender age of 15 because the sheer excitement of the game seemed to transcend anything he'd ever felt on the hardwood.

Lauridsen took some convincing, but Calvin sold it like a salesman. He pitched that while there's constant contact on the hardwood, the gridiron presents only sporadic dangers particular to a wideout. An ankle sprain from hoops that had forced him onto crutches stood as proof, and it provided for a relatively easy sell.

On he went to the gridiron, where his paint presence was even stronger on grass than it had been on wood. Parlaying one specialized talent -- rebounding -- into another, Calvin soon became the frequent recipient to a quarterback's last-ditch prayer.

Still, it'd be a stretch to call it an effortless transition for both Calvin and his mother, even though she'd already experienced the same sort of heartache sending off Calvin's older brother Odell Mixon to his first UFC match in 2003.

"I remember I never used to know how to run nothing," says Calvin, reminiscing about his first couple practices as a sophomore in high school. "I would just be out there running, I'd just be happy to. I didn't even think I was gonna get a scholarship to play football. I was just out there playing for fun."

Just for fun, Calvin collected an eclectic mix of 13 touchdown receptions, three picks and a couple made field goals as a three-way standout in his second season playing organized football. Just for fun, Cal, Utah and the Oregon schools offered him scholarships the following summer.

It all came as a surprise to Calvin, who was "sitting back, playing basketball" at the time he was notified through San Lorenzo High coach Jacob Wright. Wright, however, having had the fortune of overseeing Calvin's development in his first season running the Rebels program, wasn't the very least shocked.

"He's one of those kids who makes you look like a good coach," Wright laughs. "He's just a good kid. He's like one of those kids who, to whatever he sets his mind to, he's going to be able to accomplish."

Fast forward to 2008, and the Bears return a receiving corps whose collective resume includes just four receptions, allowing Calvin a chance to make Jeff Tedford -- as well as Kevin Daft (receivers) and first-year offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti -- look like an even better coach.

Still, the humble-natured wideout will tend to point outward for any credit he's to be due. A Scout Team Player of the Year award in 2007 required blood and sweat on his part, but he might just cite the time he got to spend with Cal's NFL-bound trio as the highlight of his past season.

How couldn't he? Every so often in drills, he'd learn something practical. For example:

"I used to watch their get-offs, and I used to just try to take a little from each of them," says Calvin. "Robert (Jordan) had me under his wings for a minute, and he would help me with the plays and tell me how to run routes and what coverages to read."

As well as something intangible.

"(Lavelle) Hawk(ins) knew they had a receiving corps that was small, and he just let me know, you know, size does matter but you just gotta come out and play with your heart."

It -- Calvin's physique, raw ability and a teachable psyche -- has all been slowly adding up thus far in fall camp. Though he'll have to wait until the home opener on Aug. 30 -- a date his mother admittedly dreads -- to see what "it" will translate to on a Saturday, Calvin has already impressed someone that's as close to a nemesis as he'll find on the same roster.

When asked for a general comment on the current crop of receivers, cornerback Chris Conte didn't hesitate to name a certain big target with whom he shares an adjacent locker.

"I have a lot of respect for Mike Calvin," says Conte, who himself is never lacking in confidence. "I think he's probably our best receiver right now. I love going up against him just because I feel like he's really talented ... he's going to be a great player."

But convincing a teammate is one thing, while a crowd of 75,662 is another. It's not like Calvin played on the set of Friday Night Lights, either, as San Lorenzo floundered with a 3-7 record in his final season.

Still, Wright mentioned that Calvin did have some experience being the focal point of a crowd, albeit small and comprised mainly of family and friends, while his mother described him as a son that "lights up (her) heart whenever (she) thinks of him."

The million-dollar question remains as simple as it is onerous -- can he do the same for tens of thousands of strangers?

"I sat back, I waited my turn," says Calvin, surveying the empty bleachers of Memorial Stadium. "I think I'm ready now."

Tags: MICHAEL CALVIN