He's the guy who knocked Maryland tailback Da'Rel Scott, who had bullied the Bears defense to the tune of 87 yards and two touchdowns at the time, out of the Sept. 13 game with a bone-chilling hit in the third quarter.

He's the guy who teammate Zack Follett calls the "more serious and intimidating" member of Cal's senior linebacking trio.

He's the guy who coaches chose to place in the strongside middle linebacker slot of their new 3-4 defense, as he was deemed to fit the position due to his intensity.

But for all his on-field antics, Anthony Felder doesn't make an awful lot of noise.

"Tony is more soft-spoken, quiet," says linebackers coach Kenwick Thompson. "Serious the majority of the time."

And he's just that kind of guy­-a dichotomy of on-field outlandishness and a personable presence off it. Soft-spoken to the point where the recorder barely picks up his wind-laden quotes.

"Yeah, I've always been quiet since I was a little kid," admits Felder.

Thompson adds: "He doesn't say a whole bunch of words, but when he talks, guys really respect him."

But quiet would be the last word to describe the linebacker on Saturdays. The senior is second only to linebacker Mike Mohamed-who gets more snaps than any of the starters according to defensive coordinator Bob Gregory-in tackles with 67, five of them for losses.

A grave intensity lies under that quiet persona, which Thompson says has allowed the linebacker to live up to his billing-a Rivals.com first-team freshman All-American, and before that, the No. 10 inside linebacker prospect according to ESPN.com's Tom Lemming.

Juxtaposed against the other two marquee senior linebackers, who may be rambunctious in comparison to Felder, the strongside linebacker is as collected as 21-year-olds come.

"He's just serious," says Thompson. "He's a serious guy that I think is very mature, carries himself that way ... He loves this game, and he takes it seriously. So when he gets an opportunity to play, he plays that way.

"And that's fine. I'm fine with that. That's a guy that you know he's paying attention, and know he's really concerned about what you're saying because he wants to do well."

Like many of his teammates, Felder doesn't hail from the Bay Area.

So don't blame the Seattle product for taking a bit of time before buying the Big Game hype. Even coach Jeff Tedford admitted during the week that losing to Stanford in 2007 "did a lot" to what the rivalry meant to him personally.

"It never hurts until you lose (the Axe)," he said.

Felder's ignorance, though, might have run a bit further than Tedford's upon his arrival to the Berkeley campus.

"I didn't even know what the Big Game was until I got here," says Felder. "Initially, it wasn't that big of a deal, just another game. But after being here for a while, you can't help but get into it. The whole area starts buzzing about it."

But was it even "just another game" before Stanford took back the Axe in 2007? The Cardinal won just five games the year Felder was a freshman, and went 1-11 in 2006.

"The (Stanford) program has definitely had its fair share of struggles," says Felder. "But regardless of what their situation was-they could've only won one other game the whole season-but whenever they play us, it's a whole different team.

"They've got a different mentality and a different attitude."

He might as well say the same thing about the Bears, who are coming off a Big Game loss for the first time since 2002, Tedford's first year in Berkeley.

In particular, it's safe to say that the seniors are amped up more so than usual. Follett, the emotional one of the bunch, went as far as to virtually guarantee a win for Cal following its loss to Oregon State last Saturday.

Felder, predictably, was a bit more level-headed in his statement.

"Any time you lose a game against any team in the conference, or any other team for that matter, you definitely want to get them back the next year," says Felder. "You'd hate to go 0-2 in two seasons."

As mentioned, it does take a bit to rile up a decent response from the linebacker.

Trying again-Does this Big Game mean any more to him than past ones?

"Well, you know, it's the last time I'm gonna get a chance to play Stanford," he says. "It's at home, which is nice, and we want to go out with a win. It's the Big Game, it's our rival game, the biggest game of the year as far as the university is concerned.

"It'd be nice to leave with the Axe. We've had it the whole time I've been here until last year, so it'd be nice to get it back."

Tags: ANTHONY FELDER, CAL FOOTBALL