Good For the Soul

For tailback Justin Forsett, dragging tacklers and emphatically bursting through for big gains have always come naturally.

If only hitting the high notes were as easy.

“Worrell (Williams) has got that on me now,” says Forsett, an aspiring singer who already has a song out with a few other Cal football players. “He always hits the high notes.”

Forsett has just finished a two-hour practice in which he took minimal reps, trying to rest his still-sore ankle for the beating he expects to take against Oregon State and its top-ranked rush defense.

After spending a half hour watching film with coach Ron Gould and the other tailbacks, the musician-by-night still has enough left in the tank to belt out some impromptu Musiq Soulchild when asked.

“Love/ there’s so many things I’ve got to tell you/but I’m afraid I don’t know how,” he sings seemingly flawlessly, as Cal Sports Information Director John Sudsbury walks by, shaking his head and visibly impressed.

Forsett has cracked the Bears’ all-time top 10 in rushing yards and touchdowns and may be on his way to a Pac-10 Most Valuable Player award—yet the soul singer has still found enough time to record a song with cornerback Charles Amadi and former Cal linebacker Mickey Pimentel.

He also has an upcoming duet planned once he has a chance to get in the studio with Williams, Cal’s starting middle linebacker.

“You’re going to have to talk to my manager Lavelle (Hawkins) about that one,” Forsett jokes. “We’re working on a collaboration right now.”

Even if Forsett opts to try and grind out a career in the NFL instead of becoming a musician, the talents that he picked up while singing in the shower and playing around with his friends in high school have already paid dividends. He boasts that his foray into the music world helped him win over volleyball star Angie Pressey, his current girlfriend of two years.

“I was pretty shy about it at first and then I realized the ladies really love the voice,” says Forsett. “Angie loves it too, I know I got her with that.”

But Pressey had a different version of the courtship.

“He always says ‘When I sang I knew I had you,’ but that wasn’t true at all,” says Pressey. “I was like, he can sing, that’s great, but he’s still short.”

Forsett is used to people calling him too short or too small.

Although he excelled as a backup to former Bears tailback Marshawn Lynch, rushing for 999 yards and averaging 7.6 yards per carry in his sophomore year, he knew he had to bulk up to withstand the hits that come with running between the tackles and carrying the ball 20 times a game.

He spent all offseason strengthening his core and bulking up to his current playing weight of 196 pounds.

He used all the sources available to him to find out what exactly to focus on, training primarily with Lynch and Jacksonville Jaguars tailback Maurice Jones-Drew as well as talking to former Cal back J.J. Arrington on the phone constantly.

Gould worried that he would burn out or hit a wall after working out twice a day all summer and only resting for three days after spring practice ended.

“It was just 24/7,” says Gould of Forsett’s workout regimen. “I came to him one time and I said make sure you’re doing something fun and he said ‘I’ll have fun Saturdays when I’m carrying the ball.’”

He’s had plenty of opportunities to enjoy himself so far as the heart and soul of the Bears offense.

The 5-foot-8 senior made a loud statement in Cal’s home opener against Tennessee, rushing for 156 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bears in his first game as a primary back.

Against Louisiana Tech, he sprinted for 152 yards and a career-best three touchdowns. And against a resilient Oregon team, Forsett carried Cal on his back, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns to give the Bears the narrow win.

“When you’re a smaller back you want to make sure you’re playing like you’re 215 and he’s done that for us,” says Gould. “It hasn’t been a surprise at all to me.”

Forsett’s spectacular play through five games adds up to nine rushing touchdowns—tops in the Pac-10—and 117.0 rushing yards per game. While wideout DeSean Jackson generally shoulders most of the hype, ESPN.com’s Ted Miller recently named Forsett his midseason MVP in the Pac-10.

“I put a lot of weight on. I wanted to be able to be more explosive between the tackles,” says Forsett. “The backs who came before me taught me how to be a man on and off the field.”

Nicknamed “Tex” because of his home in Arlington, Tx., Forsett has led Cal to its highest ranking since 1951. Not bad for an undersized running back who was hardly recruited out of college.

He thought he had a scholarship offer from Notre Dame, but when it was time to commit the Fighting Irish reneged, informing Forsett they already signed two bigger tailbacks and had no room for him in their class.

“I relied on my faith in God through the process,” says the devout Forsett, whose father was a pastor. “It’s made me mentally tough.”

His highlight clips intrigued Bears coach Jeff Tedford as well as Gould, who met with him about discussing a potential offer.

Immediately, Gould liked what he saw—and it had nothing to do with Forsett’s ability to outrun cornerbacks or shed would-be tacklers.

“I saw he had something inside that was really special,” says Gould. “One thing you can never measure is a man’s heart and he had all the intangibles I look for.”

Forsett’s size led him to love Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders growing up even though he remained a Cowboys fan at heart. He would never miss watching Sanders on television, especially every Thanksgiving Day.

“Just his moves, the way he made people look silly, I loved it,” says Forsett. “I was still a Cowboys fan big-time, the Lions were horrible.”

With Sanders long retired, Forsett has drawn numerous Sanders comparisons with his quickness and ability to make people miss.

In addition, Forsett embraced a leadership role this offseason and made sure to put in work in the film room and mentoring the younger tailbacks.

“He’s been an outstanding leader for those backs to come in and emulate,” says Gould. “His work ethic is just impeccable. He has such an amazing attention to detail.”

It’s the knowledge of the nuances of the game that Forsett says separates him this year from his freshman year. He will now have a chance to join Lynch and a long line of great tailbacks in the NFL after this season, something Forsett says would be a “dream come true.”

And with his focus and attention to detail, it shouldn’t be long before he starts hitting the high notes as well.

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