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Hometown Report: Cal RB Forsett's Tale Is One Of Perseverance

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By JOEY JOHNSTON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

He grew up in Polk County, playing for a youth football team called the Buccaneers, working his way into primary ball-carrying duties as a sophomore at Mulberry High School. His long-term dream was to start in Florida State's backfield.

Then his family moved to Texas.

Some local fans may have forgotten about Justin Forsett.

But not the fans who follow college football at its highest level.

Forsett, an elusive, powerful 5-foot-8, 196-pound runner, has matured into one of the driving forces behind the No. 2-ranked California Golden Bears (5-0), a threat to win the Pac-10 Conference title and emerge in the BCS Championship Game. Forsett has four 100-yard performances, including 156 in the opener against Tennessee.

His road from Mulberry to Cal's Berkeley campus - the bookends surrounding a two-season stint (5,000 yards, 63 TDs, two private-school state titles) at Grace Prep in Arlington, Texas - is a tale of frustration, perseverance and redemption.

'I wouldn't have it any other way,' Forsett said. 'What happened to me has been a blessing in disguise.'

Forsett and his father Rodney Forsett, a minister who moved the family from Mulberry to Texas in the summer of 2002 when he took a position at a new church, said Notre Dame offered a scholarship. But late in the process, Forsett was told another player had been targeted.

National Signing Day 2004 came and went. Forsett had nothing.

'Nobody was interested,' Rodney Forsett said. 'Not Florida State or Florida, even though Justin did well at the camps there. Not TCU. Not even Baylor.'

Forsett's highlight film was recirculated and, by chance, arrived on the desk of Cal coach Jeff Tedford.

'We thought it was too good to be true,' Tedford said. 'We didn't know anything about him. We thought, 'There's a skeleton in the closet somewhere.''

But Forsett was the real deal. Other schools thought he was too small. Tedford saw a great football player.

When Forsett and his father visited Tedford, they were welcomed by a carefully doctored photo of Forsett, clutching a football and wearing a Cal jersey.

'It was almost like I heard a voice say, 'This is the place I have prepared for you,'' Rodney Forsett said. 'Cal has been incredible, everything they said they would be - and more.'

Forsett has been incredible, too. Formerly known as the nation's best backup runner (999 yards and a 7.6-yard average as a sophomore while playing behind Marshawn Lynch in 2005), he has quickly matured into one of the nation's best with 585 yards (and a 1,400-yard pace).

That's good news for Cal's Polk backers - mostly the dozens of Forsett relatives, stretched from Mulberry to Lakeland to Bartow, including grandmothers Eddie Mae Forsett and Louise Williams.

'When the season started, Justin had a prayer,' the father said. 'He wanted to be the starting running back in the national championship game. He always sets high goals.'

And by now, he's accustomed to keeping the faith.

ODDS AND ENDS: Notre Dame senior LB Maurice Crum (Tampa Bay Tech) had the game of his life in a 20-6 win at UCLA - two interceptions, seven tackles, one sack and two fumble recoveries, one for a TD. Crum said the TD was particularly satisfying because his father, former Miami LB Maurice Crum Sr., had been jokingly criticizing his inability to find the end zone. After emerging from the victorious locker room, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis reported that the younger Crum was leading his teammates in singing the Irish fight song. ... Bethune-Cookman LB Ronnie McCullough (Hillsborough), a transfer from USF, has 63 tackles in five games to tie for the Division I-AA lead. After collecting a career-high 20 against Morgan State, he was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference defensive player of the week. ... The Tampa Bay area is represented this weekend by a 4.0 team competing at this weekend's USTA Senior National Championships in Tucson, Ariz. Team members are captain Phylis Albritton, Marybeth Sultenfuss, Diana Helsing, Sue Kendall, Cheryl Busciglio, Margaret MacDonald, Diane Stablein and Joanne Molter. ... Emory University volleyball senior Maggie Ramm (Plant) was named University Athletic Association Libero of the Week following her 52-dig performance at the Illinois Wesleyan Classic.

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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