Despite laying dormant since 1992, The Cal State Fullerton Titan Football program continues to demonstrate success in 2010.
Since the end of the 2009 NFL regular season, there has been much speculation that Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders, formers assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton Tom Cable, would be retained or terminated by owner Al Davis. No matter what the future holds for Cable, signs are pointing that he will return to coach the Raiders next season with a familiar face calling the offensive plays.
Numerous media outlets have come out reporting that Baltimore Ravens Quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson will accept a three year contract to be the offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders. The move reunites Cable and Jackson who were first introduced to each other on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. Jackson coached the Titans running backs while Cable was coach of the offensive line in 1990. Cable and Jackson also coached together in 1996 while serving on Steve Mariucci’s staff at California-Berkley. Mariucci also has ties to Cal State Fullerton in that his first coaching job was on Gene Murphy’s staff as an assistant.
Although Jackson was a running backs coach during his stint with Titan Football, he has developed his reputation as an outstanding teacher of quarterbacks. It is this successful track record of developing young quarterbacks that may have been the major appeal to bring on Jackson. JaMarcus Russell, the former No. 1 overall selection in the 2007 NFL Draft, is widely considered a draft bust. It is believed that Al Davis believes Russell can develop into a quality NFL quarterback and may be enlisting Jackson to be the catalyst to that end. Jackson will have his work cut out for him. In three years in the NFL, Russell has completed 52.1% of his passes, thrown 18 touchdowns compared to 23 interceptions and has been sacked 70 times. Russell’s quarterback rating is a lackluster 65.2 over his brief career. (158.3 is a perfect QB rating)
Come next season it is very likely that a third Titan Football alumnus will be on the field with Jackson and Cable but as an NFL official. Todd Prukop served as a back judge on Mike Carey’s NFL officiating crew in 2009. Prukop played safety for the Titans in the late 1980′s after being recruited out of Servite High School.
Prukop’s first year as an NFL official may have flown under the radar had he not been involved in a high profile game between the Denver Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles. In that game, Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley believed he was interfered with and complained to Prukop that a penalty flag was not thrown. Prukop gestured to Stokley to head to the sidelines and the incomplete pass resulted in a fourth down. Out of frustration, Stokley swung his arm in the direction of Prukop and made contact with his hand, slapping it back. Prukop then threw his penalty flag, this time for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Stokley for striking an official. Referee Mike Carey who has also ejected the most players in the league among current referees, made the decision to eject Stokley for striking Prukop despite the contact being unintentional. The video can be seen below: