SANTA CLARA, Calif. — What if?
What if Jeff Tedford, the California head football coach at the time, had not sent coaches to Butte College in Oroville, Calif., to scout a tight end named Garrett Cross back in 2002?
That community college is where Cal unwittingly stumbled upon Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback who threw four touchdown passes to the tight end the Golden Bears were recruiting on that day.
“Who’s this guy throwing to the tight end that we’re looking at?’’
That’s what Burl Toler III — a Cal receiver then, and now the team’s receivers coach — recalled the Cal coaches asking Craig Rigsbee, the Butte head coach at the time.
“We really like your tight end, but we really like your quarterback.’’
That’s what Tedford told Rigsbee.
The next day, Tedford offered Rodgers a scholarship to play at Cal, beginning in 2003.
“I’m no quarterback guru, but early in that first season he was there, I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’ve never seen anyone throw the ball like that,’ ’’ Justin Wilcox, the current Cal head coach, who was the linebackers coach when Rodgers played there, told The Post. “I played with Akili Smith and Joey Harrington, both first-round draft picks, and I remember watching Aaron throw the ball and thinking, ‘Whoa, that looks different.’ ’’
After two years at Cal (2003 and 2004), Rodgers, who grew up a 49ers fanatic, was drafted by the Packers. You know the rest.
Fast forward 15 years, and Rodgers is coming home to Bay Area to try to beat San Francisco and earn a berth in his second Super Bowl, when the Packers and 49ers play in the NFC Championship game Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
What if?
“The coaches went down there and fell in love with what they saw, and nothing’s changed since then,’’ Toler told The Post. “Being a coach now and doing the recruiting, I can only appreciate it even more that they were able to recognize the talent.
“It’s a crazy to think that a quarterback like Aaron would take the JC route. But he was just a guy that was overlooked and under the radar and had something to prove every single year. Fifteen years later, he’s only gotten better.’’
And, Toler said, Rodgers’ relentless inner drive and edge, which has become legend in Green Bay, hasn’t waned.
If you don’t think Rodgers, who was selected 23 spots behind Alex Smith, whom the 49ers selected first-overall in that 2005 NFL Draft, wouldn’t derive at least a smidgen of added delight in knocking off his former favorite team to get to the Super Bowl, you don’t know the Packers quarterback very well.
“He had a chip on his shoulder for not getting drafted as high as he deserved,’’ Toler said. “But he just went there and learned behind Brett Favre and now he’s mentioned in the same conversation as Brett Favre — and it’s not always for sitting behind him.’’
There’s been a palpable vibe around the Bay Area for the past week that the 49ers are poised to roll over the Packers. You hear it on sports talk radio and from conversations at bars and around water coolers.
The 49ers, after all, dispatched Green Bay 37-8 in a November meeting in which Rodgers threw for just 104 yards on 33 attempts.
Any assumptions the 49ers will do the same to Rodgers on Sunday, however, are laughable to those who’ve known him since his college days — like Wilcox and Toler.
Rodgers, like he did the day he threw those four touchdown passes to that tight end Cal was scouting, can kill you with a flick of his wrist.
“My coach from last year [former defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina] would call it the wrist flick from hell,’’ 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said.
“How many people in the history of football can throw the ball like he can?’’ Wilcox asked. “Then you add the competitiveness, the intellect, the football instinct and that’s why he’s in the conversation as the best to ever play the position.’’
Could he have imagined Rodgers turning out to be what he’s become from his years from a juco to Cal?
“I guess it’s not surprising when I look back and recall the talent he has and his character traits,’’ Wilcox said. “But I’m not sure anybody sat there in the moment and said, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to win an MVP and win a Super Bowl and have a Hall of Fame career.’ If they say that, I’m not sure they’re telling you the truth.’’
Here’s a truth about Rodgers, whose Packers are a touchdown underdog against the 49ers: He’s not likely to leave any “what if?’’ questions on the field Sunday.
And because of that, he represents a great danger to the team that overlooked him 15 years ago.
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January 17, 2020 at 11:22PM
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