Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008

Fresno's Bear necessities

By DANIEL LYGHT
The Fresno Bee

Every diehard Fresno State football fan knows No. 85, tight end Bear Pascoe. It's impossible to miss him.

He'll catch a pass in the flat, turn and flatten a defensive back.

He'll line up next to the tackle and stonewall a defensive lineman.

Pascoe, a John Mackey Award candidate this season as one of the nation's best tight ends, says people marvel at how nice he is off the field.

They say he seems so mean on the field.

He says, "I'm mean, yeah, but I'm playing nasty. I'm not playing dirty, I'm just playing nasty."

Tight ends coach Jeff Grady has called him a mauler.

Special teams coach John Baxter has called him the toughest son of a gun on the team.

Pascoe says he's ordinary and straightforward.

So when's the last time this guy whose aura screams tough cried?

"Oh, God," he laughs. "I'll be completely honest with you. My senior year in high school my grandparents passed away 28 days of each other. Talk about true love.

"My grandmother went and 28 days later my grandfather went and at my grandfather's funeral I cried," he said. "They were great people and that's where us Pascoes kind of got our foundations."

Pascoe said they taught the family to be moral people. To be honest. To not just go to church on Sunday but apply the lessons during the week.

That's how Pascoe tries to live off the field.

On the field, he has to be nasty.

It's the style that has gotten him to where he is today, one of the best tight ends in the nation, hoping to close out his senior season as a winner. And when that's done, being an early round NFL draft pick wouldn't be scoffed at.

"Everyone wants to be in that first round," Pascoe said, "but it all depends on what teams want, what they need and what they're looking for."

He showed interest in the NFL after last season.

Just not for very long.

Pascoe tested the waters briefly but the toe he dipped came back too cold.

After catching 45 passes for 553 yards and four touchdowns while bucking ankle and back injuries last season, he asked coach Pat Hill to talk to NFL evaluators.

Hill said the evaluators praised Pascoe's blocking ability and strength, but said he needed to work on his speed.

"That's the biggest thing he has to work on, the ability to affect coverage in the middle of the field," Hill said. "If he can be a guy who can get off the line of scrimmage and keep the safety in the middle of the field, that'll really be advantageous for him ."

Evaluators told Hill before the draft that Pascoe would be an early third-round or late second-round pick.

"I decided that's not good enough and I'd much rather come back and get my degree and play my senior season with my friends and guys I've gone through hell with," Pascoe said. "They mean a lot to me."

And he means a lot to the team.

Nasty play and all.