McArthur Catching on at Cal

Ex-Palisades Star Becomes Golden Bears’ All-Time Receptions Leader

If given a dollar for every defender he has faked out since he first put on pads, Geoff McArthur would be rich by now. Although he has yet to make a dime playing the sport he loves, it may only be a matter of time before he’s earning millions in the National Football League. Whether or not that happens, McArthur can be proud of what he has accomplished up to now. On November 20, the senior wide receiver became the career receptions leader at the University of California, Berkeley. Five years ago, he set the same record at Palisades High. “Choosing Cal is the best decision I ever made,” said McArthur, who first opted for Oregon State but changed his mind when the Beavers asked him to red shirt. “But choosing Palisades is a close second. I had a great time there and it really prepared me for the next level.” Cal’s senior captain could not have asked for a better stage to make his record-breaking catch than a nationally-televised game against Bay Area rival Stanford, and when McArthur snared a three-yard pass in the fourth quarter to move past Dameane Douglas (1995-98) on the Golden Bears’ all-time list with his 196th reception, no one was happier than Cal head coach Jeff Tedford. “It’s a great accomplishment for Geoff and he really earned it,” Tedford says. “He’s our captain, he’s our leader and he’s been a big part of the success we’ve enjoyed this season.” McArthur turned 22 on Tuesday but he received a surprise birthday present the day before when he was named to the Pacific 10 Conference first team, an honor he claims he was not expecting but felt honored to accept. More important to him than personal milestones, however, is the success of his team. If the fourth-ranked Golden Bears (9-1) beat Southern Mississippi in their season finale Saturday, they will likely play in their first Rose Bowl since 1959. “This next game is huge,” McArthur says. “It’s definitely the biggest of my career so far because there’s so much riding on the outcome. But that’s what makes it fun.” McArthur, a Heisman Trophy candidate when the season began, has played hurt without complaint for the last month and that’s nothing new for him. In fact, the two games he remembers most from his days at Palisades were in the playoffs his senior year in which he played with two broken ribs. “The first one was in the first round against Locke when I scored the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds,” McArthur recalls. “But I broke my ribs during that game and had to go to the hospital. I remember it hurt so bad that I couldn’t breathe but there was no way I was coming out.” Then, in the quarterfinals against Chatsworth, McArthur made one of the most spectacular plays of his high school career when he broke eight tackles on his way to the end zone. “That was pretty special,” he says. “I still remember it like it was yesterday.” McArthur led the nation with 1,779 receiving yards, 91 catches and 28 touchdowns his senior year at PaliHi and won the Palisadian-Post Cup Award as the school’s outstanding athlete after setting the Dolphins’ all-time receptions record. Always modest, McArthur credits his success to the quarterbacks he’s played with and he sees both similarities and differences between Cal’s Aaron Rodgers and former PaliHi signal-caller David Koral, who now backs up Drew Olson at UCLA. In 1999, McArthur and Koral led one of the most prolific prep offenses in the state. “Dave is more of a long-armed guy whereas I’d say Aaron has a quicker release and likes the shorter passes,” McArthur explains. “But they are both phenomenal quarterbacks and I’m glad I’ve had those two guys throwing me the ball.” McArthur learned a valuable lesson at the start of his sophomore season at Cal. He was so upset with himself after what he felt was a subpar performance in the season opener that he punched through a glass window, lacerating his tricep muscle. The wound required 35 stitches and sidelined him for the year. The Golden Bears finished 1-10 and the incident matured McArthur quickly. He vowed never to let his emotions get the best of him again. “I felt terrible about it,” McArthur says now. “I felt like I let the team down. I should’ve been playing but I wasn’t. When I found out I’d be okay, I was determined to make up for it. I owed that to my teammates.” McArthur responded with two productive seasons in which Cal vaulted from a pretender to a serious contender in the Pacific 10. McArthur was the nation’s second-leading receiver last year behind Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh. In addition to his receiving prowess, McArthur is reputed to be one of the best blocking wideouts in college football. The player who once terrorized secondaries at Stadium by the Sea is doing the same thing now in Strawberry Canyon. “You would almost rather see Geoff catch the ball than block for a teammate because at least you know where he is,” says former PaliHi receiver Greig Carlson, a punt returner for USC who, ironically, shares an apartment in Westwood with Koral. “He hits like a linebacker. He also runs the most precise patterns of any receiver.” McArthur will graduate in May with a degree in social welfare and no one is more proud of his academic accomplishments than Ron Price, Palisades’ head coach from 1996-2000. “I’m absolutely elated for Geoff and I’m happy that he’s getting his degree because that’s quite an accomplishment at a school that stresses academics,” says Price, who graduated from Cal himself in 1960. “I’ve coached football for 41 years and he’s one of the toughest players I ever had–and he has the bumps and bruises to prove it. He came along at the right place, at the right time, and in the right offense and he flourished in the spread formations we ran.” Waiting beyond graduation is rigorous training, followed by combines and the NFL draft. But McArthur is careful not to look too far into the future: “I’ve learned to take things a day at a time and always work as hard as I can. That way, no matter what happens I can say I gave it my best.” So far, his best has been more than enough.