Basketball and football have always been connected in one way or another. Al Davis openly admitted that John Wooden’s defensive style was the biggest influence on his usage of the bump and run. For whatever reason every football player thinks he can ball. And for good measure these days most power forwards seem to think they can play football too.

That’s just one of the reasons why the Raiders are taking a chance on Cal State Fullerton power forward Andre Hardy. Though he’s never played a snap of collegiate football the Raiders signed the soon to be NFL tight end today. For a breakdown on Hardy you can check JBB’s draft analysis of him from earlier this week.

Collegiate hoopsters turning into NFL pass catchers are nothing new under the sun, especially not in the AFC West and definitely not for the Raiders.

Naturally the conversation begins with man most refer to as perhaps the best tight to end ever play. Before Tony Gonzalez was terrorizing the AFC West as a Chief he was a two sport stud at UC Berkley.

As for the Raiders, this isn’t unfamiliar territory at all. Al Davis once took a tight end from Ohio State with the ninth pick in the draft named Rickey Dudley who just so happened to also play hoops for the Buckeyes. In more recent years Stanford alum Teyo Johnson was a second round pick as a tight end that doubled as a forward for the Cardinal hoops squad.

Between the two Dudley had the better career though he never lived up to his top 10 draft status. Johnson was out of the NFL in three years largely due to his JaMarcus Russell-esque work ethic but mainly due to his T.O.-like attitude.

While we’re on the subject might as well mention Ronald Curry who played quarterback and point guard for the University of North Carolina before becoming a wide receiver in Oakland.

Of course the man that really brought the hoops to football conversion into the modern era was San Diego Charger Antonio Gates. Here is where the Raiders are hoping to catch lightening in a bottle. Like Hardy, Gates played no collegiate football whatsoever yet was unearthed by the San Diego scouting department. He has sine gone on to become one of the most dangerous weapons in the history of the position.

Perhaps influenced by  Gates’ transition, Hardy no doubt saw him play for the Bolts as he went to high school in San Diego. Hardy’s father also has a football background playing for three different franchises during his brief NFL career in the 80′s.

Recently New Orleans record setter Jimmy Graham has taken a similar route.

So, just because Reggie McKenzie is doing away with many of the Al Davis practices doesn’t mean the Davis philosophies aren’t still alive and well. Rolling the dice on an unproven yet athletically gifted player with potential is right out of the Davis playbook. Unless Hardy can beat out David Ausberry, Richard Gordon or Brandon Myers then chances are Hardy will be a practice squad player if he makes it to the final roster cuts and clears waivers. That is unless Dennis Allen goes Hue Jackson and carries four tight ends on the 53-man.

Here is your snapshot of this game: At halftime the Raiders and 49ers combined for as many points as turnovers (3)

The Niners overcame a comedy of special teams errors to send Oakland to 0-2 in the preseason thanks to a listless 17-3 loss.

So far during Hue Jackson’s bully construction he seems to have forgotten about his tools to reconstruct last season’s offense. Injuries play a hand in how out of sync Oakland’s O’s is but that excuse along with preseason jitters is getting old already.

To be sure there were a few flashes from the up and coming Silver and Black talent that’s got to make Al Davis feel vindicated. But overall this team as a whole is still looking very listless with only two more tune-ups left.

Jobs are on the line. Time is running short. Injuries are becoming more troubling. Strap yourself in tight Nation, this is looking like a bumpy ride. Here are my game notes for take two of Coach Jackson’s directorial debut

- The Red Zone is still a dead zone for Oakland. Jason Campbell is the symbol of Oakland’s out of sync offense. At this point play-action is the only thing that works. His receivers (including Darrius Heyward-Bey) are bailing out his bad throws. Plus he’s still gun shy, doing the sensible yet maddening thing by playing it safe and not throwing across his body when Kevin Boss is more open than a Denny’s next to a bar at 2:00am on a Saturday morning.

- Campbell’s performance is not his only issue as JC went down late in the first half with what we hope is not a head or neck injury of the serious or mandatory inactivity variety.

- If JC is in danger of missing time Trent Edwards did himself no favors with his few token snaps in the first half. His what were you thinking INT was an underthrown toss into double coverage. Kyle Boller started after halftime and took every snap in the second half. At this point the QB position is pretty irrelevant. Just One TD in two games.
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David Ausberry has been issued #86 and is currently listed as a wide receiver on the Raiders’ website.

The Lemoore High alum was recruited by Pete Carroll as a wide receiver and spent the majority of his days in Southern Cal lining up outside the numbers. However at 6’4” and 245 pounds it seems unlikely Ausberry will be playing out wide in the NFL.
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