California's Andy Jacobs nearly committed to play for Oregon, but the fishing there was too plentiful.

A wildlife lover, Jacobs decided California fit him best, but not for its flourishing wildlife.

"I'm a kind of a huntin' and fishin' kind of fella," Jacobs said. "Oregon is known for its fishing (and) I would have probably spent all my time with that, instead of my school work."

Other factors were involved in the final decision, but the four-year senior knew that the option to escape for his patience-consuming hobby could cause trouble.

Although not a conventional way of finding a school, it's a decision that Jacobs has yet to second guess - even when the school cleaned house, firing the bulk of its football staff, and even when he was asked to beef up to play defensive tackle last seaso n, so that Duane Clemons (now with the Minnesota Vikings) could play end.

"Things have changed a lot since I first got here, but mainly for the better," Jacobs said.

New head coach Steve Mariucci is a big reason.

"Coach Mariucci has been great for this program. He is the reason things have turned around," Jacobs said. "He has such a good player relationship. It is easy to want to play for him."

Along with Mariucci, defensive coordinator Tom Holmoe was hired to bring a new identity to a team that has had little success in the past few years.

Holmoe, a former San Francisco 49ers defensive backs coach, immediately implemented the 49ers' system and put Jacobs back out at the "elephant" end position. Named by 49ers head coach George Seifert, the position sets Jacobs loose to get to the quarterbac k.

"His top priority is to get in the backfield," Holmoe said. "The 'elephant' position in our scheme lines up according to how we want to attack their offense. We try to find an advantage and use it."

Numerically, Jacobs has excelled this season. Jacobs is second in the Pacific 10 Conference with seven sacks for minus-55 yards going into tomorrow's game and had 10 over the past two seasons.

"It's a fun position. Rushing the passer generates a lot of excitement," Jacobs said. "It is obvious when I am doing my job and when I'm not."

"Andy has been so versatile for us," Cal defensive line coach Mike Waufle said. "Last season we asked him to play defensive tackle and he put on the weight and did the job. His natural position is at defensive end and he busted his tail to get back into a more mobile playing shape."

As a sophomore, Jacobs was the starting end while Clemons redshirted. Last season he made 42 tackles and four sacks, earning an honorable mention for the All-Pac-10 team.

"The best guy should play at each spot. I wasn't in the shadow of Clemons last year, I was a defensive tackle," Jacobs said.

That attitude made his transition back to end easier.

"He has so much intensity, sometimes he literally wears himself out," Waufle said. "He dropped 10 pounds and got quicker during the off-season, which is a direct correlation to how he has done this year."

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