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• Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez and Arizona State coach Todd Graham will be hanging out in the Big Leagues.
• Robert Nelson took a circuitous route to the Arizona State secondary.
• The Memorial Stadium renovation at California, which I will see this weekend, is on schedule.
• Colorado needs its tight ends -- coach Jon Embree's former position! -- to step up.
• Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti will be annoyed with any sign of complacency. And you don't want Aliotti annoyed with you, trust me on that.
• Oregon State is getting new turf. The Beavers might not really have a QB controversy -- again! -- but what if we acted like they did?
• Andrew Luck will throw for the Indianapolis Colts in a private workout.
• The Neuheisel Era isn't completely over at UCLA.
• More on top prep QB Max Browne committing to USC.
• Utah suspends senior DB Reggie Topps.
• A chat with Washington safety Sean Parker, a billionaire who was unfairly portrayed in the movie "The Social Network." Oh, not that Sean Parker.
• Some semi-educated guesses about Washington State football.

Coaches are in, coaches are out. That's the way things go.

Stanford is the only Pac-12 team still looking for a coordinator. Co-defensive coordinator Jason Tarver is off to the NFL to run the Oakland Raiders defense. He'll be joined in Oakland by USC receivers coach Ted Gilmore, who did a great job with Robert Woods and Marqise Lee this past season.

USC coach Lane Kiffin needs to replace three assistant coaches: LBs coach Joe Barry was hired by the San Diego Chargers, and Kiffin still hasn't hired a full-time secondary coach since Willie Mack Garza resigned just before the 2011 season began.

Meanwhile, Oregon State may be on the cusp of filling a vacancy in the secondary after Keith Heyward bolted for Washington. The Corvallis Gazette and Footballscoop.com reported that the deal is nearly done with former Indianapolis Colts assistant coach Rod Perry.

And, of course, there are four new coaching staffs at Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Washington State, while Washington, Utah and California made significant changes.

Colorado and Oregon, in fact, are the only two programs that haven't made any staff changes.

Stanford's recent success just about Andrew Luck? That's just silly talk.

If ESPN NFL draft guru Todd McShay is on target with his mock 2012 NFL draft, plenty of evidence to the contrary will be produced on draft day.
McShay projects that Luck will be the No. 1 overall pick, of course, but he also projects that Luck will be joined by three teammates in the first round.

How many other teams will produce that many first-round picks? One: National champion Alabama.

The Pac-12 has seven first-round picks in McShay's mock draft.

Here's how McShay sees things, with some comments included.

1. Andrew Luck, QB Stanford (Indianapolis Colts)

2. Matt Kalil, OT, USC (St. Louis Rams)

13. David DeCastro, OG, Stanford (Arizona Cardinals)
This might seem a bit high for a guard, but DeCastro was the most dominant interior offensive lineman in the nation in 2011 and has a chance to develop into one of the elite NFL players at his position. Offensive tackle is also a need area, but DeCastro is a much better overall player than the top available tackle. Cornerback could also be a consideration, but both Janoris Jenkins (North Alabama) and Dre Kirkpatrick (Alabama) carry off-field baggage.

18. Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford (San Diego Chargers)

20. Nick Perry, DE, USC (Tennessee Titans)
The Titans have three defensive ends set to become free agents and need a dynamic pass-rusher to complement Derrick Morgan. While Perry is raw, he has good initial burst and natural pass-rush skills. Cornerback, safety and offensive line are also need areas, but Perry makes the most sense in this situation.

26. Coby Fleener, TE, Stanford (Houston Texans)
The Texans would rather get a wideout here to complement Andre Johnson, but Rutgers' Mohamed Sanu and South Carolina's Alshon Jeffery would be reaches at this point. A difference-maker at tight end would help, though, and Fleener is a reliable target with toughness, a competitive nature and underrated speed/athleticism. He could draw some attention to the middle away from Johnson, and with a deep wideout class Houston could find a quality receiver in the next couple of rounds.

29. Vontaze Burfict, LB, Arizona State (Baltimore Ravens)
Burfict is a physical freak with tremendous athleticism and explosive power. He's a top-20 talent, but questions about his discipline on and off the field are hurting his stock. However, Burfict could contribute immediately and would benefit greatly from the leadership and guidance of Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis. And you have to wonder whether the Ravens would press their luck and take another player with character flags after bringing cornerback Jimmy Smith into the fold last year.

Here's McShay's player rankings.

Here's Kiper's Big Board.

And here's Kiper's top-five by position, which is chock full of Pac-12 players.

Most interesting: Kiper ranks former Arizona State's Brock Osweiler No. 3 among the quarterbacks, ahead of former Arizona's Nick Foles, who is fifth. Luck, of course, is No. 1 and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III is No. 2.

If Osweiler ends up getting picked on the first day -- first two rounds -- it certainly will validate his surprising decision to enter the NFL draft.

You know I used to wait two days to call anybody, but now it's like everyone in town waits two days. So I think three days is kind of money. What do you think?

• Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez has made in-roads with a big-time in-state prospect. The Wildcats will play their spring game off-campus.
• Some Arizona State/Arizona recruiting notes.
• Stewart Mandel considers the furor over Tosh Lupoi's move from California to Washington.
• Colorado coach Jon Embree is recruiting "hungry" players.
• Should the Indianapolis Colts hire Chip Kelly away from Oregon? A look at the Ducks' past and present at linebacker.
• A top Oregon State commitment is still looking around. And it's a big recruiting weekend for the Beavers.
• The connections of Alex Smith, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning.
• UCLA is after a player committed to Stanford.
• USC and former RB Stafon Johnson have settled a lawsuit.
• Utah has landed an A-list linebacker. More here on that.
• Some thoughts on Washington's staff overhaul after three years of stability.
• This Washington State recruit is a perfect fit for Mike Leach's offense.

ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. projects that five Pac-12 players will be among the 32 picks of the first round of this spring's NFL draft.

Here's how Kiper sees things going.

• Stanford QB Andrew Luck goes No. 1 overall to the Indianapolis Colts.
• USC OT Matt Kalil goes to the Minnesota Vikings with the third pick.
• Stanford OT Jonathan Martin goes to the Arizona Cardinals with the 13th pick.
• Stanford OG David DeCastro goes to the Dallas Cowboys with the 14th pick.
• USC DE Nick Perry goes 20th to the Tennessee Titans.
• Arizona State LB Vontaze Burfict goes 30th to the Baltimore Ravens.

The Burfict pick to the Ravens feels perfect. If anyone can reach Burfict and screw his head on straight, it's Ray Lewis, Burfict's favorite player.

Kiper also rates the top-five players by position. Luck is the No. 1 QB, Kalil is the No. 1 OT and DeCastro is the No. 1 OG.

Some other Pac-12 players who made the top five.

• Martin is the No. 3 OT. Perry is the No. 5 DE. Burfict is the No. 2 ILB.
• Arizona's Nick Foles is the No. 3 QB.
• Oregon's LaMichael James is the No. 4 RB. Washington's Chris Polk is the No. 5 RB. Ducks and Huskies fans seemed very focused on who might go first in the draft.
• Colorado's Ryan Miller is No. 5 at OG.
• USC's Rhett Ellison is the No. 2 FB. At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, Ellison could play tight end or H-back, too.
• Stanford's Coby Fleener is the No. 3 TE.
• California's Mychal Kendricks is the No. 5 ILB.
• Cal's Bryan Anger is the No. 2 punter.

The term "unblockable" probably gets thrown around too much, but Steve Emtman was unblockable at Washington, and he led the Huskies to consecutive Rose Bowl victories and a national championship.

A 290-pound defensive tackle with 9 percent body fat -- he once shocked teammates with a spontaneous back flip before a spring practice -- Emtman was a unanimous All-American, finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting and won both the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy in 1991. He was the frontman for one of the best defenses in college football history, one that gave up just 9.2 points and 67.1 rushing yards per game. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

His NFL career didn't go as planned after he entered the draft as a junior in 1992 and was taken No. 1 overall by the Indianapolis Colts. Injuries derailed his career: He blew out both knees and ruptured a disc in his neck. At age 27, he retired with just 134 tackles, eight sacks and a memorable 90-yard interception return. When the Chicago Bears tried to lure him back into the league, he took score of his body and declined.

"I said, 'I think I can play, but I don't think I can put the product on the field that I'd be proud of,'" Emtman said. "That was my end, if you will. I had a chance to come into camp in Chicago, but I just didn't want to do it. I didn't want to put something on the field that I didn't feel like was me."

Today, he lives in Spokane, Wash., where he's in real estate development and construction. He takes particular pride in a recent project, a master planned community at Eastern Washington University of over 1,300 units.

We decided to check in with Emtman as part of ESPN.com's Simply Saturday feature on college greats who didn't pan out in the NFL.

What would you say is your best memory at Washington?

Steve Emtman: Probably winning the national championship at Washington would rate up there, going undefeated. That whole season, that whole year was probably the highlight, being a part of great team.

Are you still involved with Washington? Do you keep up with their progress?

SE: Since I stopped coaching there a few years back [2005], I moved over to Eastern Washington and started developing full-time now. I haven't really had the time to be involved.

What's your take on why things didn't work out in the NFL?

SE: I would say 12 surgeries. I didn't quit. I came back from ACL, MCL and patella tendon [tears] in 11 months. I busted my ass to do the best I could. I really honestly don't look back at it. I did everything in my power, everything I could to try to earn my money, if you will. I think even the owner of the Colts would tell you that.

Does it frustrate you that when people make lists of NFL busts, you're on them?

SE: The reality is the reality. The only thing that really bothers you is I had a teammate of mine pop off about me being a bust. That irritated me a lot because he knew the situation that I was in. Like I said, I don't know many people who came back as fast as I did from the injuries I had. I know people had the same surgery and never played again. To me, getting back on the field was a feat. It's kind of that I really only answer to myself and God. I don't have to answer to everybody else. But, yeah, I'm a competitor and I wish things would have been different. I wish I had stayed healthy. When I was healthy, I think I did OK. It wasn't like I didn't perform at all. Yeah, there's frustration. Any athlete who sets out to set a higher standard, if you don't reach, it's frustrating. As you get older, though, you look back on it and you go, 'I don't question my work ethic or my effort to be good.' I just didn't achieve everything I wished to achieve.

How do you feel today -- do the injuries still bother you?

SE: You know, all and all, I feel pretty good. I'm not crippled or anything. I definitely feel the aches and pains. But as an athlete looking back, you can only deal with it and move on. I feel like I'm somewhat normal at 41.

ESPN draft guru has released his final 'Big Board' before the NFL draft begins Thursday.

So where did your favorite former Pac-12 players end up? Well, truth be told, all the conference players listed ended up in the same place they were on the last Big Board.

Here's where they rank and what Kiper has to say about each.

No. 13 Cameron Jordan, DE, California
Analysis: Frame and skills capable of handling 3-4 or 4-3 defensive end duty. Has top athleticism, smarts and speed for defensive end position.

No. 16 Jimmy Smith, CB, Colorado
Analysis: Excellent size and speed combination, Smith quietly shut down receivers all season. Character issue overstated in eyes of many personnel folks.

No. 17 Tyron Smith, OT, USC
Analysis: A future blindside tackle. Fallen some after a quick rise. Good frame, athleticism and quickness. Has added bulk.

No. 22 Nate Solder, OT, Colorado
Analysis: A physical specimen, has great length and has added bulk to his long frame. Could be moved along offensive line to provide help early in NFL career.

No. 25 Jake Locker, QB, Washington
Analysis: In eyes of evaluators, rebounded some with good workouts, interviews after combine. Arm, attitude, athleticism all there. Accuracy the question.

In Todd McShay's latest mock draft from April 20, he projected six Pac-12 players being picked in the first round, but not Locker.

Here's how he ordered the players and where he sees them going.

No. 9 Tyron Smith (Dallas)

No. 12 Jordan (Minnesota)

No. 21 Brooks Reed, DE, Arizona (Kansas City)

No. 22 Solder (Indianapolis)

No. 23 Jimmy Smith (Philadelphia)

No. 32. Akeem Ayers, LB, UCLA (Green Bay)

After 24 years as an NFL assistant coach, Vic Fangio is five practices into his tenure as Stanford's defensive coordinator.

He has 11 years of experience as a defensive coordinator for three NFL teams: the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. Last year, he worked for Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh's brother, John, who is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Now he's charged with transforming a defense that ranked near the bottom of the Pac-10 in most key statistical categories.

The Cardinal won't go back to work with its second spring session until March 30, so it seemed like a good time to check in with Fangio and take the measure of his nibble of college coaching.

Having worked for two Harbaughs, what's the difference in terms of personalities?

Vic Fangio: Oh, it's too early to tell. They are similar but also different in their own ways. It's too early to see -- I haven't gone through a season.

I know you've answered this question a few times already, but why after so many years in the NFL to you take a swing at college coaching?

VF: The timing was right. I've gotten to know Jim the last couple of years and I kind of like what he's got going on out here. We've talked about it in the past as early as late last season. At that time I didn't think I would. But he did a good job recruiting. This just seemed to be right this time.

I know you've only had five practices, but what do you feel like the biggest adjustment will be going from the NFL to college?

VF: One is the hashmark differences. There truly is a wide side and short side in college football. There is in the NFL but not to the degree there is here. No. 2 is the different offenses you'll see here compared to the NFL. The quarterback can be more of a third running back than a quarterback. You get all the gun-read stuff and the option game. Although that rarely appears in the NFL, and it makes it a different game here.

What about recruiting: What are your responsibilities there?

VF: I'm from the Northeast, so that will be the part of the country I'll focus on. And the Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware -- up in that part of the country.

I would assume that, even without a lot of experience in recruiting, your NFL pedigree will be a selling point.

VF: We're going to try that. The defense we're going to use here, although we're going to have to make some adjustments for the differences in the offenses we'll be facing, will be an NFL-oriented defense. We feel like anybody who has aspirations to play at the next level will be getting great training here for playing for an potential NFL career.

I read a couple of things from Baltimore that talked about you being a no-nonsense kind of guy. I would think that approach might work pretty well at Stanford compared to you running into some prima donna aspect in the NFL. Is that a fair assessment?

VF: However I got that, that label is false. That's not my personality to begin with. But I think there's a misnomer in the NFL that you have a bunch of prima donna personalities. I never had any problems dealing with players in the NFL. People seem to forget those players came from the colleges. They don't make a drastic change once they leave campus and come to the NFL. They're still at the root the people they are. Now there's the business aspect in the NFL that does enter into the picture at times. But as a coach you try not to deal with that very much. I'm just going to be myself, whatever that is, that is who'll I'll be. I'm not going to try to change or be someone different just because I've changed the level of ball I'm coaching at.

I understand you're a 3-4 guy. I know writers sometimes make a bigger deal out of that than they should, but how are you guys incorporating that with Stanford personnel that was mostly 4-3 last year?

VF: We've obviously had to do some position changing with some of the players. Some of the players who were ends last year are now going to be 3-4 outside linebackers. The prerequisite for that position is to have some defensive end abilities in you because you are going to play on the line of scrimmage, predominantly, and you'll end up playing an outside rushing position, so you do have to have some defensive end abilities. Yet you do have to have enough athleticism and linebacker skills to be counted on to be involved in pass coverage at times.

Part II on Friday: Talking personnel and Fangio's coaching plans.

After an 8-5 season and the program's first bowl game since 2001, it's clear Stanford is on an uptick under fourth-year coach Jim Harbaugh.

So how far will that next step take the program in 2010?

Spring practices began Monday -- the Cardinal split up their spring into two sessions or "mini-camps" -- with 17 starters back and a number of young players from nationally rated recruiting classes expected to compete for playing time.

But there are issues. Harbaugh has been trying to fill five voids on his coaching staff during the offseason, a task that appeared over until quarterbacks-receivers coach Ron Turner bolted for the Indianapolis Colts.

Moreover, the Cardinal will be breaking in a new 3-4 defensive scheme, not to mention trying to replace Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart.

That's a lot of change.

Harbaugh, however, seems to enjoy change. Consider that offensive players Alex Loukas and Owen Marecic will both change positions to defense (at least this spring). Loukas from quarterback to safety; Marecic from fullback to linebacker.

So what's up with the House of Harbaugh as spring starts? Seemed like a good moment to check in.

Part I today, Part II tomorrow.

So, the smoke has cleared after recruiting, give me the state of the Stanford Cardinal?

Jim Harbaugh: Every year is a new year. The team is going to find its identity. First and foremost going into spring ball is evaluating the players and finding their roles, whether they are starters or contributors. Anybody who could fill a role for us this season, we want to give him the license and opportunity to show that, show themselves.

You've had some fairly significant staff turnover: Tell me about the new guys, starting with new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

JH: Vic Fangio has a pretty well-known reputation in football. You come across people in your career in football, whether it's as a player or coach, and you think they are really damn good at what they do. Vic is one of the people I've been most impressed with, whom I've met associated with football.

And defensive line coach Randy Hart?

JH: We really felt when we played Notre Dame last year that his was the best coached defensive line that we played against or saw on tape. When he was available, that was the first call I made. From the first conversation I had with him, I knew he was the right fit here for us. Tremendous enthusiasm and energy and character.

And special teams coordinator Brian Polian?

JH: Like Randy, I didn't know Brian but I was always impressed with him when we played against his special teams units for three years -- Stanford vs. Notre Dame. They were good battles but I kind of felt they got the better of it. And the footprint he's always left in recruiting, we have not been able to match. So if you cannot beat 'em, join 'em.

And how about secondary coach Derek Mason?

JH: Derek is good. [Defensive tackles/outside linebackers coach Lance Anderson] had worked with Derek, and I'm very good friends with Leslie Frazier [the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator] and Brad Childress [the Vikings head coach] and all those people had great things to say about Derek. I had never met Derek before but he is really, really good. I'm really impressed with him as a teacher. He's got an eye for football. Just impressive to watch him coach. A solid technician and teacher who has an excellent way about him.

Now I know that Ron Turner, who was hired to coach quarterbacks and receivers, left for the Indianapolis Colts.

JH: He left for the Colts. He viewed that as a better job. What more can you say?

How does a 3-4 base scheme make you guys better vs. the 4-3?

JH: It's base out of a 3-4 but that could still have some principles out of a 4-3. The evaluation of our personnel has never been more important than it is this spring, with new coaches and a new scheme. Even if that's the base, we'll do whatever is best to stop people. Vic's got experience in both of them -- in just about any defense that's ever been run.

How will you use Owen Marecic this year: Is he two-way, or his he now mostly an inside linebacker?

JH: He's a starting fullback on our team and a two-way player. At this point right now, it's too early to say who the starters are. We're evaluating. But he's running with the ones on defense and he's the starting fullback on our offense.

Part II on Wednesday: Replacing Toby Gerhart, Andrew Luck's increased role and Harbaugh talking about whether Stanford fans should fret about him leaving.