Photo by Ron Chenoy, USA Today
Cal Football Video: Leon Powe Saw 'The Beast' in Marshawn Lynch Years Ago
Leon Powe insists he did not give fellow Oakland Technical High School alum Marshawn Lynch his “Beast Mode” nickname.
But Powe, who is one year older than Lynch, has been referring to the freakishly physical running back as a beast since their prep days.
“I told all may family members and friends, `This dude is going to be something special.’ I knew it all the way,” Powe said.
“I’ve seen this man carry four or five . . . maybe six high school players on his back for like, I don’t know if it was the 30, 40 (yard line) . . . it might have been the other side of the 50 all the way to the end zone.
“And I said, `That’s just a beast. That’s Beast Mode right there. That’s a beast.’ ”
That’s Beast Mode right there.
Powe likely would have made that remark in the fall of his senior season — Lynch’s junior year at Tech — which still was 2002. That’s five years before Lynch made his NFL debut with the Buffalo Bills.
“No, no, I didn’t invent Beast Mode,” Powe said. “Me and my friends called that dude the beast. A beast. That’s what we called him. They took it to Beast Mode level.”
Lynch has said one of his old coaches first called him a beast, and by 2008 Lynch had filed for a trademark on “Beast Mode” for use on various merchandise.
Former Oakland Tech coach Delton Edwards told ESPN in 2014 that Lynch earned a nickname during the Silver Bowl league championship game when he broke a tackle on the way to the winning touchdown.
"That was his first Beast Mode,” Edwards said.
Powe, who spent five years in the NBA after earning Pac-10 Player of the Year honors for Cal in 2014, recalled that Lynch actually played basketball with him at Tech.
“I had to tell him, `Don’t be tackling people in the basketball game — you could get thrown out.' I remember one time he spearheaded somebody. I was just shaking my head. `That’s Marshawn.’ “
Lynch has rushed for more than 10,000 yards in his 12-year NFL career. He played in just one game last season for the Seattle Seahawks, where he enjoyed his best years, but he might not be done.
On ESPN earlier this week Lynch told Scott Van Pelt that his agent is talking with the Seahawks about a possible return when the 2020 season gets started.
In the meantime, Lynch celebrated his 34th birthday a couple weeks back by handing out protective facemarks at Lake Merritt in Oakland.
Powe was not surprised, but was impressed. As usual.
“He does things his way, and I’ll always respect that,” Powe said. “And he’s got a good heart. He gives back to the community as well. The man is special.”
*** Marshawn Lynch and Leon Powe both are prominent in our 2000s installment of The Best of the Bears, profiling the top Cal athlete every year for the past century.
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @JeffFaraudo
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