BERKELEY – It's pretty clear that Patrick Sproul would like to be like Patrick Laird. So it's only natural that the day he met Laird, Sproul fell asleep with four books in his bed.

Sproul, a first-grader at Donald Rheem Elementary School in Moraga, is the great-great-grandson of former University of California president Robert Gordon Sproul. His dad, Andrew, played baseball at Cal from 1998-2001.

Understandably, young Patrick Sproul was pretty much pre-selected to become a fan of the Golden Bears. And he picked a pretty good student-athlete to especially take a liking to – a successful former walk-on with multiple academic honors.

In fact, Sproul ended up liking Laird so much last fall that he decided to dress up as the Cal running back for Halloween. When word of Sproul's costume choice made its way to Laird himself, he decided to surprise his admirer at his school on Halloween day.

"To have a player do something like that for your child is one of those things we will never forget," said Casey Sproul, Patrick's mom. "It was such a great memory for our family and Patrick. We will never forget that moment."



Laird burst on to the scene last season to create a lot of unforgettable moments, rushing for 1,127 yards and eight touchdowns while earning All-Pac-12 honorable mention along the way. Included among his accomplishments was a 214-yard rushing performance against Oregon State.

While Cal fans were learning that Laird can play football, they also were being introduced to Patrick Laird as a person. As his trip to Rheem Elementary last October demonstrates, that part of his persona has his gridiron talents beat any day of the week.

"He's really a kind and very giving young man," said Laird's father, Michael. "He encourages kids to work hard, not just athletically but academically."

Laird and his five siblings come from an athletic family. Older brother Kevin played football at Cornell while younger sister Jennifer is a freshman volleyball player at nearby Saint Mary's. It was Jennifer who was able to help arrange Laird's visit to Moraga, as Saint Mary's head coach Rob Browning's wife, Michelle, is a reading tutor at Rheem.

Laird, an avid reader whose inclination to settle in with a good book goes well beyond what is required in his classes, showed up on Halloween wearing his Cal jersey and toting four books from the "Magic Tree House" children's series. He spent about 10-15 minutes with Sproul in the classroom and joined the school for its Halloween parade. He talked to the younger Patrick about hard work and the importance of school, and left after giving him the quartet of books.

"Our Patrick was shocked. He had this huge smile on his face," Casey Sproul said. "He was just so excited. Bringing the books was really awesome. It inspired Patrick to want to read more. He saw how important it was."



He may be able to stay up a little longer than Sproul, but Laird also typically ends the night with a good book in hand. Reading was a significant point of emphasis in the Laird home when Patrick was growing up in Arroyo Grande, Calif., and the busy college student-athlete still finds time to satisfy his reading urges on a nightly basis.

"My parents used to read to us before we went to bed every night," Laird said. "I don't really remember it but that's what they have told us. So since a young age, it's been something that they encouraged. Apparently, when I was younger I used to pretend to read chapter books. My brother used to come in and say, 'you can't read.' My mom would say, 'let him pretend.'"

But Laird isn't staying up to all hours of the night reading. He needs to get a good night's sleep before his 5:45 a.m. wake-up call.

And yes, that's whether he has early-morning workouts or not. Laird said he realized in high school he is a morning person. Bucking the more common trend of college students, Laird would rather wake up early than pull an all-nighter to get things done.

"I've always been the type to go to bed early and wake up early," Laird said. "I'm just way more productive in the morning. Things come up during the day that you can't plan for, but nobody is texting or calling you at 6 in the morning. It's a time where nobody is going to bother you."

Laird will use his early-morning hours to either catch up on schoolwork or read. And apparently, he actually began showing signs of being a morning person well before high school. Michael Laird said he wakes up around 4:30 a.m. every morning to work out in their home gym, and Patrick started joining him when he was a toddler.

"I'd be down there working out and he'd come down the stairs and crawl into this little laundry basket and just sit and watch," Michael Laird said. "Then in high school, he'd be at the beach or the gym before the sun came up."

While Laird was more of an unknown quantity heading into last season, the expectations will be much higher for him in 2018. Laird will be counted on to lead, both on and off the field.

"Patrick Laird is everything you want a student-athlete to be both on and off the field," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. "He is smart, athletic, hard-working and a terrific teammate who is well-respected by his peers. Patrick knows what he wants in every aspect of his life and works extremely hard to attain it. His work ethic and attitude is a positive influence on everyone he is associated with."