grew up in the same part of Oakland as Lynch. In addition to football, Lynch excelled in track and field, where he competed mainly as a sprinter, but also in jumping events. He recorded a personal-best time of 10.94 seconds in the 100-meter dash as a senior, while also posting top-leaps of 1.94 meters (6 ft, 4 in) in the high jump and 6.38 meters (20 ft, 10 in) in the long jump. Lynch was a versatile athlete on the football field. He played defensive back and also played quarterback, wide receiver, and linebacker in high school. The Rivals.com recruiting network had him ranked #2 in the nation at running back behind Adrian Peterson. College career Lynch attended the University of California, Berkeley, and played for the California Golden Bears football team. He majored in social welfare. Lynch was nicknamed "Money" in college. 2004 season As a true freshman in 2004, Lynch was the primary backup to senior J. J. Arrington. In his collegiate debut against Air Force in the regular season opener, he had seven carries for 92 yards and a touchdown in the 56–14 victory. On November 13, in the 42–12 victory over Washington, he had nine carries for 121 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with a 29-yard touchdown reception. One week later, against Stanford, Lynch had 122 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. In addition, he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Burl Toler in the 41–6 victory. Overall, Lynch carried the ball 71 times for 628 yards with eight rushing touchdowns and 147 yards on 19 receptions and two receiving touchdowns in his freshman season. 2005 season In 2005, Arrington had graduated and Lynch became the starting running back. Lynch wore jersey No. 24 his freshman year but switched to No. 10, his high school number. This switch placed him in sequence with his cousins Virdell Larkins, who wore No. 9, and Robert Jordan, who wore No. 11. Lynch and his cousins were teammates at Cal. Lynch started off the season strong with 24 carries for 147 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 41–3 victory over Sacramento State. Almost a month later, on October 1, he had 107 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in a 28–0 victory over Arizona. The next week, he had 135 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 47–40 loss to UCLA. On October