With Craft passing for 4,000 yards and 44 touchdowns, the Mounties went 10-3.
Hawaii and Southern Methodist recruited him, but UCLA was an offer he couldn't refuse -- even with Olson and Cowan set to return for their senior seasons and Forcier and Osaar Rasshan waiting in the wings.
"I was concerned that, given two senior quarterbacks coming back, there might be attrition following spring football," Neuheisel says. "Somebody might say they needed to go somewhere else to play. I could feel in my bones that was a possibility."
The apparent logjam didn't worry Craft, though. "If you make a decision on 'I want a guaranteed spot,' I think that's being scared," he says. "It's not the right mentality for a team, or a player."
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Craft's day began at 5:15 a.m., but when it comes to football he's in no rush. In the film room, he stops the tape, rewinds it, then sets it in motion again.
"This is one of my favorite plays," he says. "Watch how the receiver comes across and finds the hole in the defense."
On the screen, Craft completes a pass. Then he switches to game tape of Tennessee, saying, "Watch how deep their safeties play."
Craft spends two hours watching tape and jotting notes, tedious work. "But when you love something, it's not boring," he says. "Football has been my life."
Tom Craft, who compares his son to "a gym rat in basketball," didn't drive him to play football. He merely took him to work.
The father spent 16 seasons as head coach at Palomar College and did two stints at San Diego State, as offensive coordinator from 1994 to '96 and as head coach from 2001 to '05.
By the time Kevin was in high school, he was a quarterback by osmosis.
"I guess there was always some influence," says Tom, who produced seven junior college All-American quarterbacks at Palomar. "He's been around football his whole life. He was a ball boy at Palomar. I was always afraid he was going to get run over. All that exposure gave him a strong feeling for the game."
Even so, Kevin has never been anointed in his career. He started part of his sophomore season at Valley Center High but watched a senior run the team the next year.
As a high school senior, he was chosen the top quarterback in San Diego County and chose to play in college for his father at hometown San Diego State.
"He told me that I would have to be twice as good as the other quarterbacks being the coach's son," Kevin says.
