Recruiting Update

Thank you for the update!

A couple of corrections: Coleman is also at the Army All-Star game giving Cal 2 reps there. And Fanua is coming out of HS, not JC.

It would be awesome if we could land Carroll – a smaller, speedy playmaker would be a nice complement to our current group of bigger WRs. If I could take one guy though, it would be Kennard. He would be HUGE for our D!!

Another potentially important recent commit is JC FB Sean Quinn. He goes 240 and just crushes defenders as a lead blocker on tape. Coaches seem to be talking about him as the heir apparent to Will T.

I’m curious about your QB assessment – are you completely writing Riley off? Bridgford looks awesome on film, but I think we will be in deep shit if he is starting as a true freshman. I personally expect Riley to put it all together and have a very good season next year.

Thanks for the update! With any luck, the hope this post raised won’t be dashed!

Mark Brazinksi (NJ), ESPNU’s #2 Center, officially committed to Cal during the Under Armour All-American game tonight. He chose the Bears over Boston College, Florida State, UNC, and Penn (where his brother played Center).

Brazinski has an ideal build for the position and plays with great leverage. He gets good pad level when blocking a nose tackle head-up or shaded to one side. Has little trouble blocking back and has a good first punch. He’s a real scrapper who stays on his blocks and won’t give in.

He seems like an interesting kid too, as one of the reasons he said he chose Cal was because during his visit, his hometown in New Jersey was covered in snow and he was in Berkeley “wearing gym shorts.”

Glad to officially have him.

Link to Brazinksi’s ESPNU page

I expect the 2008 recruits TE Spencer Ladner and RB Covaughn Deboskie to make some serious impacts in 2009 and 2010. They were both highly tauted and I think Deboskie will make a bigger and earlier impact than any of the RB recruits in the 2009 class. Even though I am excited about Yarnway and Sofele.

ESPNU West recruiting blog said Kennard was leaning toward USC…not sure if that’s accurate though.

there’s no doubt we’re doing a great job throughout the nation in landing star talent. Do we think we’re doing a good job keeping the local talent at home? I sort of feel like USC’s trying to get the best players from all over (esp. SoCal), Cal’s trying to tap into SoCal and the best of the rest from around the nation, and UC Eugene’s tapping into the NorCal talent. We have 3 (or so) commits from the Bay Area. Here’s a few notables that it appears we’ve missed:

Rolando Jefferson, 6-2, 190, WR and Cliff Harris, 6-0, 165, DB, Edison (Fresno, Calif.)
We put Jefferson and Harris together for two reasons. They’re from the same school and both have a lot of work to do in order to qualify. At this point, Harris has a much better shot at making it and if he does, look for him to sign with Oregon. Jefferson, the best receiver I’ve seen in the West this year, is likely JUCO bound. Look for him to end up at College of Sequoias (Visalia, Calif.) and in two years, be recruited by every school in the country.

Kyle Van Noy, 6-4, 200, ATH, McQueen H.S. (Reno, Nev.)
Van Noy is one of the most versatile players in the region and could end up on either side of the ball in college. Van Noy has already visited Colorado and Arizona State and will visit BYU and UCLA in the next two weeks. I’ve always gotten the feeling that Van Noy wanted to stay home and play for the Cougars and that feeling has only gotten stronger in recent months. Barring something crazy happening, look for Van Noy to announce for BYU after his final visit.

Michael Clay, 5-11, 205, LB, Bellarmine College Prep (San Jose, Calif.)
Clay is a talented outside linebacker and reminds me a lot of former Stanford ‘backer Michael Okwo. Clay tripped to Colorado and will visit his other finalist, Oregon, this coming weekend. Clay said he plans to announce his college choice January 13, which is his mother’s birthday. Heading into the visit to Eugene, it sounds like the Ducks hold a slight lead and they could really seal the deal with a strong trip this weekend.

We should probably just go with Tedford Knows Best…some of these guys sound like they might not qualify academically.

Powell has a huge frame and will likely be in the 6-4, 290 pound range in a few short years. For that reason, I love his upside as a future defensive tackle but his most recent offer came as a linebacker.

“Cal just offered me this morning,” Powell said. "They want me as an outside linebacker in their 3-4 defense and I’m definitely interested in them. I like the Pac-10 a lot and I like that Cal is close to home.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=West_Recruiting