With the last of the sacred oak grove protectors out of their well-fed perch, will the imminent Student-Athlete High Performance Center drive up top level recruiting? With the exception of last year, the Tedford era has put Cal as consistently the second best program in the Pac-10 but rarely do Cal's recruiting classes "rank" as second best in the Pac-10. Even though California is such a mecca for elite athletes, Cal usually gets one out of the top 100-150 prospects (i.e. Desean, Best, Vereen, Deboskie) according to sites like rivals and scout .
Judging by the numbers Cal sends to the NFL and on-the-field success, Tedford seems to to know which possibly underappreciated talents will fit well in his systerm better than the recruiting rankings. I know Tedford is looking for character and there are academic standards, but will the SAHPC at least make Cal #2 in the Pac-10? Tracking prospects that Cal has offered, we seem to lose top prospects to not just to UCLA and Oregon but recently to even Arizona State and Arizona. Even at SC, I know we don't have Snoop or starlets chillin' at practices, but it I still don't understand why some high school All-American would want to compete with six other high school All-Americans tailbacks or against three other All-Americans QBs for one spot.
I have great hopes for Cal basketball recruiting with Greg Gottlieb's retention, his track record at SDSU, and Monty's reputation (although his reputation seems to be that he doesn't like recruiting.)