Cal Sports Recruiting Thread: October 2009
by Avinash on Oct 27, 2009 11:59 AM PDT
50 comments
I usually do a Golden Recruits post every few weeks to try and cover what's going on with Cal's incoming class of 2010, as well as the other players who have the Golden Bears on their radar. Eventually, I hope to have a sticky page on the sidebar with all the news and details on Cal recruits and prospects that people can check out, maybe even multiple ones on football, basketball, and the nonrevenue sports...but given how busy things are right now, I probably won't get to it until December.
However, it takes way longer to get these posts done because it's just harder to track what's going on with high school athletes. With Bears in the Pros it's pretty easy--the NFL is the best covered sport, and people end up talking about everyone from the star QB to the long-snapper. Not so with high school--you have to scrounge to find info. Plus when recruiting stuff goes into the DBD, I usually lose it in between everything else.
So consider this a DBD for recruiting discussion, links, and updates, primarily for football and hoops but even non-revenue is cool. I'll bump this thread up until the end of the month before starting a new one for November. It'll make things way easier for me to write those posts, plus you can view all the recruiting news in one place before I gather it for a post.
Here are the sort of things I'm really looking for. If you can find any news on how our recruits are doing under the Friday night lights, I'll give you props and appropriate credit. Maybe cookie crumbs.
1) Box scores and high school stats/results of any Cal recruits--usually a Google News search of athlete names does wonders, especially for quarterbacks and skill players like Austin Hinder or Davon Dunn. If that doesn't work, try searching by their high school and see how their football team is doing. The free forums on BI and Scout also have good stuff.
2) I never know who exactly the Golden Bears are targeting; any ideas on what's going on there would be great. Of course it'd just be what amounts to a rumor mill, but hey, rumors are fun with something as silly as high school recruiting, as long as we're not slandering anyone.
3) Videos, on youtube or whereever. Love some highlight reels.
4) DO NOT PASTE PAID ARTICLES. We're not small-time anymore, the recruiting boards know who we are and we'll have to delete your comment. If you want to use innuendo of what you might know, that could be okay, but don't put explicit info that violates your contracts with Rivals/BI/Scout. Anything behind the wall, do not quote or paraphrase.
5) Any general Pac-10 recruiting discussion (of recruits traveling around, like Marsh, King and OO), is cool too. It'd be nice to see how the rest of the conference is stacking up at the same time.
Discuss the future of Cal sports!
The opinions expressed in a FanPost are, in every way, reflective of the opinions of every California Golden Blogs Marshawnthusiast. Moreover, they are reflective of every employee of SBNation, including Tyler "Blez" Bleszinski.
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Unofficial, but Hinder, Forbes, Whiteside are supposedly Army All-Americans
Haven’t seen any news of this yet, so we’ll have to see if this if for real.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 10:20 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Pac-10 general recruiting news
I didn’t know where to put this, and didn’t feel it was important enough for an individual fanshot.
Stanford lost two high-profile recruits over the weekend.
1) 4-star, #11 Tight End prospect (79 espn rating) Blake Barker to Harvard
2) Under-Armour All-American, 4-star, and Top-100 prospect Tai-ler Jones to Notre Dame
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 10:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
From yesterday: Cassius Marsh supposedly no longer interested in Cal
ASU, LSU and USC his top three choices.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 10:25 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
supposedly, Cal dropped Marsh, not the other way around. Maybe they got sick of his waffling?
Goin' balls deep with Cal since 1972!
by Fire Starkey on Oct 20, 2009 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Marsh said from the get-go that he would like the SEC, problem is early on, he didn’t have any SEC offers.
by chowder on Oct 20, 2009 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
funny…that parallels my baseball career.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
but marsh got offers from the SEC. you got offers from the Big Sky =P
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 20, 2009 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
haha…I miss this dude^^^^^^^^^^^^
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 5:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
He won’t be at SC. The welcome mat was pulled a while back.
by Cali49a on Oct 22, 2009 10:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Cal is in hot pursuit of Jordon James
According to one Scout poster.
I am hearing the team is really gaining ground with respect to Jordan James. RB has been a very difficult position to project this season for Cal, and the sticking issue with Jordan James is not so much the team’s performance (or lack thereof) against Oregon and USC this season, but how soon Jordan has a realistic shot at seeing the field – this is the primary sticking point with this tremendous back, he wants to play ASAP. He has been told he will have the opportunity to compete from Day 1, but he has not been promised PT as a true freshman. Contrast that with places like Arizona or ND, where the coaches aren’t shy about making such promises, and that may be the difference between getting a commit or not. Also, if Shane blows up this season, it may push Jordan in another direction. Some kids want to play for winners, some kids simply want to play, nothing wrong with that, and I think he has a terrific shot at doing both at Cal – he’s been the RB I want at Cal over anyone else we’ve been recruited, although his propensity for getting dinged up is a concern. With UCLA already having a high-profile RB committed, and with ND telling Barr he can play RB, it may create a Cal/UW/UA battle.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 10:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I think Greg Biggins at ESPN has been saying that although James is looking around, UCLA is still his favorite option. This is in spite of the fact they recently received a commitment from bruising running back Malcolm Jones.
by chowder on Oct 20, 2009 1:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Is biggins the crink-in-the-neck guy?
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
so…yes!
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 4:01 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
It looks like Cal is looking for a speed/scat back this year. James, Jakhari Gore, and Lache Seastrunk (he is a definite long shot) all fit the speed over power profile we have with Best and Vereen.
by chowder on Oct 20, 2009 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
For those who don't know, Jakhari Gore is Frank's cousin
Would be plenty nice if you could watch the two Gores in the Bay Area Friday and Saturday.
I do agree that Cal probably wants speed since Jahvid’s going to be gone, making me think they really really like Yarnway as their power back of the future.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Frank needs to help us here. Gore’s mom passed away recently…so perhaps he might like to be closer to Frank the Tank?
Is J. Gore fast? F. Gore’s many things…I’m not sure “fastest dude on the field” is one of qualities.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 2:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
He is listed at 5’-9" 156 lbs. ESPN says he is more quick than fast, but he looks plenty fast in his highlight reel.
by chowder on Oct 20, 2009 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
speaking of smaller players, I wonder how Isi Sofele’s going to evolve on offense. Combining a fast back with Yarnway sounds great to me.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 20, 2009 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
i wanted james over anyone else too because his first HS highlight tape was against a team with a whole bunch of FBS players on defense (including Vontaze Burfict). and he owned em. dude’s fast.
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 20, 2009 5:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
but when i found out we were recruiting seastrunk, i give him lache an edge. much much much better chance with james though, and i don’t see much of an on-the-field drop off. just don’t want james to have an injury-riddled career. dasarte already just wasted his RS season.
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 20, 2009 5:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
T-Bred, have most of our RB recruits in the past been fairly healthy?
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 20, 2009 10:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
When’s the last time we got a verbal from someoen? I know it doesn’t mean anything until signing day, but we’ve had little activity recently.
Also, what are some of the important positions we’re trying to recruit this year?
by CaliforniaCMB on Oct 20, 2009 10:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Not sure, probably since before the season. Usually recruits verbal early or at the end in December/January…not many make their decision in the middle of the season.
As for important positions…well, it’s hard to say, every position is pretty important. Even though we’re losing a lot of secondary people, we have Williams and Anthony waiting in the wings…and Hill is already starting. Hill-Hagan-Nnabuife rotation should be pretty good in 2009 at corner, along with Cattouse-Campbell-Williams at safety…etc.
Nose tackle is also a big one. It’s always good to have an extra nose tackle in there. Payne might be the guy down the road, but it’d be really great if we got a guy like Uko in here.
I guess the only worrisome spot is linebacker—even though Kendricks/Holt/Mohamed should be much improved next year, none of them look like super pass rushers. It’ll be interesting if Whiteside can provide that down the road. Add in the fact that we lose Bishop and Young and we could be thin at linebacker again.
QB we have like a hundred of them, RBs we never seem to have problems finding. I guess WRs to complement Jones in 2011 would be great too. It’s hard to really project since we don’t know how good the team will look in two-three years (most of them three), which is when the majority of this class will start seeing meaningful PT.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 21, 2009 9:05 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thanks.
I guess I get antsy seeing all of these four/five star guys committing to programs and we’re in neutral.
by CaliforniaCMB on Oct 21, 2009 11:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
No Conte?
I’d say he’s a big part of our secondary next year.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
by CBKWit on Oct 21, 2009 1:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Could be, although last week was the first time I saw him much this season…hasn’t Campbell been getting more time over him insofar?
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 21, 2009 2:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Chris Moncrease won’t have a shot at starting next year?
by Nashville on Oct 21, 2009 7:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Like I said, we have a lot of depth, so I probably missed names.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 21, 2009 8:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think the last time anyone verballed was early august/late july when both davon dunn and josh harper committed.
by chowder on Oct 21, 2009 9:47 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, forgot about them. Don’t we have around 4 WR’s commits?
by CaliforniaCMB on Oct 21, 2009 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
3, although one could potentially play DB.
by turkey on Oct 21, 2009 12:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
We are also still in the mix for Kenny Stills, although from the last interview I saw of him, he seemed rather confused about his options.
by chowder on Oct 21, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dunn?
I’m pretty sure he’ll be a WR/PR
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 27, 2009 1:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
That seems likely, but he has the potential.
by turkey on Oct 27, 2009 4:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nick Forbes Army All-American!
Supposedly Hinder and Whiteside are too, but can’t find links to them yet.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 21, 2009 9:42 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
that would be good for update
i would like to see the up and comming class
by Tambo45 on Oct 21, 2009 9:37 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Nick Forbes might join the army after he's done with football
Forbes, a four-star recruit who is ranked No. 73 in the Rivals100, has been receiving accolades and awards ever since he stepped foot on Thomas Johnson’s football field. But this particular award held special significance.
“Getting an invitation from the U.S. Army means a lot,” Forbes said. “I definitely believe in paying your dues to your country. It’s such a commendable thing to go all around the world to protect our freedom to afford us the opportunity to play football. After football I’m almost 100 percent positive I want to serve my country.”
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 22, 2009 6:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Wow, his grandmother was in the army! I find that impressive.
by chowder on Oct 27, 2009 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
James favors Cal
Apparently Jordon James favors Cal. Tedford actually went out to watch him play on the bye week.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 27, 2009 12:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
that’s great n stuff.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 27, 2009 2:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
My guess is he’ll come if Jahvid declares. If not, he won’t sign
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 27, 2009 2:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
what if I declare?
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Oct 28, 2009 6:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Someone needs more sleep.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 28, 2009 10:15 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
only if you do it with a Southern accent.
by turkey on Oct 28, 2009 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Moraga Bear updates
SC’s got the better shot at Uko right now but if they pull in another top dt, it could change things.
Jefferson’s being recruited as a db but wr still a possibility if necessary.
Gayden’s still pretty open and Barr’s still likely going to visit vs. OSU or during bowl prep.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash on Oct 27, 2009 12:06 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I think I remember reading somewhere a while back that Cal was really interested in some German DT named Bjoern Werner. Not many of the scout services know anything about him, since he was supposed to be a class of 2011 participant, but some bureacratic technicality makes him eligible for 2010.
by chowder on Oct 27, 2009 2:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
There’s a lot of interest both ways there.
STAY THIRSTY, MY FRIENDS
by Thoroughbred on Oct 27, 2009 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Prospects update 10/27/2009
Three high school seniors are taking their official visits to Eugene this weekend.
Lache Seastrunk, RB
Temple, TX
For those with ESPNU, this Thursday’s High School Showcase will be in Temple, TX, where Lache Seastrunk will be on display. He had high praises for Cal after his visit.
Check out Lache in action: 1 2. Excellent speed. Seems to have a fifth gear.
Owamagbe (Owa) Odighizuwa, DE
Portland, OR
Born in Columbus, OH & moved to Nigeria when he was 3, Owa didn’t start playing competitive football until eighth grade. Now the 6-foot-3, 235-pound senior spends Friday nights on the football field terrorizing his opponents.
In a recent game against Hood River Valley, Owa racked up nine tackles and two sacks while repeatedly fighting off double- and triple-teams. At one point, Hood River (Ore.) quarterback Sam Kopecky took an intentional grounding penalty by airmailing a pass last seen entering Seattle airspace rather than experiencing the alternate ending.
After visiting Cal on 10/2/2009, Owa will likely visit UCLA, Florida, USC, and Nebraska/Notre Dame, with unofficials to Oregon and Oregon State. He likely won’t make an announcement until January.
Gabe King, DE
Eugene, OR
No one debates the 6’ 6" 253-pound King has the physical tools to succeed at the next level. Rivals even compares him to a young Reggie White. Gabe is heavily recruited by Oregon, California and Alabama, among others. He is recovering from a recent knee injury but plans to play at the Army All-American Bowl come January.
Will have more updates this Friday. Note: Cassius Marsh has verbally committed to LSU.
by solarise on Oct 28, 2009 12:26 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
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