LINK

“I’d been thinking about it for a couple of months,” Scott told The Denver Post today in a telephone interview.

    Scott said he hoped to get a release from CU to UCLA, so he could join his uncle, former Buffs wideout Josh Smith, with the Bruins. Smith, a wide receiver, transferred to UCLA during the summer and is sitting out this season under NCAA transfer rules.

    “That’s the plan,” Scott said about joining Smith

    There’s really nothing to say, other than ‘Sorry to Buff nation,’ " Scott said.

Talks about his mother.

So is his mother, who is known as AB (Ay-Be). Her Nigerian name is Abieyuwa. Odighizuwa credits her with the central role in his success, and she seemed overjoyed Tuesday. She realizes, however, that there is still a lot of work ahead.

“He needs to decide where he is going,” she said. “I have told him to find a school and people he can be comfortable with. I do not want him to regret his choice. Wherever he goes he needs to get his degree and be happy with his school and community.”

She said her son is a wonderful person and this whole experience has been a “dream.”

Odighizuwa was born in the U.S. and at a young age was sent to live with family in Nigeria. Five years later he returned, and she feels this helped him understand his African heritage and roots and to appreciate all the opportunities here.

AB is finishing her second degree and will pursue a medical field. Odighizuwa has three brothers (two were with him on Tuesday, and they both attend David Douglas. His youngest brother is still in grade school).

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=West_Recruiting&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fname%3dWest_Recruiting

“I talk all the time with Brennan Clay (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch), Tony Jefferson (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake), Joshua Shaw (Palmdale, Calif./Palmdale), Ronald Powell (Moreno, Calif./Rancho Verde), a few others,” Stills said. "There’s a good chance a lot of us could be at the same school next year and that would be great.

Berkeley is the greatest city in the world! GO BEARS!!!!!

Has set up a trip for UCLA. Biggins has been saying he is a strong USC lean for a long time, but is also being recruited by Cal.

After checking out Cal a month ago, Uko has three more Pac-10 visits set up this month. The Bruins have been on and off Uko’s list multiple times since last spring.

“I’m looking at UCLA mainly because of coach (Rick) Neuheisel,” Uko said. "He’s personally recruiting me and is the only head coach that I’m talking with. He’s probably recruiting me harder than anyone else and I also like the opportunity to play right away at UCLA.

Guess he hasn’t heard that Neuheisal told Morrell Presley he’d be the leading receiver in the country this year if he went to UCLA. Yes, the same Presley that caught 2 passes for 2 yards with a long of 2 against Cal this year.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4621677&name=West_Recruiting&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d4621677%26name%3dWest_Recruiting

From the same ESPN article posted by chowder:

I’m visiting Oregon (Nov. 13) and then I have USC set for (Nov. 27). Right now, USC is still my top school. I know they lost to Oregon but that doesn’t change anything. I’m close with all the coaches and coach (Jethro) Franklin, the line coach there, and it’s where I feel most comfortable at right now.

carp’s top school is……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Scrips

Three prospects are taking official visits this weekend:

Jay Guy, DT (Aldine, TX) to Nebraska
George Uko, DT (Chino, CA) to UCLA
Owa Odighizuwa, DE (Portland, OR) to UCLA

Jeffrey Whitaker, DT
Warner Robins, GA

After falling behind by 20 in the third, Warner Robins scored 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points for a 21-20 win over the second-ranked rival Northside.

Coach said there is no other feeling like when you beat Northside," Warner Robins defensive tackle Jeffrey Whitaker said. "You know, he’s right. It feels pretty good. It’s pretty special with the heart we showed.

Owa Odighizuwa, DE
Portland, OR

Owa had been favoring Cal before his unofficial visit to Oregon, but the Ducks’ play definitely made a positive impression.

I loved the visit. I thought it was one of the best visits I’ve been on this year," he said. "The atmosphere was great and they just played a really good football game. It was a really great trip.

Lache Seastrunk, RB
Temple, TX

Lache ran 22 times for a game-high 117 yards & 1 TD in Temple High’s 17-6 loss to Belton. He didn’t make his schedule official visit to Oregon over the weekend due to a scheduling mix-up with the family. USC is considered to be the favorite.

Ricky Seale, RB
Escondido, CA

Kenny Stills, WR
Carlsbad, CA

Escondido Cougars’ Ricky Seale broke the San Diego Section career rushing record on the game’s first series, scampering 28 yards for a touchdown. However, the 2nd ranked Las Costa Canyon Mavericks rolled up 407 yards on the ground to a 44-24 victory. Seale was held to 34 yards in the second half after carrying 26 times for 178 yards in the first. The Mavericks delivered a 64-yard bomb in the first to coveted wideout Kenny Stills. Stills finished the game catching 2 passes for 75 yards and a TD.

Ricky Seale discussed the friendly rivalry between him and Kenny Stills. (via 619 Sports)

Postgame interviews with Ricky Seale | Kenny Stills (via 619 Sports).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8zie9BuAQ8

youtube of a 2011 QB prospect on our radar (from bakersfield).. visiting this weekend

It was widely believed that four-star tailback Dontae Williams was ready to sign with Oregon (he gave the team a soft verbal this August), and after Williams witnessed the Ducks’ Halloween demolition of USC it seemed like a foregone conclusion.

But now Williams is wavering, as the prospect said that he wants to take more time with his decision. One likely issue for Williams is that the Ducks clearly have their back of the future in redshirt freshman LaMichael James, who has at least one year left in Eugene, and maybe even three. If Williams wants to play early, this could be a major issue.

The Houston, Texas product, and 12th-ranked tailback prospect nationally, is still considering Purdue, Minnesota and California. Neither Big Ten school has a logjam at the running back position that Williams couldn’t penetrate, and Cal’s star RB Jahvid Best is likely to take his game to the NFL next year. It looks like the Ducks could have their work cut out for them.

HT, T-Bred.

Former Colorado RB Darrell Scott, who announced on Tuesday his intention to leave the Buffaloes and hopefully transfer to UCLA, is unlikely to become a Bruin, sources in the program told Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times.

As we told you, UCLA’s top four rushers are underclassmen, plus the Bruins already have a commitment from highly regarded RB Malcolm Jones of nearby Oaks Christian School. Coach Rick Neuheisel simply can’t afford to waste a scholarship on a back who may never play.

LINK

Tevin Carter was just offered by USC, but he remains committed to Cal and isn’t sure exactly what position wants him at either. He loves a lot of things about Cal. But a USC offer is always a big thing, you know.

According to a BI poster.

LINK

Oregon prep star Terrence Jones is visiting UCLA this weekend, after recent stops at Kentucky and Oregon.

George Uko, DT
Chino, CA

Now that Guy is out of the picture, let’s hope Uko will come to Cal.

Also making an official visit is George Uko, a 6-4, 283-pound defensive tackle from Chino Don Lugo. He had only minor interest in UCLA until recently, but Coach Rick Neuheisel has had a heavy hand in the last few months, those close to Uko’s family have said. The Bruins are back in the picture along with USC, Oregon, Oklahoma, Cal and Tennessee

LINK

More from Uko’s trip to UCLA:

I had a great visit to UCLA," Uko said. "They definitely moved way up for me but I really can’t say how high right now. I just want to get through my visits and then I’ll make my decision, I really don’t want to rank the schools until then.

UCLA has a lot to offer though. It felt like I was part of a family at UCLA, my parents felt the same thing, they loved it there. The players were great to hang with, the other recruits were real cool and I already love the coaching staff.

Coach Neuheisal Neuheisel is a great guy but recently, I’ve really started to bond with Coach Howard, the DL coach as well. He’s an ex NFL coach and that means a lot to me. He does a great job and I think he could prepare me for the next level.

Anthony Jefferson, ATH
Los Angeles, CA

Sounds like Anthony wants $C but Carroll & his gang aren’t working hard enuff:

I like USC, UCLA and Oregon," Jefferson said. "UCLA is recruiting me the hardest right now and I talk with Oregon a lot too but I kind of stopped hearing from SC. I’m not sure if they’re slow playing me right now or what but it definitely seems like it.

I haven’t talked to them in awhile but I’m going to call them this week for sure and see what’s up. As for my last visits, I’m looking at Notre Dame and Oklahoma and those will probably be after the season. I may visit UCLA officially too but I’m not sure because it’s so close to home.

God, if we lose him to play with Burfict, that would suck.

Whiteside also was named an Army All-American.

It’s still way too early. Ryan Davis was waffling the day before commitment last year and the coaches were able to convince him to stay with Cal. When it comes to recruiting us fans will just have to trust the coaches. Tosh will not let us down.

Ricky Seale, RB
Escondido, CA

(Via North County Times)

A quick interview with SD’s record-breaking RB:

Q: Has the college recruiting process been what you thought?

A: Yes, it has. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice, but making a decision is harder than I thought.

Q: Have you enjoyed the process?

A: It has been fun. Coaches call all the time to touch base and ask how I did.

Q: What schools are you considering?

A: A lot of Pac-10 schools -- Stanford, UCLA, Cal, Washington and Oregon. And I’m thinking about San Diego State, too.

Q: When will you announce your choice?

A: It’s going to come down to the end, Feb. 4.

LINK

ESPNU 150 running back Jordon James (Corona, Calif.) will make his college commitment Thursday, ESPN’s Billy Tucker reports.

LINK

It goes without saying that every team in the Pac-10 — Cal included — would love to get a signature on a letter-of-intent this week from Josh Smith, the 6-foot-10, 270-pound center prospect from Kent, Wash.

Smith, rated as a top-20 player in the 2010 recruiting class by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, has given an oral commitment to UCLA. Smith picked the Bruins over hometown Washinton, and he should impact the Bruins early.

He’d better, because Smith has all the earmarks of a one-and-done player, quite possibly headed to the NBA after his freshman season. He hasn’t said as much, but with his size and potential, the NBA money will be a powerful magnet.

Cal apparently was involved with Smith on some level early, but the Bears never became a serious player in this process. Smith told Scout.com he’s been strongly leaning toward UCLA for quite some time.

LINK

James has narrowed his choices to Arizona, Cal and UCLA. He just visited the Wildcats this past weekend and took an official visit to Berkeley back in early October. He was scheduled to visit UCLA in two weeks, but has taken multiple unofficial visits to the Westwood campus.

In breaking down James’ recruitment early on, the word was UCLA was a big leader. There was even talk that James had given the Bruins a silent commitment and was just taking the visits to check out a few places before announcing for UCLA at the Under Armour game.

In recent weeks, however, there has been a strong buzz that Cal was making up a lot of ground. The visit to Cal was James’ favorite trip by a solid margin and in talking with some people close to James’ decision, the feeling is the Bears may actually be the team to beat at this point.

LINK

Whiteside is still committed to Cal, despite having some great trips.

“After taking the visits, I still feel Cal is the place for me. I have one trip left to take if I want to but I don’t know if I’ll take it right now. I’m not really hearing from any other schools so I think I’m done for now and happy to be a Bear.

LINK

UCLA officials have told running back Darrell Scott, who is leaving Colorado, that they were not interested in having him play for the Bruins

Arie Kouandjio, OT
Hyattsville, MD

From a video interview in early October, Army All-American Arie Kouandjio revealed that Cal and ’Bama are the leaders. He enjoyed his unofficial visit to Cal and will be taking official visits after the football season.

Arie’s brother Cyrus is an OT prospect for 2011. Cal has already extended a scholarship offer to Cyrus.

Owa Odighizuwa, DE
Portland, OR

Gabe King, DE
Eugene, OR

Kenny Stills, WR
Carlsbad, CA

Mike Farrell from Rivals reports that Cal-Oregon will be battling over Owa & Gabe to the end. Florida is expected to make Kenny a top recruiting priority.

Remember the highly touted 4-stars recruit Stan Hasiak from last year?

UCLA freshman guard Stan Hasiak will not be with the team for an indefinite period, as he is “dealing with issues,” Coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Hasiak, who has appeared in four games this season, has had a number of anger issues on the practice field, particularly early in the season. He was involved in a handful of near fights with teammates during live scrimmages.

Give credit to the coaches. We lucked out when Hasiak decommitted the day before signing day.

LINK

Lache Seastrunk, RB
Temple, TX

Hot-shot running back recruit Lache Seastrunk still isn’t close to picking his college, but our friend Greg Wille of the Temple Daily Telegram tells us Seastrunk sure has eyes for USC. It seems if he isn’t visiting the Trojans, he’s taking his visits to the campus where USC is playing. He will not be a Longhorn.

LINK

Victor Burnett, LB
Culver City, CA

Offered a Cal scholarship, Burnett verbally committed to UDubb this weekend.

John Young, TE
Los Angeles, CA

Recruited by Pete Alamar & Ron Gould, Young was not offered a scholarship to Cal. He verbally committed to fUCLA this weekend.

LINK

Kenny Stills, WR
Carlsbad, CA

Florida continues to lead in recruiting of Stills after his official visit to Oklahoma.
 

This just keeps getting harder and harder," Stills said. “Oklahoma did a great job and gave me a lot to think about. I know I’m blessed to have these options so I’m grateful for that but at the same time, this is going to be such a tough call.

Jeffrey Whitaker, DT
Warner Robins, GA

[Whitaker’s] season now officially over, this U.S. Army High School All-American has trimmed down his list to five schools: Georgia, Auburn, Cal, North Carolina and South Carolina.

…

Whitaker said he’s going to take his time with his decision and set up some official visits. He said he’ll likely come back to Georgia and go to Auburn and he’s really enamored with Cal, which has recruited him hard. "I don’t mind going away from home," he said.

As for his recruiting timeline, Whitaker figures he’ll announce a decision in mid-January.

LINK

Ricky Seale, RB
Escondido, CA

Seale ran for 5 TDs & 404 yards on 25 carries last Friday night against San Pasqual High. He fell 6 yards short of the section and school single-game record of 410 yds by Darrick Jackson in 2003.

Career-wise, Seale is at 6,380 yards. The CA state record is 9,662 yards, held by… ’Furd’s Toby Gerhart.

LINK

He committed yesterday. He was the #12 running back.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/school?schoolId=2483&page=briefingroom&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fschool%3fschoolId%3d2483%26page%3dbriefingroom%26season%3d2010

Rivals has a Top 5 ranking of DEs based on 3 different attributes. Cal has scholarship offers out to 3 DEs on Rival’s list: JR Ferguson (Chatham, VA), Owa Odighizuwa (Portland, OR) & Gabe King (Eugene, OR).

Ferguson will participate in the annual Crab Bowl (Baltimore vs DC) on 12/19, lining up on D with Nick Forbes (Frederick, MD) but against Arie Kouandjio (Hyattsville, MD).

Rival’s 5 best LB athletes w/ Cal commits Cecil Whiteside & Nick Forbes.

Owa Odighizuwa, DE
Portland, OR

Owa will be officially visiting NE this weekend. NE fans sound desperate to find someone who will replace the presence of Ndamukong Suh next year.

Austin Hinder, QB
Steamboat Springs, CO

ESPNRISE’s article on Hinder & his relationship w/ his grandfather – Cal Hall of Famer Jim Hanifan.

Jakhari Gore, RB
Miami, FL

ESPN is reporting that Jakhari, cousin of 49ers’ Frank Gore, is down to two schools: LSU & Cal.

I look at everything those two schools have offer. I know LSU has a need for running backs, with them losing three senior running backs and another guy who will be a senior next year. They will have a lot of carries available there. And look at what Cal has done with Jahvid Best. They feed him the rock," Gore added.

LINK

My Top 3 are California, Oklahoma and Auburn," he said.

-He said being Mr. Roszell Gayden. Big Time Juco OT. Great to hear, b/c it looked like we had fallen off of his radar.

Shane Johnson (6’5 300 lbs OL) also has included Cal in his top 5 after trimming his list from 20 offer.

-Teammate of Arie and the rest of the guys we are recruiting in MD.

Mike Farrell of Rivals (video) reported that both Gabe King (Eugene, OR) & Owa Odighizuwa (Portland, OR) were both heavy leans toward Cal before the ORE-$C game.

Since the ORE blowout of $C Keenan Allen (Greensboro, NC) has verbally committed to ‘Bama, and Trovon Reed (Thibodaux, LA) to Auburn. It’d a coup for both Owa & Gabe to come to Cal. Our man Tosh is making significant strides to turn around Cal’s beleaguered pass rush.

WaPo is reporting that that Arie Kouanjiio (Hyattsville, MD) has his sights set on ’Bama and Cal.

Arie is not focusing on recruiting until next week, but it is believed that Alabama and Cal rank near the top of the several dozen schools to offer him a scholarship, with Maryland, Miami, Tennessee, Notre Dame and New Mexico among those still in consideration.

Meanwhile, Cyrus, Arie’s brother, will start looking around after his season ends.

Cyrus said the latest of his 15 offers came from Rutgers, with Maryland, Cal, Boston College, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest already on the board.

Cyrus will have more [offers than Arie], if that is possible. He has things he doesn’t even know about right now. I was trying to keep things quiet until after the season when we’ll sit down and talk. – Coach Bill McGregor, DeMatha

Mike Farrell (video) reported on 11/13/2009 that JR Ferguson, DE (Chatham, VA), ESPN150 and Rivals’ #5 DE in the nation, will be making a surprise official visit to Cal on 12/11/2009. He confirmed the Cal-‘Bama recruiting battle for Arie Kouandijo, OT (Hyattsville, MD). $C is ratcheting up its recruiting efforts for Anthony Jefferson, ATH (Los Angeles, CA). Lache Seastrunk, RB (Temple, TX) is favoring $C’s offensive scheme.

We got the Axe! We got the Axe! We got the Axe!

Owa Odighizuwa, DE (Portland, OR) visited Lincoln, NE last weekend. Cornhusker fans found Owa on the sidelines w/ Ndamukong Suh. Owa & Suh have a lot in common.

Dan Wood, Odighizuwa’s coach at David Douglas High School, sang high praises of Owa’s character:

He’s not a bling, bling guy … He’s a people person. His decision is going to be based on who he’s going to battle with every week and who he’s battling for. That’s much more important to Owa than any facility or history of national championships.

When you connect with him as a person, it far exceeds any impact of the bling … He has connected with them [NE head coach Bo Pelini & DE coach John Papuchis], and that is what’s really sold him to this point.

His integrity is impeccable," the coach said. "If you look up the phrase ‘Do the right thing’ in the dictionary, you’ll see his picture.

Finally, Dan Wood on Owa’s ball skills:

[Owa is] the most explosive, relentless defensive player I’ve ever coached.

He is so quick and explosive off the ball," the coach said. "And he does not take plays off. He never gives up. He has such a motor and plays the game the right way.

Sean Parker, S
Harbor City, CA

The Army All-American safety has visited Cal & ND officially. He wants to check out Mich, Ore, and $C before making his decision on signing day.

LINK

With the imminent fall of Weis, and report like this, perhaps Notre Dame starts to lose recruits? Who would Cal have a realistic shot at cherry picking?

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen was punched in the face by an irate fan outside a South Bend restaurant early Sunday morning and has a swollen eye, a person briefed on the incident said on Monday.

That person said Clausen was “sucker-punched” by a fan as he left an establishment after having dinner with his parents.

From Biggins:

It’s a huge weekend for USC in terms of visits. With the out of the state guys, you never know if they’ll actually follow through and visit but I’ve heard Kyle Prater, Jackson Jeffcoat, Chrisian Jones, and Gabe King could all be in town. In-state, I’ve heard George Uko and Demetrius Wright could be on officials and you can bet just about every top recruit in the junior and senior class will be at the game as well.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/4681761

Lache Seastrunk, RB
Temple, TX

Seastrunk talks to ESPNRISE about Temple, TX

LINK

Regarding King, I know he’s still talking about Cal like they’re his top choice. Whether or not his fb status means anything, I’m not sure at this point. But, as I mentioned earlier, a similar fb status about Cal last June didn’t mean anything so I wouldn’t put to much stock in this one.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be in Oregon’s position. No single recruit is worth the potential of a major recruiting violation and when an Oregon alum/former player/booster provides housing for a player in his school’s backyard, that’s crying out for trouble. I’m aware of at least one or two schools that will strongly pursue major sanctions against Oregon if he commits there and one’s not Cal. They say they “cleared it” with the NCAA, but I wouldn’t sleep easy on that one.

Contrary to what some are saying, Cal’s recruiting is going strong right now. They lost Ward and James to UCLA and a few others that were offered but not Plan A guys, but they’re in strong with a lot of top recruits and will host a ton of them Dec. 11, including Kouandjio, his teammates Johnson and Coley, Gayden, Ferguson, Whitaker, Martin, Gore, Werner, possibly Stills and Briggs and a few others, plus current commits Crosthwaite, Hinder, Harper and another one or two.

I’ve indicated for months that commits weren’t likely until late in the recruiting process because almost all their top remaining targets had no intention of committing early and wanted to take bunch of visits.

This is a different type of recruiting cycle than Cal usually is involved in but, just as all the early strong commits didn’t mean the class would be stocked with top players and be wrapped up early, so does the lull during the season not mean things are going poorly.

By design, there was to be one big recruiting game during the season, which, despite the loss was actually a pretty strong visit with a lot of the recruits. There then was to be one big recruiting weekend during bowl prep and that’s what’s happening in a couple weeks. Things will almost definitely pick up then.

Three-star wide receiver Tevin Carter (Los Angeles/Santee) made an unofficial visit to check out the hometown USC Trojans but is still a solid commitment to Cal, ESPN affiliate Web site BearInsider.com reports.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/onthetrail?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2fonthetrail

TrojanNYC blog reported that $C is leading in the recruitment of George Uko, DT (Chino, CA) followed by UCLA.

December recruiting thread?

The departure of LSU running back coach Larry Porter to Memphis is having a negative impact on the recruiting of Lache Seastrunk, RB (Temple, TX). Perhaps coach Gould should sweep in and work his magic…

Chris Fetters of Scout reported that Micah Hatchie, OT (Waialua, HI) had an incredible visit to UW. He was seen hanging out with another Hawaiian and Huskies commit Taz Stevenson. Hatchie still wants to officially visit Oregon, Cal and Hawai’i before making his final decision.

Washington, Oregon and Hawai’i were mentioned by Hatchie as being high risers on his recruiting list. Those are the schools that are going to the top right now.

Greg Biggins reported on Paul Richardson, WR (Gardena, CA) and his visit to ASU over the weekend.

“ASU was a great visit, there wasn’t a single negative about it,” Richardson said. “I got to spend a lot of time with Coach (Dennis) Erickson and that was really a highlight for me. He’s a solid guy and very genuine.”

“I want to take a few more trips with Shaq so I’m looking at Arizona and UCLA,” Richardson said. “I also like Cal and Nebraska and would like to visit both of those as well.”

Kenny Stills, WR (Carlsbad, CA) is down to his final six schools: Cal, UCLA, Oklahoma, Florida, Miami and Michigan. Stills is targeting Dec 11 or Dec 18 to announce his decision on local TV in San Diego.

– Greg Biggins, ESPN