Opening day fast approaches, and the anticipation is only continuing to grow. We are finally in the last few weeks of non-football season.
Let's check out and see how some of Cal's targets are doing before season starts. As some of you may have guessed, summer recruiting tends to be very hit or miss. I anticipate things picking up exponentially once season begins, and obviously even more so after season ends. There will certainly be a lot more visits in the coming months.
Bobby Okereke, Tustin, Athlete. ESPN 3 star
Extremely versatile athlete who could probably play whatever side of the ball he wants to once he gets to college (of course depending on team needs, fit, etc.). Okereke has said that he is looking to make a decision within the week. As of recently, Cal has been firmly listed in his top 7.
Despite the 3 star ranking, Okereke has a superb offer list from a host of different schools in different conferences. Cal offered him in May, and since the summer began Okereke has seen his popularity amongst schools increase dramatically.
Versatile ATH Bobby Okereke set to decide on Saturday. He talks 7 finalists: http://t.co/L4gfHSQojf #Stanford #USC #UDub #CalGang #Oregon
— Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) August 5, 2013
Most sites have him going to Stanford though. He attended their camp earlier this summer and apparently liked it a lot.
Joey Alfieri and Bobby Okereke both plan to announce on Saturday - #Stanford coincidence?
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) August 7, 2013
I'm still optimistic that other schools have a shot. It seems silly that he would have listed 7 different schools in a recent report just a few days ago if he was already firmly set on one. We will have to see though.
Damien Mama and Joe Mixon
If you remember, a few weeks ago I wrote a post about how these two may in fact be a package deal (possibly along with other Bosco recruits). Looks like this theory has been confirmed a bit more. As of a few day ago, Mama and Mixon announced that they would be visiting Wisconsin together. Is this the only school they're going to look at as a pair? Or will this continue? No way to say as of now. Both of them are beginning to put their visit lists together and there is definitely a lot of overlap in their interests. Unfortunately, no Cal visits are scheduled yet. Some of the guys over at 247 sports are still predicting that there is chance Mixon comes to us, whereas there seems to be less optimism surrounding Mama. Still way too early to tell anything definitive though.
Big news for #Wisconsin. Damien Mama is planning an official visit to Madison along with close friend Joe Mixon.
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) August 5, 2013
Adarius Pickett, El Cerrito, CB
ESPN 4 star, rated player 179 out of the top 300.
General consensus has placed us in at least Pickett's top 5 for the majority of recruiting season. Unfortunately, demand for him has steadily increased over the past year, and he appears to be very high on UCLA, USC, Stanford, and Washington as well. No real news yet, but Pickett is apparently looking to trim his list down within the next few days, so we'll have a better idea of where we stand (if we're still in the picture, fingers crossed).
Pickett Planning Trips, List Cut: The El Cerrito (Calif.) cornerback, Adarius Pickett, will trim his list and ... http://t.co/HNnVGss2z7
— BeaverFootball.com (@beaverfootball) August 8, 2013
I'm still pretty optimistic on this guy just because of the geography factor. He is definitely an extremely talented corner whose stock will only continue to rise as the year progresses. It would be very, very nice to get a commitment out of him early on. As of now, his only visit scheduled is to UCLA later this month. Don't be alarmed if he doesn't have a visit scheduled to Berkeley until much later, and don't be surprised if it comes up on very short notice-- he can obviously come by Cal anytime he wants because of how close he lives.
That's all we got for this week folks. I know, not a ton of info, but hopefully that will help tide you over until Northwestern comes to Berkeley.