Could the Bears have a First Daughter in our midst? USA Today reports the recruiting story of the summer: Malia Obama is looking toward the West Coast to spend her college years. She toured Cal and Stanford recently, and the good news is that on her first visit, it was clear that she preferred Berkeley.
It’s good to see Malia enjoys simple common sense in that regard. But she’s only 16 and is at least a year and a half away from making this decision. So basically who knows at this point.
Onto more pressing recruiting matters.
Cal football recruiting has been relatively quiet in the lead-up to the season, which probably means the Bears are probably not in the hunt for many of the premier recruits at the moment. That could change with in-season success, but right now it’s a wait-and-see attitude for most all of the young high school prospects.
Perhaps the nicest news is that Oklahoma City (Ok.) Casidy School OL Josh Wariboko has put Cal in his top 8. The competition is unfortunately a bit stiff for the four-star lineman. UCLA, Texas A&M, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Louisville are the other seven.
Salt Lake City (Ut.) Brighton defensive end Mufi Hunt was offered recently and is planning a visit at some point.
Mufi Hunt picked up a Cal offer earlier this summer and plans to take an unofficial to Berkeley soon. @mufihunt7 @RGBearTerritory #Cal
— Doug Kimmel (@DougKimmelScout) July 10, 2014
6’3, 185 pound Pasadena (Ca.) La Salle athlete Evan Rambo was offered recently. Rambo recently committed to San Diego State, but it’s clear that Cal will be in the mix as the season goes along.
We chat it up with new #Cal offeree Evan Rambo (@RamboEvan), plus make at least one awesome movie pun... https://t.co/QbaoaWnlto
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) August 18, 2014
Another person who just recently picked up an offer is Wyoming QB/LB Tevis Bartlett. Bartlett has recently won two national championships in wrestling as a freshman and a sophomore. He currently has a top four of Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, but the Cal offer came recently so I wouldn't be surprised if we enter the mix.
Cheyenne East (WY) QB/OLB Tevis Bartlett picked up an offer from Cal. @RGBearTerritory #CalBears
— Doug Kimmel (@DougKimmelScout) August 19, 2014
With Cal looking to shore up depth defensively, they could use any additional needed help they can find. Could that come from the JUCO ranks? San Jose (Ca.) C.C. CB Khari Vanderbilt took yet another visit to Cal, and despite being committed to BYU seems to have some interest here.
We go wayyyy in depth with #BYU commit and JuCo100 DB @KhariVanderbilt, who made his 2nd visit to #Cal recently ($) https://t.co/fGSEwFvY0g
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) August 17, 2014
The Bears are already handing out early offers to the 2016 class, with Mira Mesa (Ca.) WR Steffon McKnight receiving one of the first ones. The issue is that so is everyone else--the Trojans just handed out a recent offer.
Steffon McKnight @BurritoBoySavie Mira Mesa High School 2016-4-Star WR 6-1 160 4.45 #ESPNjr300:#19 overall-#4 WR http://t.co/7CPsOL54qD
— InsideBamaRecruiting (@RTRnews) July 30, 2014
So apparently the new WR Steffon McKnight we offered has a twitter handle that involves the words Burrito and Boy. AUTO 5 STAR
— Nam Le (@AGuyNamedNam) August 14, 2014
Also getting offered was 2016 Woodberry Forest (Va.) OT Clark Yarbrough. Get those big uglies!
Received an offer from Cal! #Pac12 #GoBears
— Clark Yarbrough (@ClarkYarbrough) August 15, 2014
Must see film on 2016 Woodberry Forest (Va) 4-star OT Clark Yarbrough. Mean & athletic w/ loads of potential. http://t.co/ehC0RCMsmj #hudl
— Chris Smith (@ChrisSmithVU247) August 14, 2014