via hssn-media.advance.net (Hat-tip carp!)
NOTE: If you have info on stories or links about these guys, email me (bearsnecessities at gmail), or tweet us @goldenblogs so I can post them in future Golden Recruits posts!
This is a big weekend, not only because of what's going on down on the field of play, but also along the sidelines. We have a lot of recruits and potential prospects showing up for this one! A * next to the player name indicates a current Golden Commit! (Hat-tip, Bear Insider)
4* Tevin Carter*
3* Michael Coley (I'm a little confused, since his official visit is listed 12/13, but he's apparently coming)
4* Davon Dunn ($)*
4* Nick Forbes*
4* Austin Hinder*
4* Jordon James
4* Anthony Jefferson
4* Gabe King
4* Cassius Marsh
5* Chris Martin
5* Owamagbe Odighizuwa
4* Sean Parker
5* Lache Seastrunk
4* Chris Ward
4* Cecil Whiteside*
4* David Wilkerson*
It should go without saying you should make as much noise as you can. Saturday, win or lose. Cal fans, in the remote but possible case things go bad on Saturday, I strongly urge you not to get all antsy and start boo-birding, in any measure or form. If we lose, we lose, take your Blue & Gold bleeding heart, freeze it, hustle out of the stadium, stuff your sorrows in Top Dog kielbasa, and move on and focus on 2010. But let's not affect the decisions of our prospects. Present is future.
The big man (pictured above) is the highly touted DE Owamagbe Odighizuwa. His list is still fairly extensive at this point.
Five-star defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa took an unofficial visit to Oregon State this past weekend and liked what he saw. "It went pretty good. It was a good trip. Unfortunately they (Oregon State) lost to Cincinnati, who has a pretty talented team across the board." Cal, USC, Florida, UCLA, Nebraska, Oregon and Oregon State are the final schools to make the cut for Odighizuwa.
Here's news on the other visitors, including other recruits after the jump.
Michael Coley (S), Hyattsville, MD
Coley, who's being recruited by Steve Marshall (interesting, since he's being recruited as a safety), had the go-ahead score in a game for DeMatha.
Daniel Tapscott had a 59-yard scoring pass to senior Michael Coley...The Stags took the second-half kickoff, and Tapscott found Coley, who slipped out of a pair of would-be Gilman tackles, and sprinted to the end zone, giving the Hyattsville school the lead for good.
Jordon James's (RB) top school is our younger brother, but Cal is on his radar. There is a possibility his decision could be affected by his teammate's target.
Corona (Calif.) High School seniors Jordon James and Demetrius Wright are working together toward their shared goal of winning a state title. But next year the teammates could be on opposite sidelines.
"His top school is UCLA," said Wright, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound cornerback ranked No. 62 overall on the ESPNU 150. "And my top school is [USC], so it's going to maybe come down to crosstown rivals."
There's also a chance they could stay teammates.
James, the No. 4-ranked running back and the No. 18 player overall, and Wright are considering three of the same schools: Arizona, California and Washington. The touted recruits are even taking two official visits together: They visited Washington on Sept. 5, and they will travel to Arizona the first weekend in November.
Anthony Jefferson (WR) was at Autzen Stadium last week ($), now it's his turn to see what Cal can do at home. The result from last week probably won't affect his decision, due to the good bonds he's established on the Golden Bear staff.
"I'm looking forward to it," Jefferson said. "I can't wait to get out there and see Oregon. I've heard a lot of great things about the place and the facilities so it should be fun. It will be cool to see them play Cal because that's one of my top schools as well and I'm actually visiting Cal next week."
Jefferson is also looking heavily at USC and UCLA and will likely only use an unofficial visit on each. Oklahoma and Notre Dame are possibilities for an official visit down the road.
"UCLA and Cal are recruiting me the hardest right now," Jefferson said. "I hear from those coaches all the time and I have a good relationship with both coaching staffs. Right now, my plan is to finish off my visits and then decide later in the year."
Gabe King (DE) was also at the Cal-Oregon game, and has finished his transfer to South Eugene HS. He should play in his first game tonight before flying down for our tilt.
"His mother is moving out here, and Gabe will play in his first game a week from Friday," Hancock said. "He needs nine practices with the team before he is eligible for a game."
King, who was at Greensboro Page last year, was banned from playing at a North Carolina public school by the N.C. High School Athletic Association because the NCHSAA determined that he had signed a false residency paper last year.
His current college finalists are Oregon, which happens to be located in Eugene, California and Alabama.
A report from Scott Schrader ($) says Cassius Marsh (DT) says has narrowed his list down to two schools: Cal and LSU. However, the OU Insider reports that Marsh will be visiting Oklahoma ($), and Rivals has him listed for visits in Tempe and Norman.
Marsh will be in Berkeley on Saturday, then make his way over to Death Valley for LSU-Florida next week. He will not play tonight because of a sprained knee.
Chris Martin (DE) has already officially committed to Notre Dame. This is a longshot, even if he's been recruited by Gregory and Kenwick Thompson.
"I had Notre Dame picked as my commitment, but there's also other schools that I keep in contact with," said the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Martin, who has gained about 30 pounds since his sophomore season.
Schools like California, Tennessee, maybe Florida, possibly USC and one or two other schools.
He hasn't decommitted; he's just leaving his options open. Martin will take his official visit to Notre Dame on Oct. 17 when the Fighting Irish host USC, and Martin says he hopes the visit will reassure him of his decision.
"I just want to see a football team that's on the way to winning and that's in the right direction, and not one that's sitting there still on the hoofs trying to struggle just to get games where they should win," Martin said.
As if you needed another reason to root against the Irish.
Sean Parker (S) from Harbor City also seems very intrigued by Cal, especially because he seems intrigued from the academic side of the college experience.
Parker is among the nation's elite safety prospects and he has already taken one official visit to Notre Dame.
"I'm very excited about the visit," Parker said. "This will be my first time ever visiting Berkeley so I'm looking forward to seeing what the school has to offer. I've had high interest in Cal for a while now, not just because of football, but because of their academics and how much that degree can do for you after football.
"They're playing USC so it should be a great game and I'm looking forward to seeing what the atmosphere is like. I don't have any other visits set after Cal. I know I want to take all five and I'm going to set one with Michigan, but that's the only other one I know of so far."
Unfortunately, he appears to be visiting thousands of schools, so we probably won't know anything until January.
Lache Seastrunk's (RB) recruiting odyssey continues. He has always liked Cal, but, unfortunately, he's also on the list of plenty of big schools.
Add running back Lache Seastrunk (Temple, Texas/Temple) to the official visit for Cal this weekend. Seastrunk is among the most heavily recruited players in the nation and rated the No. 5 RB in the nation. The recruitment of Seastrunk has been a difficult one to follow, but the Golden Bears have always been high on his list and the athlete has already visited the campus once before on junior day last spring.
Seastrunk is considering Oklahoma and Texas, along with Auburn, LSU, Florida and USC among his finalists.
Finally, there's Chris Ward (OG) from Santa Ana (a left tackle on Matt Barkley's Mater Dei team), who's really down to either the Bears or the baby Bears. He has already visited Cal and been blown away ($). It'll probably come down to whether he wants to get out of his comfort zone.
Have you narrowed it down at all?
"It's down to UCLA and Cal right now. UCLA is really close to home and the players and coaches, I got to hang out with them, and they're very similar to the people up at Cal. Cal's a different area, something I would have to look into a little more. UCLA is a little more like where I live. It's pretty much 50/50 right now."Is either staff calling more or putting on the pressure?
"No, I've felt I've gotten a lot of attention from both coaching staffs for the whole year. I know that both schools want me, and every once in a while I'll get an email. I'm just fine with that."
Friday Night Lights: Recruiting recaps
Chris Adcock (OG), Dallas, TX
Adcock had four tackles, one for a loss in a 13-6 win for his Dallas Christian team over Trinity Christian. He also forced and recovered a fumble, as well as a sack and two tackles and two assists in a 17-14 win over Ft. Worth Christian.
Tevin Carter (WR), Los Angeles, CA
Carter had a superb all-around game, running, receiving, tackling and intercepting!
Santee’s standout all-around player Tevin Carter, who has given a verbal commitment to California, did a bit of everything in a 31-13 nonleague victory over South East.
The All-City player caught seven passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns, carried four times for 65 yards and one score and recorded eight solo tackles, three assists and an interception on defense. The scoring receptions were 47- and 80-yarders. The TD run was from 45 yards out.
Alex Crosthwaite (OT), San Diego, CA
Crosthwaite's 3rd ranked Cathedral team crushed Carlsbad 38-7. An offensive line headed by Crosthwaite gave Cathedral's QB all the time in the world to throw and their running back plenty of room to manuever.
Brewer seemed to have an eternity to find a target anytime he dropped back to pass. "The offensive line gave me all of the time in the world," he said post game. "We started to make big plays."
Jonny Martin was equally impressed with his offensive line. "They just keep putting in work for me," he said. "They work hard for me and I work hard for them, and it works out well."
"The other week I took them out to lunch for having such a great game," said Martin who rushed for 228 yards and three scores against Helix. "I’m thinking about a steak dinner this time."
Davon Dunn (ATH), San Diego, CA
Tim Hundley, on UCLA's coaching staff, will be visiting Dunn.
Nick Forbes (LB), Frederick, MD
Returned from an injury, returned to rocking middle class Maryland. Defenses totally gameplan to stop him. Big mistake.
On the first play of the game, Lynch faked an inside handoff to star running back Nick Forbes. The entire Westminster defense bit on the fake and was occupied with bringing down the 6-1, 225-pound Forbes. Only Lynch still had the ball and was rolling to his left out of the pocket.
...
Forbes scored on touchdown runs of 67 and 31 yards, Jeremy Grove had a 43-yard scoring run and Brandon Brownfield had one from 42 yards out as time expired in the quarter.
Forbes finished with 118 yards on six carries. Woodyard caught two passes, both for touchdowns, for 98 yards. He was on the receiving end of a 34-yard scoring strike from backup quarterback Brian Chase near the end of the third quarter.
He was just as impressive in his return date, going for 16 yards per carry. He's what movie football coaches call a gamer.
The senior, who missed last week's game against Martinsburg after taking a hard shot to the head in practice before the season, ran for 112 yards on just seven carries and scored two touchdowns as the Patriots blanked visiting Century, 35-0, on Thursday to improve to 2-1.
Forbes, a 6-foot-1, 226-pounder, one of several injured players to return to the TJ lineup for the game, also caught a screen pass for 31 yards that helped set up a touchdown in a game that the Patriots dominated from the start.
"It felt good getting back in rhythm, to start running with the guys, being out there on the field," Forbes said. "I love it, love being out there."
Forbes had to sit on the sideline as TJ lost to Martinsburg 20-15 last week.
"I was heartbroken. It was like I left them go off to battle and I couldn't come with them," Forbes said. "It hit me hard. I definitely don't want to ever feel that way again."
Geoffrey Gibson (OG), Las Vegas, NV
Bishop Gorman, behind an offensive line spearheaded by Gibson, unleashed running back Victor Belen for 17 carries, 152 yards and 3 touchdowns in a Thursday night 42-11 victory over Desert Gorman. They are 5-0 and 4-0 in league play.
You can watch Gibson on CBS College Sports TV when Bishop Gorman takes on Green Valley, if you get the channel tonight at 6 PM, local time!
Jay Guy (DT), Aldine, TX
Guy was spotted on the UCLA sidelines during the Bruins victory over Kansas State. Nothing to be alarmed over at this moment, Guy has been visiting several schools but has not shown any signs of wavering from his commitment.
Joshua Harper (WR), Stockton, CA
Harper returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown in a 39-7 rout of Los Banos. He also helped avenge a loss to Bellarmine Prep from last season by scoring three touchdowns in a 34-10 victory, catching two and running another one in.
Austin Hinder (QB), Steamboat Springs, CO
Hinder threw a ho-hum 3 touchdowns and ran for another in a 42-12 thrashing of winless Eagle Valley. Before that, his team took out winless Montezuma-Cortez 49-6. Also a nice article on the completeness of Hinder's offensive unit as they head into a big matchup with the #1 team ranked in Class 4A in Colorado. So we'll probably learn a little bit more about his abilities this Friday night!
Cecil Whiteside (LB), Newport Beach, CA
Whiteside is a good soldier, allowing his fellow kick returner to atone for an earlier fumble and helping take it to the house in an upset of non-conference opponent Loyola. This last week, he had 2 catches and a 3 yard touchdown catch and helped Newport Harbor's defense to hold Costa del Mar to 7 points.
David Wilkerson (LB), Danville, CA
Wilkerson had 15 tackles for #4 Monte Vista in a 45-25 win against Pittsburg. Monte Vista also went onto beat up on Heritage, 54-21. Note for 2011: Keep an eye on the junior receiver/corner Bryce McGovern, who totalled 22 catches, 621 yards, 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in HIS FIRST THREE GAMES.