California Golden Bears Recruiting

Todd Barr, Defensive End From Lakewood, Commits To Cal

By Avinash Kunnath@avinashkunnath Dec 13, 2010, 12:14pm PST

The good news on the recruiting front continues to pour in, with the third commitment to the California Golden Bears in four days (Brendon Bigelow and Matt Williams being the first two). Brandon Huffman from Scout ($) confirms that the strong side defensive end from SoCal is headed North. Barr picked Cal over a plethora of other schools that offered him, including eight of the nine other Pac-10 teams (including Oregon) and schools like Florida, Utah, Nebraska, and Tennessee. Tosh Lupoi was his main recruiter.

Jim McGill has more from Bear Insider.

"Todd's a very athletic, technique-driven guy," said Lakewood head coach Thadd MacNeal, who will return to coach in the 2011 UnderArmor game with Barr. "He's very good with his hands. He's in the low 260's, with a nice build. He could put on another 20-30 pounds easy, if needed. He's quick, too. He runs a 4.8 forty consistently. He's also real smart on the football field and in the classroom, with a 3.8 gpa. He studies his opponent and is able to utilize that in the game and make quick adjustments.

Welcome to Cal, Todd! GO BEARS!

After the jump, video highlights, recruiting rankings, and brief player analysis.

At 6'3", and 235 pounds, Barr is a four star recruit by Rivals, is ranked as the tenth best player in the state of California, the eleventh best strongside defensive end overall, and the 111th best prospect in the 2011 recruiting class. He's also given four stars by Scout, who projects him as the eighth best defensive tackle this year. ESPN has him in their top 150, gives him an overall scouting grade of 82 and rates him at four stars. It's unclear exactly where he'll line up in Cal's defense in the future, although you'd guess he wouldn't have to move from his strongside position.

Analytically speaking, Barr is probably not the most physically gifted defender, but he atones for that with an impressive motor that always makes him a tough guy to block out over an extended stretch of time. He shows good defensive pursuit and is good at staying within the blocker, maintaining open gaps for linebackers to punch through or even for Barr himself to make a play on the tailback. He's got some decent pass rush moves as well, mostly using that motor to blast offensive tackles into the backfield and getting him closer to the pocket. He can also drop back into pass coverage on zone blitzes (an underrated skill for a down lineman).