Joe Mixon will not pick Cal; the impact on Tre Watson's recruitment

How does this impact Cal's running back recruiting?

By Avinash Kunnath@avinashkunnath Dec 30, 2013, 3:10pm PST

So there was a brief hope that Joe Mixon might be playing around with his final list after he eliminated the California Golden Bears and listed the UCLA Bruins, Oklahoma Sooners and Wisconsin Badgers as his final three. Perhaps the local five-star athlete would change his mind.

Nooooooooope.

Five-star RB Joe Mixon said he will not pick a Cal hat Saturday: "That's not going to happen." #UCLA, OU and Wisconsin will be the picks.
— Edward Lewis (@EdwardLewisBSR) December 30, 2013

So with this silliness now thankfully over, what does this mean for Cal in their battle to hang onto their remaining recruits?

If Mixon chooses UCLA, this should ensure that Cal will hang onto the two running backs they currently have secured verbals from during the 2013 recruiting campaign. But if Mixon ends up choosing one of the other two schools, expect UCLA to double their efforts to nab Tre Watson, whom they have been courting rather aggressively the past month. The Bruins currently have only one running back recruit.

Cal should be able to hold onto at least Vic Enwere, who seems to be a solid Cal commit. But the Bears are definitely in need of a running back like Watson.