Cal football recruiting commit: Chandler Leniu, St. John Bosco linebacker

Welcome, Chandler!

By Nam Le@AGuyNamedNam Jan 28, 2014, 7:03pm PST

The Cal Bears saw a revolving door's worth of movement at the linebacker this offseason, losing Johnny Ragin, Chad Whitener, and Khairi Fortt to transfers and the NFL draft. Even with the possible returns of Nick Forbes and Nathan Broussard, that still leaves the depth chart a bit too thin for anyone's liking.

RT @leniuchandler Happy to say I will be shutting my recruiting process down and will be attending the University of Cal Berkley! Go Bears 🙏
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) January 29, 2014

4-star LB Chandler Leniu (@leniuchandler) has committed to #Cal, went 1-on-1 w/ @ManBearCal before making it public: http://t.co/R4Xqnv2nYa
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) January 29, 2014

And then yesterday, Aisea Tongilava committed. Today, there's Chandler Leniu, who just made it official for the Blue and Gold, finalizing a flip away from Washington State in order to stay closer to home. With those two in the fold, the linebacker problems have been somewhat taken care of, I'd say.

This is a huge, huge swing for a team starved for defensive talent, and we'll have thoughts on both linebackers coming up shortly. [Interesting to note, though, that Leniu becomes the second St. John Bosco player on the roster, and would have been the third if we were able to hang onto Jaleel Wadood. With the Bears obviously hot in pursuit of 2015 5-star quarterback Josh Rosen, the construction of a Bosco pipeline could come in handy.]

Welcome again, Chandler, and Go Bears!