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It's like Christmas Eve for fans of recruiting!
The Bears have commitments from 20 players (including five who signed at mid-year) and, despite taking some substantial hits along the way, they have climbed to No. 43 nationally, according to both Scout.com and Rivals.com.
Rivals ranks Cal's class as the seventh-best in the Pac-12 and Scout has the Bears at No. 8 in the conference.
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Between now and Wednesday, there are three main questions to be answered:
- Can the Bears hold onto Centennial-Corona running back Tre Watson? Washington is making a late push for the 5-foot-9, 185-pounder, who rushed for more than 3,400 yards and scored 48 touchdowns last fall.
- Will the Bears land four-star defensive end Nifae Lealao of Capital Christian in Sacramento. The 6-foot-5, 280-pounder, who is rated as the top DE in the West by Scout and originally committed to Stanford, visited Vanderbilt last weekend.
- Can Cal sneak in and grab four-star defensive tackle Marcus Griffin? Originally committed to Washington State, the Bellevue, Wash., prospect visited Cal, Arizona and Mississippi State the past three weekends. Griffin recently suggested he will wait until signing day to announce his plans.
Joe Mixon used to envision playing for Cal. After all, the top-rated all-purpose running back lives in Oakley, Calif., less than an hour from Berkeley. But that was before the Golden Bears fired Jeff Tedford and replaced him with Sonny Dykes, who went 1-11 last season. On Wednesday, the mercurial Mixon is expected to sign with Oklahoma after committing to the Sooners during last month's U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He changed his mind about the Golden Bears after being told by Dykes that he wasn't going to change their pass-happy attack. "That offense that they're running, it's not going to work," Mixon says. "It was a turnoff. I don't see why they're not going to try something new."
So much for that 50-50 balance...
Track and Field
Women's Basketball
Men's Basketball
- We're receiving votes!
- Justin Cobbs's game-winning basket against no. 1 Arizona earned him Pac-12 Player of the Week honors
- Taking a closer look at Cobbs's play
- Jon Wilner does some action/reaction for the big win over Arizona
- As consequence of this weekend's games, Cal and UCLA are tied for second in the Pac-12
- Some quick notes after the game, including Cal's updated strength of schedule and Cal as a no. 8 seed in one bracket prediction
- Some quick notes from today's press conference:
Richard Solomon kept the ball from the game-winner until he got to the locker room, then gave it to Montgomery.
— Ryan Gorcey (@RGBearTerritory) February 4, 2014Cobbs and Solomon on pace to graduate in the spring #Cal
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) February 4, 2014Justin Cobbs on graduating in the spring: "Nobody in my family graduate from a four-year college, so that's something big for me."
— Ryan Gorcey (@RGBearTerritory) February 4, 2014Solomon: "I'll be the second one in my family to graduate from here, so it's a huge accomplishment. It's bigger than basketball."
— Ryan Gorcey (@RGBearTerritory) February 4, 2014Mike Montgomery expects junior guard Ricky Kreklow to play Wed vs Stanford. Has missed 11 games with broken hand.
— Jeff Faraudo (@JeffFaraudo) February 4, 2014
Women's Water Polo
Football
- Your newest Calumni Super Bowl Champions: RB Marshawn Lynch and DL Brandon Mebane!
- Once-Bear Tosh Lupoi has been cleared by the NCAA. Rumor has it he called in a favor from Starbucks to deliver some especially large coffee cups to the NCAA before the decision.
- Let's shift our focus back to proud alumni of our university—DL Cam Jordan and LB Mychal Kendricks were on the Jim Rome show
- Sports Science took a look at Lynch and how Skittles fuel his Beast Mode
- Social media exploded with Lynch's big win:
Marshawn Lynch answering questions through the magic of dance. http://t.co/DVfIkbXji8
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 3, 2014Incredible photo of Pro Bowl RB @MoneyLynch w/ family on-field after the #Seahawks' #SB48 victory, via @jlokseattle: pic.twitter.com/VqeEWCF3oF
— Octagon Football (@OctagonFootball) February 3, 2014What an amazing experience! http://t.co/b3GvwLtacx
— Delisa Lynch (@MommaLynch24) February 3, 2014