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Before Isaiah Langley became one of America's most highly sought after recruits, before he had attention from the likes of Tennessee, Florida State, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame, Cal was first -- first to notice his immense talent at a camp last spring, and then first to offer a scholarship, as well. That gesture has been crucial to recruiting to the Pleasanton cornerback over the last year, something that he has mentioned repeatedly in interviews, and it's surely played a large part in keeping the Bears atop his finalists, despite more prestigious suitors.
Unfortunately, the Nor-Cal product ended up giving the Trojans his commitment at Nike's annual The Opening event on national TV. Cal was a finalist but the USC allure was too strong.
This is a tough recruiting defeat -- Langley would have filled a position of need, he is a local product, and Langley is the type of gem you build classes around, period. But it's clear we have a lot of states.
The rankings:
Rivals: 4 stars, 9th ranked cornerback, 13th ranked player in California
ESPN: 4 stars [80], 29th ranked cornerback, 33rd ranked player in California
Scout: 4 stars, 10th ranked cornerback, 71st ranked player overall
247sports: 4 stars [94], 12th ranked cornerback, 18th ranked player in California