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Cal football recruiting commit: Carlos Strickland, Skyline (Texas), WR

And now we're cooking with gas...

By Nam Le
Carlos Strickland
Carlos Strickland
Student Sports

How about more Bear Raid?

One of the final pieces to the 2015 wide receiver class and easily the most prized, consensus 4-star Carlos Strickland made it official for Cal earlier this evening. A product of Texas powerhouse Dallas Skyline, Strickland is a major get, holding 21 D1 offers (17 Power 5) -- including the likes of Oklahoma, UCLA, Texas Tech,LSU, Alabama, Notre Dame, and Mississippi State.

With Kanawai Noa, Austin Aaron, Greyson Bankhead, and Brandon Singleton already in the fold, there are now five guys brought in at that position group, which should draw some close, but soft comparisons to the highly lauded bunch of Treggs, Lawler, Harper, Powe, and Dozier...but more on that later.

That's three commits this week, with another to go till signing day, and in Marc Tausend's estimation, there are still about three to four spots left! What other surprises does the staff have in store?

Welcome, Carlos, and Go Bears!

The rankings

Scout: 4 stars, 14th ranked WR, 101st ranked prospect in 2015

ESPN: 4 stars [82], 21st ranked WR, 182nd ranked prospect in 2015

247sports: 4 stars [90], 36th ranked WR

Rivals: 4 stars, 12th ranked WR, 132nd ranked prospect in 2015

The tape

  • 0:17 - sees press coverage, but in something that I either don't notice often or just began to notice, initiated the contact, then blew right by the corner anyway. Although the safety gets over to help at about the 10 yard line, Strickland drags both he and the CB into the end zone. That's an eyebrow raiser immediately -- in the good way. Notable among a tape of generally solid stuff.
  • Trend: As with most skill position tapes, a good portion of it is him running away into the open field. This is a good thing, although it is not necessarily an informative thing. High starred skill position players do, and should dominate in this manner.
  • Trend: I won't say he's unpressable, since it's high school and all, but it's a good sign that he consistently gets off the line of scrimmage with ease. The first play I noted up top is a good example.
  • Trend: There aren't too many ridiculous, highlight reel grabs, but Strickland does attack the ball in the air pretty well, whether there's multiple defenders or not. A lot of times, there are multiple defenders. He doesn't care. This too, is good.
  • Trend: Very, very smooth runner after the catch in the open field, doesn't seek out contact on tape, but doesn't shy from it, either. Demonstrates some fearlessness heading over the middle, which is a hint at some flexibility. The way he moves after the tunnel screen reminds me of Kenny Lawler at spring practice, after his redshirt year (Spring of '13, I believe). That was when all the camp writers knew he'd be a factor...
  • Trend: Willing blocker, which you don't see a bunch of clips of, all the time. I think Kanawai Noa is a much more willing and ferocious blocker, though. Strickland gets on guys, but Noa looks to actually knock them out.
  • The 40 times are all over the place for Strickland, ranging from 4.54 (247sports) to 4.72 (ESPN). Speed is really hard to judge on tape, though -- I included this more to see the range. He's fast enough. That's what you should know.
  • #NABSS #NABSS #NABSS

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