Cal football recruiting target Zion Echols will visit Berkeley, WSU as commitment looms

Remember Zion Echols? The Covina (Ca.) Charter Oak athlete was committed to Cal before reopening his recruitment during early November.

It was disappointing to lose him as he was among the most exciting prospects in Cal's class at the time, if not the most exciting offensive player.

Then Cal picked up a commitment from Melquise Stovall and that was uplifting, to say the least, when you look at the list of programs the Bears were competing with. Now the mouthwatering prospect of securing Stovall AND Echols seems legitimate.

Here is a funny exchange of tweets between Echols and current Cal commit Traveon Beck.

My brother had his first born son last week and made my mother a grandmother which means I'm never getting a damn thing for Christmas again

— ZION ECHOLS (@_KingZ6) December 25, 2015

Come back to cal and I'll buy you a Christmas gift https://t.co/psVrM0dOXq

— TRAVEON BECK✨ (@HeyImTray) December 25, 2015

@HeyImTray Say no more I'm there ✊

— ZION ECHOLS (@_KingZ6) December 25, 2015

That means we've got this in the bag, right? Right? That has to be legally binding or something.

Anyways, Echols will announce his commitment at some point after his final two visits: Cal and Washington State. Echols also has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah and Washington, though Cal and Washington State are the favorites at this point.

Imagine if Cal ends up with both Echols and Stovall?

The versatility. The speed. The athleticism.

It would be glorious, theoretically, of course, since it would still have to play out on the field, but who cares about that right now.

What does Echols bring to the table if he were to commit to the Bears?

The first thing that comes to mind is his blazing speed. If you watch his highlights its obvious how fast he his. He consistently outruns angles and pulls away in the open field despite seemingly never hitting top gear.

His running style is effortless, a lot like DeSean Jackson in the sense that he does not have to hit top speed to get away from the defense, though he is not as fast as Jackson.

I think Echols ends up playing running back for the Bears, should he commit, but I see him making an immediate impact as a kick returner. With Trevor Davis graduating, Cal will have an opening for kick and punt returns and Echols would certainly get a hard look from the staff as the potential replacement.

Echols is a big-play threat each time he touches the ball and would be a nice weapon to add to Cal's arsenal of young, but talented receivers and runners.

Here is the tape of his senior season. Spoiler alert: he scored a lot of touchdowns.