Cal FB Recruiting, Friday Night Lights: Week One

The current crop of Cal commits for the 2019 recruiting class is chock-full of three-star recruits—in fact, the prospects are nearly unanimously three-stars across all of the major recruiting services. Also worth noting is that this class, as it stands, is much lighter on offensive skill position players than under previous coaching staffs. Wilcox and co. are continuing last cycle’s trend of reinforcing the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, while also accruing depth at linebacker. The Bears currently have 17 commitments, so the class is off to a pretty good start and looks promising. Without further ado, here are the high school football players currently committed to becoming Bears!!

Braxton Croteau (DE) and Ryan Puskas (DB): Peoria (AZ), Liberty High School

Liberty’s defense led the way en-route to a season-opening 7–0 victory against Brophy. Croteau tallied 8 tackles, 2 quarterback hurries, and 1 pass breakup. Meanwhile, Puskas made 13 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 0.5 sacks, and 1 quarterback hurry. Puskas’ performance is highlighted below.

Ben Coleman (OL): Temecula (CA), Linfield Christian High School

Coleman and Linfield Christian dominated Saddleback 54–0 to open the season in impressive fashion. Coleman and the offensive line paved the way for the team to rush for 319 yards on 22 carries.

Blake Antzoulatos (LB): West Hills (CA), Chaminade College Prep

Antzoulatos notched 12 tackles and 3 tackles for a loss in a losing effort (13–31) against Oaks Christian. Antzoulatos and the rest of the defense did their best to bottle up Michigan’s 4-star running back commit Zach Charbonnet for most of the game, as they held him to just 26 yards on his first 11 carries, but he exploded in the fourth quarter for two huge runs of over 50 yards to break the game open. Here’s a snippet from the L.A. Times.

Give Chaminade credit for an effective defensive effort that bottled up Charbonnet for much of the game. At one point in the third quarter, the score tied at 10-10, he had 26 yards in 11 carries. Linebackers Blake Antzoulatos and Jonathan Thomas were filling in holes preventing Charbonnet from getting running room.

Brian Driscoll (OL/DL): San Diego (CA), Torrey Pines High School

Driscoll notched 2 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss in a 13-0 shutout victory at Eastlake. On the offensive side of the ball, Driscoll played left tackle and dominated in 1 on 1 situations against the Eastlake rushers.

DeCarlos Brooks (RB): Chandler (AZ), Chandler High School

Brooks rushed for 84 yards on 17 carries while adding an additional 40 yards on 3 receptions in a 35-13 loss to Centennial (CA) in a matchup of nationally ranked teams.

Bradley Archer (TE/LB): Livermore (CA), Livermore High School

Archer and Livermore lost 11-6 at Golden Valley to open the season. Archer was a terror in the opposition backfield as he consistently busted up plays in the backfield. He also opened up running lanes as a blocker.

Malik Bradford (WR): Long Beach (CA), Millikan High School

Millikan overcame a plucky Carson squad 7-3 to open the season on a winning note.

Brett Johnson (DT): Phoenix (AZ), Desert Vista High School

Johnson and Desert Vista pummeled Palm Springs 42-14. Johnson does a good job of shedding his blocker at right defensive end on this play.

Elijah Mojarro (TE): Orange (CA), Orange Lutheran High School

Mojarro and Orange Lutheran won 27-7 at San Juan Hills to open their season.

Zahran Manley (DB): Upland (CA), Upland High School

Upland doubled-up La Habra 24-12 on the road to get the season started on the right foot. Manley broke up 2 passes and contributed 3 tackles.

Spencer Brasch (QB): Gilbert (AZ), Higley High School

Brasch led Higley with 396 passing yards and 7 touchdowns while completing 24 of 46 passes in a 48-47 shootout victory against Paraclete (CA).

Not all 17 of the future Bears have officially kicked off their seasons, though, so here is a list of the rest of them and when they’ll be hitting the gridiron for their first game of the new season.

Miles Williams (DB): Mansfield (TX), Mansfield High School

Williams starts the year against Broken Arrow on August 31.

McKade Mettauer (OL): Houston (TX), The Woodlands High School

Double M and The Woodlands take on Cy-Fair on August 31.

Kyle Smith (LB): Los Gatos (CA), Los Gatos High School

Los Gatos begins its season against Leland on August 24.

Orin Patu (LB): Seattle (WA), Rainier Beach High School

Rainier Beach battles Fife on August 31.

Curley Young Jr. (LB): Pflugerville (TX), Hendrickson High School

Hendrickson tussles with Texarkana Texas High School on August 30.

Which current prospect are you all most excited about? Which position group would you like to see more commits from? Sound off in the comments and check back next week to see more results from the future Bears!