Recruits with Cal among their top schools

The Cal football team is on a hot streak — I documented it the other day. I also brought to light the fact that Damir Collins listed your California Golden Bears in his top four schools. That’s big news, for sure.

What’s even bigger news is the fact that there are 16 other uncommitted athletes for the class of 2021 that have Cal listed among their top schools of choice. Let’s begin to count them down:

Damir Collins, 4-star RB

As PDX Cal Bear also noted about Collins, his head coach is Hou Lillard, who is Damian Lillard’s brother — needless to say, there’s some East Bay connections there.

So, the rest of the athletes with Cal in their top are as follows:

WR Cristian Dixon, Top 8
WR Junior Alexander, Top 6
WR J.Michael Sturdivant, Top 7
WR Hal Presley, Top 10
WR Michael Jackson III, Top 11

Okay, so let’s start with the WRs. Dixon is a four-star WR from Mater Dei and would represent a BIG get, literally. He’s 6’2, 187 and is currently projected to be at the very least a Day 3 pick in the NFL draft. Alexander, another four-star recruit, is from Kennedy Catholic in Washington and is equally as big, at 6’3, compared to the likes of Kenny Golladay. Sturdivant and Presley are each from Texas and both stand at least 6’2 tall with Sturdivant receiving a four-star rating, and Presley three stars. Rounding it out is Jackson, who is a three-star recruit from Nevada and projects as a multi-year starter at the Power-5 level.

TE Brock Bowers, Top 8
TE Erik Olsen, Top 10
OL Owen Prentice, Top 6

Bowers and Olsen are big guys at the tight end position that would represent a rehaul at the position. Bowers is seen as the 2nd-best tight end for this class and though he hails from Napa, is seen as a heavy lean towards committing to the Georgia Bulldogs. Olsen is a big guy at 6’5, hailing from Colorado and would be a major weapon in the receiving game. Prentice has half the Pac-12 in his top six along with Cal, so nothing new to garner from him.

DT Jay Toia, Top 8
DE T.J. Bollers, Top 6
DE Yanni Karlaftis, Top 5
DE Landyn Watson, Top 13

Toia is a four-star defensive tackle who’s committed to USC currently, but he still released a top eight in March, interestingly enough. Cal included, Toia is still committed but wants to take his official visits before it’s all said and done. Karlaftis’ brother plays for Purdue and was an absolute game-changer a season ago for the Boilermakers. He has great pedigree and size to be a terrific pass-rusher at the Power-5 level. Got to think it’d be hard to beat Purdue for his services, though. Bollers is the consensus 7th-best weakside DE in the class, hailing from Iowa, he’s likely headed towards the Big Ten, but that didn’t stop him from putting Cal on his official visit list for June 5. Watson is from Texas as well and has a ton of out-of-state favorites in his top 13. We’ll wait to see if Cal makes that list if it gets trimmed.

LB Patrick Hisatake, Top 10
CB Devin Kirkwood, Top 5
CB D.J. Harvey, Top 5
Athlete Julian Simon, Top 8

Hisatake was one of the more recent offers from Cal, documented in the story above. He’s a brilliant linebacker prospect from Oregon and the state’s fifth-best player. He’s a big guy at 6’5, 240 and would bolster the Cal LB corps on Day 1. A four-star prospect, Kirkwood is largely leaning towards Arizona State but did Cal in his top five, signifying there’s still hope! Harvey cut his list to eight and then to five, and the Bears are still alive for his services. He was able to visit Cal before the coronavirus pandemic shut down official visits, so that has to be playing in here. Simon announced he’s closing in on his decision, May 10 to be exact. We’ll be all over that when it’s happening to see if Cal can pluck the four-star athlete from Washington.