Cal Football gets commitment from 2022 3* OLB Nunie Tuitele
The Bears' second OV weekend proving as successful as the first
Nunie Tuitele announced his commitment to the California Golden Bears on Twitter today.
SGBear has the projection for the newest Golden Bear:
“Nunie Tuitele plays defensive end for Regis Jesuit High School in an east Denver suburb. Regis is one of Colorado’s better programs in the largest school classification (5A). Regis is also the alma mater of Cal legend Missy Franklin.
He is a consensus no star, but has 3 stars per 247. As a commit, he will likely rise to an official 3 star. Nunie played defensive tackle in Regis 3-4 defense, usually in the 4 or 5 technique across from the offensive tackle. Regis also would switch to a 4-3, where Nunie would play 2-technique across the guard. In my opinion, it appears that Nunie is mispositioned as a defensive tackle. I suspect he played it out of necessity because all the starters were all lighter than him. Nunie is a long, lean ectomorph who may not be able to put on enough weight to be a hand-on-the-ground type. He is logically an OLB at the next level, hence why he only had three P5 offers because he needs to be coached at a whole new position.
There’s plenty of tape of Nunie engaging with blockers, where he has very good quickness to avoid blockers, plus long arms and good technique to shed blocks. However, there’s very little tape to directly see him in coverage, save for one INT where he picked a screen. However, he moves marvelously in space thanks to his athleticism. Good aggressiveness. Very good motor. Finishes plays.
Nunie has a long road ahead of him as a student of a new position, but he certainly has the athletic gifts to get it done.”
As I covered on Friday, Tuitele was on campus over the weekend for an official visit. He becomes the fifth member of the Bears’ 2022 class and the first outside linebacker. Despite being rated an 85 by 247Sports, Tuitele is the Bears’ lowest-rated recruit so far, a testament to the recruiting prowess of the staff this year.
Tuitele’s best offers, besides Cal, came from Colorado and Kansas State. He also held offers from the Navy, the Air Force, Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado State. He stands at 6’4 and weighs 230 lbs.
You can watch his highlights on Hudl here. He’s got a bit of Cam Goode in him, in my opinion.
Welcome to Berkeley, Nunie! GO BEARS!
low rated 3 star DE #89 are you kidding me?
I know there is a lot of worry about our recruiting and lack of 4*'s or 5*'s, but look at the NFL draft every year and tell me how many of those drafted started their college careers as 2*'s or 3*'s. How many kids starting in FBS came in as 2* or 3* recruits. Many time a kid will come in raw but hungry. That kid might be thin and rangy and never had access to good nutrition or a serious weight program (most high school kids don't get either of these), but they might be tough and love the game. They will work hard, practice hard and stay in school. Over 4 or 5 years with time in the weight room and good food, any kid will bulk up and get stronger. If the kid has feet or any kind of speed, then there won't be any difference between them and the 4* or 5* that was recruited when they were. The star rating is only about the readiness of a player to play at FBS level at the time of their recruitment. It is fairly meaningless two or three years later. I give you D-Rob as an example of an under achieving high ranked 5* and JJ Watt as an over achieving 2*. In the end its all about finding that hidden talent and developing it. Way back when I played, Don James at UW was the Master of the 'Program'. Methinks Coach Wilcox is building the same thing at CAL. All you need to do is look at year over year improvement in performance metrics. Over time that reflects more wins, but those additional wins get tougher as the record gets better. I'm a huge Wilcox fan in spite of some grumbling out there. He did better in his first three years than Chip Kelly did at FUCLA, the football factory of the UC system. Coach Wilcox posted 20 wins in his first three years at CAL, and Kelly posted 10 wins in his first three years at FUCLA. And to think there was a time that I wanted Chip Kelly to come to CAL.