Cal Football Receives Commitment from Bay Area Running Back Jaivian Thomas
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Late this evening, Cal football added to their suddenly thin backfield with the commitment of Jaivian Thomas. Thomas is a Bay Area product, attending McClymonds High school in Oakland and helped lead the Mack to the CIF State 2-AA championship game.
I’m Staying HOME!! Thank you to all the coaches for this opportunity. Excited to get to work! @CoachAT23 @MWCherrington @CalFootball Coach Wilcox #GoBears🐻
Jaivian’s 24/7 profile
Thomas is listed as a 3 star recruit according to 24/7 sports (this is independent of the composite score) and held offers from Rice, San Jose State, and Sacramento State among others. He rushed for 2,528 yards and had 33 total touchdowns in his senior year for the Mack and was named the Oakland Athletic League’s MVP.
Welcome to Berkeley, Jaivian!
Jaivian Thomas is a self-declared 5'10" 175 pounds and a high-school senior. He'll become the fourth player in Cal's RB room behind Ott, Hayes, and Stredick. He also appears to be the fastest guy in the room based upon comparable HS senior year 100-yard dashes. And by that measure, he is also faster than departing Decarlos Brooks and Chris Street.
He has 2,456 yards rushing for a stunning 14.5 YPC clip and 29 rushing TDs over 13 games. Not to hype Thomas too much, but De'Anthony Thomas' senior year was 1,299 yards and 11.4 yards and 18 TDs. Granted, I believe that Thomas played against a much weaker schedule at McClymond's.
Look at his hype tape and it's immediately obvious what he brings:
http://www.hudl.com/v/2JG4aU
Short, quick, fast, and with good vision. However, you see a boat load of yards after contact due to crappy tackling/angles. He is a tiny guy who doesn't have Beast Mode-like thighs, so he probably won't carry a pile forward. And he didn't catch the ball much at McClymonds, averaging less than 1 catch per game. But with Spavital coming in, I envision [Buzz Lightyear spreading his hands meme] bubble screens... bubble screens everywhere.
I am most impressed with is literally shiftiness. It's not reverse-directions ankle-breaking stuff, but his buttery smooth weight shifting. He hits a hole quickly and low. His head and shoulders are steady, but his quick foot-planting and weight shifting without breaking stride means if a would-be tackler has even a moment of indecision because of his cuts - he'll teleport him away from would be tacklers. See 44 seconds into his reel as he makes a safety completely whiff from a two-step full-speed jitter. Or at the one minute mark, which has a perfect camera angle to watch him carve an S-curve past four guys to go untouched.
Delightful stuff. Welcome to Cal, Jaivian.
Probably our best local running back recruit since Jahvid and Marshawn. OAL MVP too.