Cal lands a commitment from 2026 four-star running back Victor Santino
The Golden Bears are having a good recruiting weekend.
The California Golden Bears continued their strong recruiting weekend with a commitment from Torrance (Ca.) Bishop Montgomery running back Victor Santino. Santino is considered a four-star recruiting prospect, ranked as a top 30 running back and a top 40 California recruit by 247Sports Composite. A natural sprinter, Santino would be Cal’s highest-ranked high school running back recruit since Jaydn Ott and certainly has that type of speed evident in his game.
Santino also held offers from Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Miami, Michigan State, Oregon, TCU, Miami, Washington and Washington State. Santino rushed for 1,028 yards and 10 touchdowns on just 102 carries in 2023, and followed that up with 116 carries, 857 yards, and 8 touchdowns in 2024. His Hudl highlights are available here.
Also committing this weekend are offensive tackle Elisha Faamatuainu and defensive lineman Nemyah Telona.
This is a nice win for new running backs coach Julian Griffin after suffering significant attrition in the portal. Griffin also landed running backs LJ Johnson, Brandon High, and Kendrick Raphael in the spring transfer window. The Bears have restocked their running back room in a hurry and will at least have plenty of options these next two years as they take on a newer look.
Welcome to Cal Victor! Go Bears!
Unless the coaching staff can produce results in 2025, I'm sorry but the 2026 Cal commits will reevaluate their choices next year. Based on JWs proclivity to consistently land between 5 and 7 wins, and the promise of nothing-burger bowl bids, the completely open current recruiting situation remains cloudy, and some would say bleak for Cal. While it is a complete catch-22 for the coaching staff, this is where Call recruiting stands today. The results of the 2025 spring practice can only be described as an offensive disaster (save for the O line improvement), so I honestly don't know where Cal football will be in 2025 and beyond. My feelings remain very apprehensive about the whole program, much less positive than this time last year. We know the D will show up, but literally have no idea about the O. Too many question marks going into the season. And the number of already announced late games means the networks have no confidence in Cal football either. Another year of coulda, woulda, shoulda I'm afraid. Sorry to be so negative. GO BEARS...
This is great! But I'll withhold any celebration until he signs.