RB recruit Kaleb Johnson decommits from Cal Football, instead choosing Iowa
Or: How to lose two running backs in one month.
Kaleb Johnson—a three-star running back out of Ohio—has decommitted from Cal and instead declared himself as committed to Iowa following a recent push by the undefeated, second-ranked team. (Credit to SGBear for finding this.)
Johnson had previously committed to the Bears in late June.
This news comes less than a month after another running back of the Class of 2022 decommitted—Jaydn Ott. California has now lost two running backs in the past month and no longer has a running back from the Class of 2022 committed.
Running backs coach Aristotle Thompson did not secure any RB signees in the Class of 2021 either, though there’s still some time to close on another player in this upcoming class.
Currently, our 2022 recruiting class is ranked 58th nationally and 9th in the Pac-12 by 247 Sports, down from our last class being ranked 28th and 3rd (respectively).
That's an undersandable decision. Iowa has two losing seasons in the last 20 years, routinely churns out 8-9-win seasons, and went to the Rose Bowl recently. From a football standpoint, they're a far superior choice to the current Cal program, which increasingly appears to be in disarray.
This had been in the rumor mill for several weeks, no surprise. And now we have no QB or RB in this cycle. That is some really bad juju. Cal should have several ~ 4 to 6, maybe 8 ~ scholarships available for this year. The only way to salvage this class, IMO, is to pluck at least 4-6 experienced players off of the portal at the end of the season. Cuz the only kids (high school seniors) left on the board that Cal can attract at this late stage are 2 - low 3* players. Getting 4 - 8 of them would exasperate an already weak position. Gawd I hope Cal doesn't throw schollies away in the next 2 months (early signing in December).