Friday Night Lights – Getting Down to the Wire Across Bear Territory Part XIV
The 2026 High School Football season is coming to an end and Head Coach Tosh Lupoi is already making it known that Cal will be prominent recruiters for the class of 2027.
Down to the last 4 players in the Friday Night Lights series, the early signees in the 2026 class for the University of California football team are finally seeing the sun set over the horizon, as their high school football chapters officially are ending - and their careers in the NCAA and Berkeley are soon to begin.
In this week’s coverage of Cal’s future players, TE Taimane Purcell and the Kamehameha Warriors faced off against the James Campbell Sabers in the Division I-OPEN 2025 First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championship game, EJ Morgan and the Central East Bengals traveled up the I-5 to Pleasant Hill to face off against the Pittsburg Pirates in the Division 1-A 2025 CIF State Football Championship Bowl Game Finals, while Kai Meza and the Corner Canyon Chargers traveled across the country to Baltimore, MD to face off against the best program in the country, St. Francis Academy in a first of its kind high school bowl game between two state champions in the Overtime Nationals presented by Subway. Nemyah Telona and the De La Salle Spartans also got an extra week off before their highly anticipated state championship against Santa Margarita on Saturday night.
As for the California Golden Bears, Coach Lupoi made a quick comment in his introductory press conference on how the way his signing/start at Cal begins does not work with the current recruitment window, and that he will have to be smart in the portal AND attack future recruitment. What has that led to? Tosh took a flight to secure his QB stays in Berkeley, and Cal has already appeared on the public radar for highly sought-after recruits in the class of 2027, such as 4-star DE Rashad Streets, LB Toa Satele - the No. 1 player in Hawaii, 5-star safety Honor Fa’alave Johnson, who has been heavily favored towards Oregon (Tosh’s prior coaching gig), and 4-star DL Myels Smith from Inglewood, CA. The man loves to recruit.
With that, here is this week’s Write For California: Friday Night Lights of Cal’s 2026 recruitment class as we get closer to the end of this year’s coverage:
Bears on the Hunt:
Taimane Purcell – TE- 4/5-Star (90 OVR) - Kamehameha (Honolulu, HI) – Taimane Purcell and the Warriors’ season came to an end on Friday night, as the signed 4-star TE out of Aiea, Honolulu, brought in 3 receptions for 23 yards and had 3 total tackles with 1 sack as Kamehameha lost 23-26 to James Campbell High School. James Campbell thus took the Division I-OPEN 2025 First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championship and was in the presence of a former Sabers QB and present Cal QB – Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele. Purcell finishes the season as the 2025 Cover2 Herman Wedemeyer Award winner, highlighting his accomplishments as the best Two-Way Player of the Year. Purcell will begin practicing with the team in January 2026 as a Mid-Year Enrollee.
EJ Morgan - WR - 3/5-Star (89 OVR) - Central East (Fresno, CA) – The Central East Bengals traveled to Diablo Valley College to take on the Pittsburg Pirates, where they beat them by a final score of 55-36. EJ Morgan had 3 receptions for 64 yards and 1 TD on the evening, as the Bengals move on to face the 15-0 Pacifica Tritons in the Division 1-A 2025 CIF State Football Championship Bowl Game Finals.
Nemyah Telona - DL – 3/5-Star (88 OVR) - De La Salle (Concord, CA) – Bye Week! No. 4 De La Salle and No. 1 Santa Margarita face off this weekend on Saturday night in the Open Division 2025 CIF State Football Championship Game at Saddleback College.
Kai Meza – WR – 3/5-Star (88 OVR) – Corner Canyon (Draper, UT) – Facing off in the first-ever “Overtime Nationals Championship,” Kai Meza and the Corner Canyon Chargers flew across the nation to Baltimore to face off against St. Francis Academy in a first-of-its-kind “bowl game” for high school state champions. The Chargers were outmatched and outsized by the nation’s No. 2-ranked high school football program, losing 20-37, with Cal-signed WR Kai Meza bringing in 1 reception for 15 yards. Meza will also report to the Bears in January 2026 as a Mid-Year Enrollee.
Bears in Hibernation:
Daniel McMorris – OT – 4/5-Star (94 OVR) – Norman North (Norman, OK)
Victor Santino - RB - 3/5-Star (89 OVR) - Edison (Miami, FL)
Kamo’i Huihui-White - IOL - 3/5-Star (88 OVR) – St. Louis (Honolulu, HI)
Nainoa Lopes - QB - 3/5-Star (88 OVR) – St. Louis (Honolulu, HI)
Tyree Sams - WR - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) - Clovis North (Clovis, CA)
Ernest Nunley – S/WR - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) - Western (Anaheim, CA)
JD McKinley - LB - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) – Centennial (Corona, CA)
Esaiah Wong - OT - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) - Kailua (Kailua, HI)
Jaxon Pyatt - LB - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) - Arvada West (Arvada, CO): Pyatt was named 5A Metro Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight year!
Elisha Faamatuainu - IOL - 3/5-Star (87 OVR) - Murrieta Valley (Murrieta, CA)
Frank Fanua - IOL - 3/5-Star (86 OVR) - Mount Miguel (Spring Valley, CA)
Lucky Schirmer - DL - 3/5-Star (85 OVR) - Centennial (Corona, CA)
Niles Davis – ATH/WR/DB – 3/5-Star (83 OVR) – Westlake (Westlake Village, CA)