Cal football lands Washington LB Jackson Sirmon in the transfer portal
The son of Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon will be coming to play under him.
 |
|
The California Golden Bears were in need of some shoring up on the defensive side of the football, and they got it with the commitment of Washington Huskies linebacker Jackson Sirmon from the transfer portal. Sirmon was Washington’s leading tackler in 2021, compiling 92 tackles on the season and made the All Pac-12 team as honorable mention.
Sirmon has two years of eligibility remaining.
Sirmon compiled seven tackles or more in seven games this season and put up 147 tackles in his time at UW. He also helped force the fumble in overtime in Cal’s 31-24 loss to Washington.
Sirmon provides Cal with much needed inside linebacker depth. Mo Iosefa (59 tackles) likely has locked up one of the two spots on the interior in Cal’s 3-4 defense, but there will be plenty of space to battle with Femi Oladejo (36 tackles), Nate Rutchena (35 tackles) and Trey Paster (25 tackles) for playing time. With less depth on the outside, it’s also possible to see some of that depth shuffle to more open positions.
As you might know, Sirmon is the son of Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon. Sirmon is also the inside linebackers coach, so father will be coaching son directly.
Cal was likely very close to getting Jackson originally, as he signed his letter of intent at Washington in December 20, 2017. Cal hired Sirmon a month later. Who knows what might have happened if the months were flipped.
Welcome to Cal Jackson!
This is a nice pick up. 247 has him as a 4*. He was a 3* in high school but has picked up a star in college. Nice that his uncle is our DC and LB coach. Welcome to CAL Jackson. On another note, I am really concerned about the direction of the unlimited transfer that can be allowed within the portal coupled with head coaches moving AND big NIL deals. Texas A&M has announced that any consensus 5* that comes there will get a guaranteed $1m NIL deal for his first year. Meanwhile, 5* former Oklahoma starting QB Caleb WIlliams has entered the transfer portal. Will he follow Lincoln Riley to USC or will he go to A&M for a cool million? If we are going to have a transfer portal and NIL deals then just maybe we could have contracts like they do in the NFL where they don't even enjoy this level of free agency. The rules we have now will create a super conference at the collegiate level and all the rest of the schools will be SOL. Go Bears!!
When I heard Sirmon was in the transfer portal I thought this might happen. I'm not crazy about it. We have plenty of talent at ILB. Frankly, I'm not sure Sirmon can get in the 4-deep. He's good at run stopping but isn't that great in space. For PAC12 play your 'backers need to do well in space. Paster, Rutchena, and Iosefa all do well in space. Oledajo is in the same mold as Sirmon, good in the run game but needs work in the passing game.
I would have been fine had Sirmon gone elsewhere and that his schollie was used for a LT or RT on the O-line.