Seven nationally-ranked recruits in Berkeley this weekend as official visits restart
After 15-month dead period, Bears bringing in seven, mainly some big bodies
Seven members of the Class of 2022 are taking official visits to Berkeley this weekend with the NCAA-mandated dead period over after a 15-month wait.
I believe that one of the best indicators of the staff’s top targets is the length of relationship between player and coach, so I’ve included the month of offer for each school involved (though some schools *cough* Arizona State/Colorado/Michigan *cough* like to throw out offers to any warm body). Most of Cal’s top targets are offered around two years before their graduation.
Ashton Hayes - RB, McQueen (Reno, NV) 0.8789 247Sports Composite
The 5’11, 180 lb running back’s only scheduled visit is Cal this weekend. RBs coach Aristotle Thompson offered Hayes back in September. There’s rumors of an official visit to Nebraska later this month (they offered in August), but nothing has been posted as of today.
Jackson Brown - OT, Sam Ramon Valley (Danville, CA) 0.8366 247Sports Composite
Brown, who is 6’5/275 lb, was offered by OL coach Angus McClure in April. The local star will visit Pittsburgh (offered in May) and Colorado (offered in February) in the next two weeks.
Jake Maikkula - OT, Valor Christian (Littleton, CO) 0.8527 247Sports Composite
The 6’5, 265 lb tackle was offered by McClure in February. He has a lot of visits coming up, with the rest of June filled out by Virginia (December offer), Colorado (November offer), Nebraska (March offer), and Duke (February offer).
Jaxson Moi - DE, Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, CA) 0.8777 247Sports Composite
Moi, who is 6’2 and 260 lbs, was offered by DL coach Andrew Browning in December. Next week, he’s taking an official visit to Oregon (they offered in February). This one looks to be a tough battle within the division that could go either way.
Curlee Thomas - EDGE, Nolan Catholic (Fort Worth, TX) 0.8721 Composite
The 6’4, 240 lb pass rusher was offered by Browning in September. Thomas plans to visit Michigan State (November offer), Oklahoma State (May 2020 offer), and Texas Tech (January offer) during the rest of June.
Nate Burrell - DL, St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) 0.8871 247Sports Composite
Burrell, who is 6’2, 285 lbs, was offered by Browning in September. The Bears are Burrell’s only scheduled visit though he has said he wants to take some official visits once the season starts in the fall.
Damonic Williams - DL, Bishop Alemany (Mission Hills, CA) 0.8851 Composite
Fear not: Williams, who committed to Cal in January, remains committed. The 6’2, 325 lbs lineman did drive throughout Texas over the past week and picked up an offer from Southern Methodist, but his only official visit remains with the Golden Bears.
After the longest dead period in NCAA history, we should be in for a historic month of visits. Coaches across the nation have stated that the amount of commitments this month may shatter any June record. The Bears’ recruiting staff, led by Director of On-Campus Recruiting Benji Palu, will be looking to seal the deal with as many of these recruits as possible.
This is good news. I'll look forward to our commit numbers going up soon. I'd expect us to have a better recruiting class this year than last year and the delay may have helped us. Remember we beat WA the last two time we played them and we beat OR in 2020. There are a number of four and three star kids playing the same position that projected by sites like 247 to commit to both of those schools. I just don't see two 4 star RB's committing to OR in the same year, so maybe we'll pick up some of those kids. We certainly are on the rise and neither of those teams can claim to be better than us. Also, Stanfurd is back in full swing for their recruiting now that Coach Shaw has the personal situation with his brother behind him. They are going to be tough competition.
It is amazing that kids consider playing football in Michigan or Nebraska instead of getting an education at the University of California.