Hill has local leader

Oakland (Calif.) McClymonds defensive lineman Derrick Hill took his official visit to Cal this past weekend. The talented tackle will take one last visit this coming weekend to USC and he'll then be ready to make his decision in early January.

Hill, 6-1, 280 pounds had earlier visited Colorado, Arizona and Oregon but called the visit to Berkeley his best so far.

"Cal is looking really good right now, they're a pretty strong leader right now," Hill said. "The trip was itself was much different than the others. They're all kind of the same and you do basically the same thing on all of them. You tour the campus, see the football stuff, meet some academic people and hang out with the players and coaches.

"The thing about Cal is there is such a comfort level there since I've been there so many times. I had Kyle (Reed, former teammate) as my host and he really likes it there and has told me a lot of good things about the school. I know I'm looking forward to seeing Kyle next year get a chance for that starting job because I think he could have helped them this year but they didn't want to blow his red-shirt.

"I also enjoyed my time sitting with Coach Tedford and Coach Delgado and just going over my role in the defense and how they plan to use me. I would have a chance to play a lot at Cal but that's not that big of a deal to me because I honestly think I would have a chance to play right away at any of the schools I'm looking at.

"This weekend I'm going to take my visit to USC and Coach Franklin is coming over either tonight or tomorrow night for a home visit. Arizona is coming over on Thursday and then Coach Delgado will be coming over next week. I already had Coach Tedford and the rest of the staff over for a home visit and Cal is definitely showing me the most love right now."

Hill will make his college choice January 7 during the Army All-American game.