Recruiting Snapshot: Cal Bears
While most of college football has been put on hold, recruiting marches on. The class of 2021 has seen a wave of commitments since the start of April, and the team rankings have adjusted to reflect growing classes. We are taking a snapshot of each class in their order of the Rivals Team Rankings, and continue today with a look at the Cal Golden Bears.
CAL
Current rank: No. 46
Number of commits: 7
Top commits: Four-star TE Jermaine Terry (No. 13 at his position), WDE Akili Calhoun Jr. (No. 29), PQB Kai Millner (No. 28)
Top targets: Three-star OL Thomas Cole (No. 50 at his position), three-star OG Noah Pulealiii, three-star SDE Derek Wilkins (No. 30), three-star WDE Will Schweitzer (No. 26)
LOCAL REACTION
Cal has had a solid start to their 2021 class so far, addressing the quarterback position with Millner and adding two big local targets in Terry and Calhoun. They’ve gone out of state to land OL Bastian Swinney and Hunter Barth and stayed in state to land CB Kaleb Higgins and WR Mavin Anderson.
The position groups that need filling for the Bears are the lines, and Wilkins, Cole and Pulealii are three of the biggest priorities there. Beyond that, landing two more big local targets in Schweitzer and Kaleb Elarms-Orr would help to shore up what’s set to be a young linebacker corps in 2021.
Some of the other big targets include DE TJ Bollers and WR J. Michael Sturdivant, who both had OVs scheduled for June prior to the NCAA mandated dead period being extended. TE Brock Bowers remains a priority on the local front as well. - Trace Travers, GoldenBearReport.com
NATIONAL REACTION
"Many of Cal’s early commits are impressive players who could be in store for a rankings bump after senior film comes out and then I like a lot of their top targets - whether seeing them in person early in the spring during the camp season or on film.
"Wilkins is a versatile player who has speed and power, Calhoun was very impressive physically at a camp I attended and he’s just tapping into his potential and Cole is a really impressive offensive lineman who still has room to fill out physically.
"Some recent Cal commitments have huge potential heading into their senior years. Barth is a versatile defensive player who’s always around the ball and making plays. Millner has excellent film, but I’d just like to see more of him in person before a big jump in the rankings. I have always liked Terry because of his physical presence and size but he does need to develop his athleticism. Still, he was one of the better tight ends at the Rivals Camp earlier this offseason.
"One thing I really like about Cal’s class so far is that it’s filled with versatile players who have performed well at multiple positions like Anderson and others. That can only help as coach Justin Wilcox looks for players to plug and play. A couple more four-stars would definitely be nice and Bowers would be huge, but the Golden Bears are off to a good start in the 2021 class and should only build on that through the summer as Cal has so much to offer in athletics, academics and more. - Adam Gorney, National/West analyst