Campolindo’s Torchio going to Wisconsin
John Torchio called himself a late-bloomer in the football-recruiting world Tuesday.
“I didn’t get a lot of love until late,” he said.
The Campolindo-Moraga two-way player went with his heart and announced on Twitter that he would accept a preferred walk-on spot at Wisconsin.
A day before regular national signing day, the 6-foot-2, 205pound quarterback/safety decided to walk on to the Big Ten school even with eight full offers on the table, including from Cal, San Jose State and Rice.
He visited the Madison campus, where his sister, Katharine, has played three seasons for the soccer team, last weekend.
Torchio said after Tuesday night’s basketball game that Cal, where his dad had played quarterback in the 1980s and where he attended countless games growing up, had been his dream school since the seventh grade, but after visiting his sister the past two years, Wisconsin became his dream school. The weekend trip solidified that.
“Actually when (Wisconsin) offered, I almost got depressed because the decision was so tough,” he said. “Ultimately, I just went with my gut. Wisconsin has proven that it plays walk-ons. I’m willing to bet on myself that I can play there and earn a scholarship.”
Torchio said his dad “was happy for me.” As far as the rest of the Bears’ fans, he said: “Maybe they’ll be mad at me for a while, but I’ll always be a big Cal fan. It’s always, ‘Go Bears.’ Unless they play Wisconsin.”
Even though he was The Chronicle’s Contra Costa County Player of the Year — he had 98 tackles and seven interceptions on defense, and accounted for 4,075 total yards and 48 touchdowns on offense — Torchio, also a starter on Campolindo’s basketball team, was seen as mid-major or Ivy League recruit, until Rice and San Jose State came calling. Cal eventually offered Jan. 21.
Of the roughly 60 Bay Area high school football seniors who are expected to play in college, 23 took advantage of the new early signing period, Dec. 20-22.
The remaining bunch will sign on the dotted line starting Wednesday, the first day of the regular period, including the region’s highest-rated player, Tuli Letuligasenoa, a 6-foot-2, 295-pound defensive tackle from De La Salle-Concord.
Letuligasenoa had been committed to USC since April, but that apparently has changed.
Over the weekend, the nation’s No. 105 overall recruit overall, according to 247Sports, took a trip to Seattle and the Spartans’ dominating threeyear starter now is expected to sign with the Washington. He had said all along that his dream growing up was to play for USC, but when Letuligasenoa didn’t sign early, it was clear he was having second thoughts.
Two Bay Area linemen were swayed by UCLA. St. Francis defensive tackle Tyler Manoa (6-3, 280) recently committed to join new head coach Chip Kelly in Los Angeles. And Serra’s 6-3, 360-pound offensive and defensive lineman Atonio Mafi picked the Bruins during the early signing period. Mafi, the first lineman to be named West Catholic Athletic League Player of the Year, switched late, decommitting from Cal.
In yet another local switch involving Pac-12 schools, San Ramon Valley-Danville’s 4-star guard, Blake McDonald (6-5, 295), flipped from UCLA and is expected to sign with Washington State.