EARLY SIGNING DAY
Liberty High School defensive end Akili Calhoun signed with Cal on Wednesday, the first day of the early college football signing period.
BERKELEY >> Only four of the 19 football players Cal signed Wednesday were able to play their high school senior seasons this fall. None of them were permitted to make campus visits.
Yet against that COVID-19 backdrop, the Bears came away with a 2021 recruiting class that has a strong Bay Area base, adds size and versatility to the roster and earned a No. 20 national ranking by ESPN.
“Overall, a very good class,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. I think the physical traits are there, the want-to and the character are there, and the academic profile is there We are really, really encouraged by this group.”
The Bears experienced “no drama” on national signing day, Wilcox noted, with every player who had previously committed finalizing paperwork by early afternoon.
The recruiting website 247Sports ranked the Bears’ class at No. 25 nationally ( behind only Oregon and USC in the Pac-12) and Rivals listed Cal at No. 41.
Wilcox credited the program’s support staff for having the technical know-how to create virtual tours of the Cal campus and football facilities, allowing prospects and their parents to get an close-up look at what the program had to offer.
With the pandemic restricting face-to-face inter
action, Wilcox said Cal’s recruits became heavily engaged with one another and the coaching staff on Zoom and Facetime.
“We’ve got some big personalities in this group, which is great,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s that or if it’s that they’re at home
and they’re using Zoom for their classes and that’s how they’re talking to their friends. They are really connected as a group.”
Continuing to solidify their recruiting base in the Bay Area was again a priority. And Cal got several of the top local talents, led by
tight end Jermaine Terry of Kennedy High in Richmond and defensive end Akili Calhoun of Liberty High in Brentwood.
They are among six East Bay prospects headed to Cal, along with eight from Northern California and 11 from within the state.