I just spent an hour and a half on Zoom talking to Wilcox, Spav and Sirmon individually. I have a bunch of stories planned from it all ...

-Probably a straight Wilcox offseason Q+A
-How the offense has evolved since Spav arrived, from initial ideas to where it is now
-The QB situation
-The players who the staff thinks took the biggest leaps from last season so far
-Perspective on the new transfers
-The strategical assessment that drove the defensive personnel additions and emphasis

And then several player features to come as well ...

Login to view embedded media
Longtime Cal commit Camden Jones is back on campus this week for his official visit with the Bears. The Pasadena-Maranatha standout tight end has been on camps multiple times in the past, but he is still looking forward to getting back up to Berkeley once again. It has started to feel like home, he says, and he has also started to build a strong relationship with the new offensive coaches as well. His main goal this week is to continue lending a helping hand to the Bears in their recruiting efforts with other prospects.

Jones was one of the invited players to the All 22 event last week that coincided with the Elite 11 Finals down in LA, and he had a solid showing with a couple impressive grabs. I caught up with him to discuss his upcoming trip back to Cal, where things stand with the process overall and a lot more.

He canceled his official visit to Pitt last week in favor of participating in the event, but he says the plan is still to take an OV with the Panthers at some point in the future.

Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Acalanes receiver Trevor Rogers has just announced his commitment to the Bears.

Login to view embedded media

Here's the preview for the weekend:


More to come on the overall recruiting picture that I hope to finish up by tomorrow for you. Any questions in the meantime, fire away and I'm happy to answer as best I can.

The latest in this week's Recruiting Rumor Mill:

WR Audric Harris, out of Las Vegas, was the one visitor I wasn't able to connect with from last weekend. Well, we finally talked tonight, after he got done with his Arizona official visit.

I'll give you a full story tomorrow, but my sense is that the Wildcats surged ahead with this visit. I'd peg them as the favorite right now.

I just talked to three-star DE Carlon Jones about his official visit and he was effusive in his comments about how impressed he was from his time with DL coach Andrew Browning. Really good stuff in the interview here:

New Chancellor coming in for the 24 football season…….

I talked to three of the four uncommitted targets visiting this weekend and break it all down here. Reminder, Cal's biggest recruiting weekend is still ahead next week.

Let's give this its own thread:

Login to view embedded media

Smaller group this weekend. The big weekend is next week. I'll have a preview put together for Friday, though, on these guys.

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media

Any news on the last scholarship slot for the MBB team?

Login to view embedded media

A new name on the radar for Cal for the upcoming season is New Jersey point guard Simeon Wilcher. The 2023 prospect requested and was granted his release from North Carolina this week after 2024 point guard commit Elliot Cadeau reclassified to move up a year. Wilcher wants to play on the ball, and that wasn't going to be possible with Cadeau's move to 2023. So, now he has reopened his recruitment and the Bears have been one of the first programs to reach out since Mark Madsen has space remaining on the roster for the upcoming season.

He's currently visiting St. John's so the process could move quickly, but the Cal staff is remaining open to pursuing options to fill out the roster still entering the summer.

Wilcher is rated No. 31 overall and a four-star prospect by Rivals. Xavier, Georgetown, Texas Tech, Seton Hall and Indiana are reportedly some of the other schools that have expressed interest in him already since he was granted his release from UNC.

Login to view embedded media

calbea.rs/mbb-excellence-initiative.

Cal Athletics made the smart move to allow premium seat holders to send their "required" donations this season to the NIL fund instead of the Excellence Fund. So, I sent $20K to CalLegends. My cost of my two courtside seats went from $3,770 to $10,000 which I have paid. Now, JK wants me to send more $s to the Excellence Fund to pay for costs that Cal's athletic department should bear, just as is being done by other PAC athletic departments whose basketball budgets make Cal look like the cheapskate that it is. What's wrong with that picture? I figure $30,000 for two courtside seats is enough and will ignore the recent solicitation, knowing that JK is very capable of stealthily spending Excellence donations on non-revenue sports that have little interest to me to sponsor.

College Sports about yo take another hit.

Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Cal has landed a commitment from Utah graduate transfer quarterback and San Mateo native Luke Bottari tonight. He didn't play for the Utes in his one season with the team after transferring in from College of San Mateo. He still has two seasons of eligibility left with the Bears. Rivals currently has him ranked as a 5.6 three-star player and a top-500 transfer.

I know this is in the 2024 recruiting thread, but it deserves its own thread. I'm reaching out to him now.

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Cal is among the schools making the strongest push for four-star 2024 power forward Aiden Sherrell, who continues to rise up the rankings entering the summer. The Georgia native had been at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, but he recently made the move to Prolific Prep in Napa, and the Bears have been heavily involved in pursuing him. Sherrell, who ranks No. 22 overall in the 2024 class according to Rivals, was offered by Cal in late April and since that time he has been able to get to know the staff some more. He has prior relationship with assistant Matt Scherbenske that has continued to grow at Cal, but he has also now been able to begin building a bond with Mark Madsen as well.

Sherrell is set to visit Ohio State this weekend, and then he will assess other programs that will get visits as he moves forward. Cal is on that list of options, and I caught up with him after a productive week in Las Vegas as the Pangos All-American Camp to discuss his interest in the Bears plus more.

"I've got to talk to the coaches more. I got to see a lot of what they're about. They told me a plan they have for me, and I appreciate them for sure."

Read the full update at the link above.

My aim is to preview all the visitors for the coming weekend, or as many as I can get a response from at least.

Login to view embedded media
Corona-Centennial guard Eric Freeny's latest offer came in from Cal last month and his stock continues to rise entering the summer. He plays with the Compton Magic travel squad on the adidas circuit, and after the Bears watched him in April the staff decided to offer. He's building a relationship with assistant Matt Scherbenske, and right now he is working on setting up an official visit with Cal. He's already lined up to take one to UCLA later this month, and currently the Bruins appear to be the team to beat.

Cal has certainly made a strong impression as well, but he is still in the early stages of that relationship. I'm currently in Las Vegas for the Pangos All-American Camp, and I caught up with Freeny to discuss his new offer, and he says the opportunity to play early for Mark Madsen is among the things that stand out about the Bears.

"I'm trying to touch the floor as a freshman, and that's one of the things they say because they're rebuilding. They got a whole new coaching staff, everything. They're really cool people, cool to talk to. Good people."

Read the full update at the link up top.

Login to view embedded media

Speechless

Login to view embedded media

Congrats to the Rowing Team.

Does this mean it's time for an extension for Knowlton?

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
This one came as a little bit of surprise today but this afternoon, Central Catholic safety Brooklyn Cheek announced his commitment to Cal. The Bears have been the most active program in his recruitment, and when he moved up his visit to Berkeley it cemented the program as the leader. He's been on campus multiple times. Oregon made a push earlier in the year but Washington State had been the program making the strongest push alongside Cal.

He's a solid player with length and is a target who has been on the radar for the Bears for a long time.

Here's what he previously told me about his impressions of Cal: "Cal is amazing to me. Coach Terrence Brown texts me almost every day and checks up on me, and you can tell he really cares about me as a student, not just an athlete. So, they're super loving, and obviously it's right around the corner only like 70 miles from where I live. So to get to have all my family come watch the games that'd be an amazing thing. It's definitely on the table there, too."

He is likely to come in as a free safety at Cal. Cheek had a top four of Cal, Washington State, Arizona and Arizona State before coming to a decision. Oregon, UNLV, Utah State and Campbell University were his other offers.


Login to view embedded media

Read a story in Vanity Fair about the ongoing writer's strike In Hollywood. It coincides with the Directors Guild, and the actors union SAG-AFTRA. They bargain separately but they all sort of need one another to provide scripted programming. The fear in Hollywood is that one or more of the unions may not agree to a contract until July, possibly even late in the year. The longest writer's strike went 153 days. Without these unions the tv landscape becomes reality television, sports and news. If Kliavkoff can wait til summer, and tv desperately needs fall programming, seems like sports on Friday night pacific time becomes very, very valuable. Maybe Kliavkoff has a Hollywood card in his deck? Maybe Amazon sees an opening to put on Pac 12 games at a time when the casual viewer has no Law and Order, and no Succession.