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June 17 California Legends Kid Football Camp

Are you a child? Do you live with children? Have you ever met a child? Are you just immature? Ok, maybe not that one, but for the rest you are in luck. I am pleased to announce that California Legends will be hosting its first one-day football camp on Saturday, June 17. Get pumped!

Camp will be for kids grades 4-8 and will take place at Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, a short drive from the Berkeley campus. Registration will occur at 8:30 am and camp will end at 4:00 pm.

The camp will be coached by the star Cal players of the 2023 football team. Jaydn Ott will be coaching running backs. Sam Jackson will be coaching quarterbacks. Jackson Sirmon will be coaching linebackers. Brett Johnson will be teaching your children how to be BRETT JOHNSON. The list goes on and on.

Price for the camp is $149 with all proceeds going to the players in furtherance of our NIL efforts.

Head on over to https://calegends.com/ca-legends-football-camp/ to register your kids/grandkids/random neighborhood kids today while slots are still available.

Go Bears!

OV preview: 4-star WR Jason Robinson Jr.


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Former USC commit Jason Robinson Jr. is one of the top-rated offensive prospects the Bears are in pursuit of for the 2024 class. He already visited Cal earlier in the spring, and he has already set up an official visit with the program for June 23. DeSean Jackson has been one of the former Long Beach Poly players Robinson has looked to for advice, and that has played a role in how Robinson views the program. That, plus continued pursuit from Burl Toler III and the staff in Berkeley has put Cal in a strong position with him heading into the summer. Notre Dame has gained steam as a potential likely landing spot, but I was told this week by someone involved with the recruitment that the Bears should very much be considered a legitimate threat to land him when all is said and done. Robinson has found a lot that he likes about the program, and that pushed him to make it one of his first official visit stops in the process. Syracuse will host him June 9 before the Bears get him out to Berkeley on June 23.

I caught up with him to discuss his previous visit to Cal and look ahead to his official visit now that he has a better feel for the Bears after seeing the program up close in March.

"They got really good connections over there at Cal with former players and alums that have been there," he said "So, that's a real good thing they got going on over there. Then another thing is really being able to come in and just ball. Anywhere I go I'm gonna be able to ball and take a spot, but I feel like that's somewhere I'll be that man."

He released a top 10 less than two weeks ago featuring Cal, Utah, USC, Washington, Colorado, Penn State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Florida State and Syracuse. Utah is also set to receive an official visit once the season begins.

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Four-star WR target Kwazi Gilmer details strong connection with Burl Toler, talks Cal and other contenders

Matt and I went to watch Cal four-star WR target Kwazi Gilmer last weekend in 7v7. I'll have a video package to post in here later as well. Gilmer is taking OVs to UCLA, Michigan State, Stanford, Washington and then Cal the last week of June. He shared a good anecdote about why his connection with Burl Toler is so strong and covered his recruitment overall:

OT: NCAA football video game is coming back

Easily my favorite video game of all time and what got me really into college football as a kid. Great news. Probably the only chance Ill be able to experience Cal getting 20 5 star recruits and winning the National championship game.

Transfer commitment: Purdue RB King Doerue

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Purdue RB King Doerue has committed to the Bears today. Cal loading up on transfer RBs this offseason. Remember, Byron Cardwell missed the end of spring ball with a knee injury and Justin Williams-Thomas didn’t participate at all.

Doerue rushed for over 1,100 yards plus 10 TDs at Purdue but only played in four games last year because of an injury.

Ryan and I are both at a passing tournament currently but will get more later.

Colorado WR transfer Montana Lemonious-Craig on campus at Cal now for a visit

Cal is hosting Colorado WR transfer Montana Lemonious-Craig right now for a visit. He, of course, had the game-winning catch vs. Cal in Boulder last season. Overall, he caught 23 passes for 359 yards and 3 TDs as a third-year sophomore in a moribund passing offense. He also was the star of Colorado's spring game, only to enter the portal a day later while Shedeur Sanders posted a wild video from the locker room with MLC in the background. Of all the Colorado transfer departures, his surprised the folks over there the most.

This is a really intriguing one for Cal!

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OL King Large talks new Cal offer


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King Large (fantastic name) added an offer from Cal this week after hearing from offensive line coach Mike Bloesch. The junior at St. John Bosco in Bellflower has started to see his recruitment pick up in recent weeks, and he's hopeful that the offer from the Bears adds to the momentum. Even if it doesn't, he's had his eye on Cal for a while now and is hoping to nail down an official visit date as he talks more with Bloesch and the Bears over the next couple weeks. Oregon is his other Power Five offer and he visited there last month while he has an official visit planned to Colorado State set for late June.

He still has some things to fine tune, but I watched him yesterday at the SJB spring game and there is definitely some talent there. He's played both tackle and guard and was working exclusively at left tackle yesterday. Bosco was the top high school team in the country last year, so Large has some quality experience under his belt already.

Here's what he had to say about his conversation with Bloesch on Wednesday that ended with his new offer:

"It was real great. A real great man. I've always had an interest in Cal seeing as they're one of the top public schools in the nation. I've always had interest in them seeing as they're Pac-12 and also really good in my major, business."

Watch some ISO clips of Large in action at yesterday's spring game below:

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Spav's offense: a question

Perhaps this is obvious, but after listening to Coach Spav talk about his passing philosophy, I thought he said the receivers were able to break off passing routes in order to "get open." I wonder how the QB reacts in an offense where the receivers are allowed to just find open space. I'm assuming the QB has to wait a bit, because they can't know for sure which way a receiver is going to break. Seems like the QB can't really anticipate and throw a pass In anticipation of a receiver's move. Is that right? Does this scheme have a name? It doesn't sound like the "run and shoot" but maybe it's just the norm for the run/pass option? thanks for any thoughts.

Official visits this weekend (May 5-7)

Here's the list as I know it:

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-34 catches for 458 yards and 5 TDs last season for North Texas
-Three years of eligibility remaining
-Decommitted from Arkansas yesterday

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-47 catches for 606 yards and 4 TDs over the last two seasons combined
-Two years of eligibility remaining

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-Played 114 snaps last season as a backup left tackle
-Three years of eligibility remaining

MBB: Texas Tech wing Jaylon Tyson commits to Cal

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Jaylon Tyson has announced his commitment to Cal giving Mark Madsen an integral piece to the rebuild in Berkeley. He averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds last season at Texas Tech and had been one of the top available transfers. Just a huge addition for the Bears.

Madsen's staff is complete ... Jarred Jackson hire made official

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Cal has completed its coaching staff under first-year coach Mark Madsen. Coastal Carolina women's basketball assistant Jarred Jackson is headed to the West Coast to rejoin Madsen after previously serving on his Utah Valley staff for three seasons.

"My family and I are both honored and thankful for the opportunity to reunite with Coach Madsen and to be welcomed into the Cal family," Jackson said. "I have seen firsthand Coach Madsen's ability to teach the game at the highest level, develop young men and lead his staff, all while treating everyone with dignity and respect. I'm extremely excited to get to work alongside this amazing staff as we bring Cal back to its winning ways."

Jackson is the final piece to Madsen's assistant coaching staff joining associated head coach Adam Mazarei plus assistants Matt Scherbenske, Amorrow Morgan and Ken Moses. New NCAA rules are allowing college basketball coaching staffs to expand to five assistants this year meaning two more non-recruiting coaches could be added.

Madsen has maxed out his staff and has his final group for his first season in Berkeley.

"I'm thrilled to reunite with Jarred in Berkeley," Madsen said in a statement. "Jarred's on-court player development and advanced knowledge of the game played an instrumental role in the large amount of success we experienced together at Utah Valley. His coaching philosophies and ability to build impactful relationships with student-athletes will elevate our program's culture. It's great to welcome Jarred, his wife TyJha and their son Jace to Bear Territory."

New transfer RB addition

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Montana State RB Isaiah Ifanse has committed to Cal this afternoon after previously announcing his transfer to San Jose State. He’s rushed for over 3,700 yards and 25 touchdowns in his career. The Bears were banged up at RB in the spring and he will add some quality depth to the group.

Top lists for two area recruits

A couple area recruits have trimmed their lists down this weekend to include Cal. Both prospects have been longtime targets and remain in the mix heading into the summer.

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Modesto-Central Catholic safety Brooklyn Cheek has cut his list down to Cal, Arizona, Arizona State and Washington State leaving out schools such as Oregon, UNLV and Utah State. He's been to Berkeley numerous times and has built a strong bond with the staff.

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Salinas-Palma standout two-way athlete Logan Saldate has been another priority prospect for the Bears from the area, and he is now down to Cal, Washington, Arizona, Oregon State and Oklahoma State eliminating Washington State, Fresno State, UNLV, Utah State, Army, Nevada and New Mexico. Oregon State and Oklahoma State are the two official visits he has scheduled already for June. Like Cheek, he has been to Cal on multiple occasions already for unofficial visits. Though he also plays defensive back, the schools still involved like Saldate as a receiver at the next level.

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New MBB transfer-Mike Meadows from Portland

Just saw this pop up on Verbals Commit. Looks to have 1 year of eligibility remaining. Played 3 years at E. Washington + 2 at Portland. Guessing was added due to limited NIL and needed depth at guard behind Askew and Cone. Averaged 11PPG, 2.7 rb, 2.2 assists in just under 30 minutes per game.

Now time to finalize Tyson and hopefully one of the UVU transfers.

New MBB staffer announced

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Another new Cal staff member has been announced today with the official introduction of new athletic performance coach Sebastian Hernandez who is following Mark Madsen from Utah Valley where he served as strength coach. Hernandez is a Miami native who was previously at Florida State, his alma mater, for four years working with the women's basketball team in Tallahassee.
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