Since it's taking me a while to write the actual article on him and his visit, I figure that I'd throw the full transcript up here, since he's an interesting kid and by a number of accounts he did great on Sunday at the Rivals camp
On the actual visit
My visit, I felt it went great. I went up there for junior day. I got up there on Friday and while I was there, we got there early so I went over there and checked out the practice, got a little bit of a tour of their facilities. In practices, they’re very competitive. At the same time, everybody wants to get better, everybody wants to see everybody get better. It was a great atmosphere to be around, a group of guys who want to accomplish something so much.
On the Hail
I was on the sidelines watching the practice when it was hailing. It was a little hectic, we thought it was rain, put on our raincoats and umbrellas, and then it started hailing. I’ve never experienced that before but it was definitely a cool experience
Me and some of the other recruits were laughing at it. It’s kinda cool, seeing guys that came from other places, when it started to hail, it was like wow, this isn’t something you see every day.
On meeting the commits and coaches
On the junior day, there were commits there, there were people that had Cal on their list. We were all checking it out, we were all forming questions to the coaching staff about why Cal could be the best decision for us and what it has to offer. The coaching staff, when we asked the questions they definitely answered them in a way that made me feel good about coming to their school.
They answered the questions, they made me like Cal would be a place to be if I want to take the opportunity. I didn’t commit, definitely didn’t want to commit too early, but it was a great atmosphere to be around.
Relationship with Greatwood
Coach Greatwood, me and him have been talking. I know that he was the man at Oregon. I watched him coach up some of the other O-Linemen there during their practices. He’s a very ‘get straight to the point guy,’ who likes to see results, he wanted nothing but proper form and technique. We’ve been talking, he definitely thinks that I’d be a great fit in the program, we’re building that relationship.
What position the staff sees him at
He sees me at guard, from what him and the staff have told me, they see me at guard. They haven’t brought up tackle, but they said that they see me as a guard right now.
His relationship with Ray Davison
So during, the season, Ray Ray and I, we know each other through family. My godfather was really close friends with him and my head coach used to coach Ray Ray up at Crespi, so a few questions I’d have about recruiting, or not necessarily recruiting, but the game, during the season he’d help me answer them. He was basically a great mentor, he was there to coach me up, he always wanted to see me do big things. He was definitely a mentor, and somebody that I could talk to and ask questions about.
I wanted to confirm the exact wording on whether he was OL MVP for his league or something in that vein
For my league I got lineman of the year
On what he's felt strongest at
Position wise, I played D-Tackle my sophomore year. I started my sophomore year, then they converted me to playing some tackle this past year. I played both ways this season, but at tackle I definitely delivered what the team needed on finishing blocks. I opened a lot of holes for our running back Innocent Okoh, who ran for 2000 yards and 21 touchdowns.
I feel like I was a key player in our offense along with some of the other O-linemen, achieving our goals to get far in the playoffs, but I know this season, me and my coach have been talking, and he thinks I’d be playing guard, right guard, so I’ve been learning the position, I had a few reps in at it at the camp today, in Los Angeles, the Rivals camp, and I think I did great at it, a little better than I did at tackle today. So definitely in the future I’ll be playing guard and a little bit of tackle, but of course I’ll playing defense, so I’ll be all over the place this season.
How he felt about his performance at the Rivals camp
The Rivals camp went great, I learned a lot of things, a lot of new things I can take back home and take to practice and spring ball and help my other O-Linemen learn technique, form, stance. Definitely learned a lot from the coaching staff. One on ones, I think I did solid at right tackle, but my last two reps were at guard and I felt like I did outstanding from what one of the coaches told me. I definitely had a great time at the Rivals camp today.
What he wants to work on the most next year
I think I want to improve on my footwork the most, definitely having my feet, my footwork to a nice tee would allow me to play my position better, it would allow me to be more versatile. It’d definitely allow me to be more vicious on the field and more of a threat to opposing defenders.
When does he want to commit
I have no clue, I don’t want to rush into it too early. I have a whole nother season left and a few major schools have put me on a wait and watch list, to see how I perform this season, to see if they take a shot on me and want to give me a scholarship, so I don’t want to shut down my recruiting process too early. I don’t know when I will commit, but I definitely do love visiting the facilities and the staffs of the schools that are giving me a chance, an opportunity to play football.
Whether he'd put Cal as an early favorite
I don’t want to put them as a favorite, they have been the only visit that I have taken from a school that’s given me a scholarship, and they were the first to give me a scholarship, they’ve been the only school that I’ve visited, so I don’t want to sell myself out that early, I want to definitely take a look at what the other schools have to offer me, what they could offer me, how they could make me a better player, but Cal definitely did impress me with their junior day, it was amazing.
What he wants to study
I’ve been bouncing around between business and management, and engineering. I have a little small baking business that I’ve been dealing with for a few years now. It’d be good to learn business, but at the same time, computer science and engineering is a lot more entertaining, if you will. But it’s between those two I’ve been bouncing around. My grandfather is a professor and he teaches business management, so I’ve been thinking about taking a class or a course over the summer with him
Where his grandfather teaches
He teaches at El Camino (CC)
What he likes to bake
Well, I kinda do a little bit of everything. My mom, she taught me how to cook at a young age. I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember and I started to bake. I would bake brownies sometimes, my mother says they’re amazing, but I bake them for my school, if my black student union, if they needed some funds raised, I’d bake for them, but I also just bake to sell for a little bit of profit, a little bit of personal gain so I can buy some of the equipment and stuff that I need. It’s not a job, it’s not a full time job, it’s kind of a side, something I can use to get a few extra bucks if I need to buy a knee brace or an extra pair of gloves. Dealing with that, it has brought up that I need to be able to handle a business if I do want to take that long term.
On the actual visit
My visit, I felt it went great. I went up there for junior day. I got up there on Friday and while I was there, we got there early so I went over there and checked out the practice, got a little bit of a tour of their facilities. In practices, they’re very competitive. At the same time, everybody wants to get better, everybody wants to see everybody get better. It was a great atmosphere to be around, a group of guys who want to accomplish something so much.
On the Hail
I was on the sidelines watching the practice when it was hailing. It was a little hectic, we thought it was rain, put on our raincoats and umbrellas, and then it started hailing. I’ve never experienced that before but it was definitely a cool experience
Me and some of the other recruits were laughing at it. It’s kinda cool, seeing guys that came from other places, when it started to hail, it was like wow, this isn’t something you see every day.
On meeting the commits and coaches
On the junior day, there were commits there, there were people that had Cal on their list. We were all checking it out, we were all forming questions to the coaching staff about why Cal could be the best decision for us and what it has to offer. The coaching staff, when we asked the questions they definitely answered them in a way that made me feel good about coming to their school.
They answered the questions, they made me like Cal would be a place to be if I want to take the opportunity. I didn’t commit, definitely didn’t want to commit too early, but it was a great atmosphere to be around.
Relationship with Greatwood
Coach Greatwood, me and him have been talking. I know that he was the man at Oregon. I watched him coach up some of the other O-Linemen there during their practices. He’s a very ‘get straight to the point guy,’ who likes to see results, he wanted nothing but proper form and technique. We’ve been talking, he definitely thinks that I’d be a great fit in the program, we’re building that relationship.
What position the staff sees him at
He sees me at guard, from what him and the staff have told me, they see me at guard. They haven’t brought up tackle, but they said that they see me as a guard right now.
His relationship with Ray Davison
So during, the season, Ray Ray and I, we know each other through family. My godfather was really close friends with him and my head coach used to coach Ray Ray up at Crespi, so a few questions I’d have about recruiting, or not necessarily recruiting, but the game, during the season he’d help me answer them. He was basically a great mentor, he was there to coach me up, he always wanted to see me do big things. He was definitely a mentor, and somebody that I could talk to and ask questions about.
I wanted to confirm the exact wording on whether he was OL MVP for his league or something in that vein
For my league I got lineman of the year
On what he's felt strongest at
Position wise, I played D-Tackle my sophomore year. I started my sophomore year, then they converted me to playing some tackle this past year. I played both ways this season, but at tackle I definitely delivered what the team needed on finishing blocks. I opened a lot of holes for our running back Innocent Okoh, who ran for 2000 yards and 21 touchdowns.
I feel like I was a key player in our offense along with some of the other O-linemen, achieving our goals to get far in the playoffs, but I know this season, me and my coach have been talking, and he thinks I’d be playing guard, right guard, so I’ve been learning the position, I had a few reps in at it at the camp today, in Los Angeles, the Rivals camp, and I think I did great at it, a little better than I did at tackle today. So definitely in the future I’ll be playing guard and a little bit of tackle, but of course I’ll playing defense, so I’ll be all over the place this season.
How he felt about his performance at the Rivals camp
The Rivals camp went great, I learned a lot of things, a lot of new things I can take back home and take to practice and spring ball and help my other O-Linemen learn technique, form, stance. Definitely learned a lot from the coaching staff. One on ones, I think I did solid at right tackle, but my last two reps were at guard and I felt like I did outstanding from what one of the coaches told me. I definitely had a great time at the Rivals camp today.
What he wants to work on the most next year
I think I want to improve on my footwork the most, definitely having my feet, my footwork to a nice tee would allow me to play my position better, it would allow me to be more versatile. It’d definitely allow me to be more vicious on the field and more of a threat to opposing defenders.
When does he want to commit
I have no clue, I don’t want to rush into it too early. I have a whole nother season left and a few major schools have put me on a wait and watch list, to see how I perform this season, to see if they take a shot on me and want to give me a scholarship, so I don’t want to shut down my recruiting process too early. I don’t know when I will commit, but I definitely do love visiting the facilities and the staffs of the schools that are giving me a chance, an opportunity to play football.
Whether he'd put Cal as an early favorite
I don’t want to put them as a favorite, they have been the only visit that I have taken from a school that’s given me a scholarship, and they were the first to give me a scholarship, they’ve been the only school that I’ve visited, so I don’t want to sell myself out that early, I want to definitely take a look at what the other schools have to offer me, what they could offer me, how they could make me a better player, but Cal definitely did impress me with their junior day, it was amazing.
What he wants to study
I’ve been bouncing around between business and management, and engineering. I have a little small baking business that I’ve been dealing with for a few years now. It’d be good to learn business, but at the same time, computer science and engineering is a lot more entertaining, if you will. But it’s between those two I’ve been bouncing around. My grandfather is a professor and he teaches business management, so I’ve been thinking about taking a class or a course over the summer with him
Where his grandfather teaches
He teaches at El Camino (CC)
What he likes to bake
Well, I kinda do a little bit of everything. My mom, she taught me how to cook at a young age. I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember and I started to bake. I would bake brownies sometimes, my mother says they’re amazing, but I bake them for my school, if my black student union, if they needed some funds raised, I’d bake for them, but I also just bake to sell for a little bit of profit, a little bit of personal gain so I can buy some of the equipment and stuff that I need. It’s not a job, it’s not a full time job, it’s kind of a side, something I can use to get a few extra bucks if I need to buy a knee brace or an extra pair of gloves. Dealing with that, it has brought up that I need to be able to handle a business if I do want to take that long term.
