... wanted to share one recruiting note that I thought was really interesting this cycle. Didn't want to drop it when it happened because I don't want to put a 17-year-old on blast, but it's an interesting story and I feel worth sharing.
One recruit this cycle who had Cal in his final grouping (top 3-4ish schools) ended up not choosing the Bears despite both of his parents saying he should go to Cal, and his high school coach saying he should go to Cal, because he was "very intimidated by the academics at Cal," despite officially visiting and going through a gauntlet of meetings with academic advisors and support staff who really paint a pretty great picture of how the program wants you to/helps you to succeed on and off the field. He had the grades to qualify easily, but basically told his dad he wanted to go to an easier school.
Really interesting because even when you target a kid who has good grades, would be in line to get playing time in his first year or two, and he wanted to be out on the west coast, the whole selling academics thing can backfire. It's the first time I've heard a story like that in the past three cycles, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had happened on another occasion or two. Funny that what we all consider Cal's greatest strength, totally screwed the staff on what would've been a nice piece to the 2015 class puzzle.
One recruit this cycle who had Cal in his final grouping (top 3-4ish schools) ended up not choosing the Bears despite both of his parents saying he should go to Cal, and his high school coach saying he should go to Cal, because he was "very intimidated by the academics at Cal," despite officially visiting and going through a gauntlet of meetings with academic advisors and support staff who really paint a pretty great picture of how the program wants you to/helps you to succeed on and off the field. He had the grades to qualify easily, but basically told his dad he wanted to go to an easier school.
Really interesting because even when you target a kid who has good grades, would be in line to get playing time in his first year or two, and he wanted to be out on the west coast, the whole selling academics thing can backfire. It's the first time I've heard a story like that in the past three cycles, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had happened on another occasion or two. Funny that what we all consider Cal's greatest strength, totally screwed the staff on what would've been a nice piece to the 2015 class puzzle.
