Cal has had some recruits visit Berkeley on official visits the past few weekends. Following those official visits, five more recruits have made early verbal commitments to play football for the Golden Bears. Hart-Newhall quarterback Zach Johnson and Chaparral-Scottsdale receiver Tommy Chistakos committed a couple weeks ago. Last week brought commitments from a pair of Hawaiian defenders, Mililani linebacker Muelu Iosefa and St. Louis-Honolulu defensive tackle Stanley McKenzie. Cal added a tight end to the mix with a verbal commitment from Jake Muller. Johnson joins Joe Kapp and Kyle Boller as Hart-Newhall quarterbacks that found Berkeley to be the place for their college quarterbacking days. The current Hart thrower played his junior season at an itty-bitty 160 lbs. A post-season growth spurt has Johnson at 190 lbs with a corresponding increase in strength and velocity. As well as an increase in interest from colleges. Christakos gives Cal the big receiver that every football team needs. He had a terrific junior season with 54 catches for 1,221 yards (22.6 yds/catch) and 12 TDs. Iosefa is considered one of the West's best linebackers. He chose Cal over a host of schools including USC, Oregon, Utah, and Nebraska. It's always nice to pull a player away from USC and Oregon. McKenzie also picked Cal over Oregon and Nebraska. Since Justin Wilcox was hired as head coach in 2017, Cal has been looking for a nose tackle. Perhaps McKenzie is that nose tackle. There was also a tight end void when Wilcox was hired. Muller joins that growing position group.
The four new commits bring Cal's total for 2020 to ten.
Everett Johnson, OT, 6-7.5 287, Turlock (Turlock, CA)
Isaiah Young, CB, 5-9 156, Centennial (Corona, CA)
Andy Alfieri, LB, 6-3 220, Jesuit (Portland, OR)
Casey Filkins, WR, 5-11 190, Lake Oswego Senior (Lake Oswego, OR)
Jeremiah Hunter, WR, 6-2 178, Central East (Fresno, CA)
Tommy Christakos, WR, 6-4 215, Chaparral (Scottsdale, AZ)
Zach Johnson, QB, 6-1 190, Hart (Newhall, CA)
Muelu Iosefa, LB, 6-3 212, Mililani (Mililani, HI)
Stanley McKenzie, DT, 6-2 270, St. Louis School (Honolulu, HI)
Jake Muller, TE, 6-5 235, Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, CA)
All are rated as 3-star recruits by 247Sports.
Since Justin Wilcox replaced Sonny Dykes as the Cal coach in 2017 I've thought a great deal about the Air Raid offense. I've never been a fan of the up-tempo offense. I was even less of a fan after watching Cal's Bear Raid version of it for four years. My biggest problem for me is what the offense can do to a team's defense. Football is a team sport. The offense and the defense is never on the field at the same time but they work together. Or, they're supposed to work together. Dykes didn't give a thought to his defense. It showed. Cal, with Jared Goff and Davis Webb at quarterback, couldn't do enough on offense to make those teams a fun football watch. The defense was absolutely un-watchable. For 60 minutes an exhausted Cal defense had to return to the field moments after it left the field. They were spent and they weren't coached. The fact that Wilcox and his coaches had the same players playing decent defense months later is all the proof that I need that Dykes simply didn't care about that side of the ball. Not that I needed further proof. Despite winning a lot more games the Dykes years were more painful to watch than the Tom Holmoe years. Again, Dykes' offense couldn't do enough to make a Cal football game fun viewing. What does this have to do with recruiting? For one, Wilcox inherited a team that had no tight ends. For two, despite immediately coaching up a decent defense, he inherited a team that was a mess on defense. Players were playing out of position, those that were in the right position weren't coached, and some positions (nose tackle) simply weren't filled. The fact that Wilcox took only months to get a decent defense out of the mess is remarkable. Unfortunately, Cal's offense has been rough since the coaching change. Hopefully, improved quarterback play, more consistent line play, and a developing tight end group will correct that.
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