Friday, January 19, 2007

RECRUITING UPDATE

Terry Mixon committed to Washington State earlier this week. Good luck to him there; that's a nice get for the Cougars at a need position - they lose their best safety in Eric Frampton. Mixon is a good bet to start in '07.

Scott Smith committed to California. He's a DE variously reported as 6'5" and 6'7", so we'll just say he's tall. He also plays basketball, which we always think is a good sign for linemen. Smith was a high school teammate of Tyson Alualu at perennial Hawaiian power St. Louis (Honolulu). He will be joined at Berkeley by teammate Solomona Aigamaua - who is an undersized late-bloomer type guy at DE.

So in one day, Cal is halfway toward its reported goal of bringing in four D-linemen in this class. Still out there - Matthew Masifilo, the Hawaiian DT-cum-engineer, Kenny Rowe, a DE from Long Beach Poly, Christian Tupou, a combo lineman from Sacramento Grant Union, and maybe Ernest Owusu, a DE from the Hun School in New Jersey. As we've said all along, we don't care so much about stars; we care about balance. Looks like our earlier concerns about this class' balance are being addressed by JT and Ken Delgado.

4 Comments:

At 7:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

TBIOOTF is reporting Devin Bishop committs to Cal. Here's the Yahoo article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=rivals-86937&prov=rivals&type=story_recruiting

Go Bears! Although how did Mixon choose Wazzu? One would think that Mixon and Bishop would be relative shoe-ins since their big brothers went to school at Cal and had success. It makes you wonder what the players REALLY think about Cal/JT.

 
At 8:44 AM, Blogger California Pete said...

I wouldn't read too much into whether or not little brothers or cousins or sons follow in their family footsteps. Some guys very much want to build on a family tradition, while others want nothing more than to make their own trail. Just look at the Shipp brothers in hoops: three different Pac-10 schools, and all have made their own mark. I'd love to see Devin Bishop in the Blue and Gold next year, but if he changes his mind again and treks over to Minnesota, I wouldn't read it as any sort of indictment of Tedford and his staff. By all accounts, JT and Co. are both liked and respected by not only their own players but by those who go to other schools. Just look at the lack of conflict when Virdell Hawkins transferred out; I was worried about how cousins Jordan and Lynch would respond, given how tight the whole "family first" crew is. But it doesn't appear to have caused even a ripple in the team chemistry. At a minimum, this program is very good at dealing with whatever problems might arise, in house. Truly remarkable when you consider the high expectations, the egos, and the diverse range of personalities that are involved.

 
At 8:49 AM, Blogger Tightwad said...

Bishop is apparently coming - we should have mentioned that.

 
At 2:51 AM, Anonymous olsonsfoodemporium said...

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