JC OLB/DE Henry Ikahihifo Rounds Out Cal's 2022 Recruiting Class

The Bears made an addition to their 2022 class today, announcing the signing of 6-3/255 College of the Canyon OLB/edge Henry Ikahihifo‍, filling the role graduating senior Marquez Bimage played last season on the Bears’ roster.

The hard-hitting Tongan was originally signed by Nevada as a 3 star tight end out of Paraclete High School in Lancaster, CA. He transferred last year to College of the Canyons where he transitioned to defense last season.

"Henry has a ton of upside and showed tremendous potential in his first season of college football on the defensive side of the ball last year," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. "We're excited to see what he will be able to accomplish as he gets more reps on defense. Our strong athletic performance and nutrition programs should also help him to continue to develop rapidly, and combined with his previous college football experience, he should have an opportunity to make an impact quickly."

The 3 star OLB/DE announced his commitment this morning via Twitter saying, “What's good, y’all? Henry Ikahihifo, outside linebacker/hyrbrid from Lancaster, California. Attended Junior College at College of the Canyons. Happy to be a part of the family. Can’t wait to get up to Berkeley to get to work. Go Bears!”

The redshirt soph visited campus in late January and was more than impressed by every element of his visit.

“My biggest impression for me on my visit was Cal’s academic reputation, especially with them being the number two business school in  the world,” said Ikahihifo after the visit. “And second, their facilities and how well they take care of their players was impressive to me. The coaches were really impressvie to me, too.

“And coach Wilcox is very chill. He's just very, very humble. You wouldn't think he’s the head coach because he's just a regular guy and he doesn't overhype everything. He's there to show that Cal is about family, education and then football. He's a great guy, for real.”

As a soph at COC, Ikahihifo totalled 32 tackles and 5 1/2 sacks plus 11 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and four pass breakups on the season.

‘I would say my playing style fits great," said Ikahihifo of hit potential fit at Cal. “I can honestly say I feel comfortable with what I was told about the Cal defense and how they intend to use me, whether it's pass pressure or stopping the run.

“They compared me to the previous player there who played my position -Marquez Bimage and they broke down film of how he played the run and pass along with film of how I played both at my junior college and it was crazy how many similarities there were. They said I’d be an outside linebacker there but if I wanted to get dirty on 4th-and-one, they’d be comfortable with me playing that end spot, head-up over the tackle and I was really impressed with that.”

The former 3 star prep tight end played tight end for Nevada before opting to transfer to COC, who moved him to the other side of the ball last season.

“I hadn’t played defense in quite a while so it's been a crazy journey for me,” said Ikahihifo. “Man, I love defense. I don’t understand why I was switched but I feel like defense is what's best for me. I love delivering the hit instead of taking it. I love defense.”

Ikahihifo’s visit also gave him a strong comfort level with the Cal student athletes, particularly his fellow Polynesian players.

“I talked to Orin Patu) a lot and Iele (Ieremia), who are also both outside linebackers,” said Ikahihifo. “I’m really comfortable with them and the guys in the program. I also talked to Keleki (Latu) and Stan (McKenzie). They're all great guys. I actually felt like I knew them for a while and we just met the day before. Getting to know them was really, really cool.  I think that Poly brotherhood is really special and hard to to explain. They just welcomed me with open arms.”

Ikahihifo became the 18th signee or transfer player in the 2022 class for the Bears. Further additions to the 2022 Cal football recruiting class are expected via the transfer portal and/or during the current regular signing period that started Feb. 2 with National Signing Day and runs through Apr. 1.

Cal has five mid-year enrollees in the class (Xavier Carlton, Jaydn Ott, Jack Plummer, Jackson Sirmon and Mason Starling) who started classes at Cal in the spring of 2022 and are expected to participate in the Golden Bears' upcoming spring practices that began April 6. The remaining members of the class are expected to join the program prior to the team's 2022 season with the majority to arrive on campus in June.

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