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Cal Football Recruiting

Isibor Down to Cal and Auburn, Almost Ready For Decision

May 12, 2022
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6-3/260 UCLA portal transfer OLB Odua Isibor was one of four portal transfer prospects on campus last weekend on official visits to Cal. Two -former ASU offensive guard Spencer Lovell and Montana State offensive tackle TJ Session are already committed and signed with Cal. Will the former Bruin be next?

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal’s pressure potential on the edge in ‘22.

Isibor’s visit to Cal made a strong impression on him as he’s going down to the wire choosing between Cal and Auburn.

“It was really cool at Cal,” said Isibor. “I liked it. We toured the facilities, did a photo shoot, watched film, things like that. The players and coaches were cool. I really like the culture there. I thought they were very authentic and meant everything they said. They seemed like really good people.”

After spending time at DT in the last two seasons, Isibor plans to make a move to his more natural position at his next destination.

“I’d be playing outside linebacker at Cal,” said Isibor. “I think that's where my body type is more geared to. My pass rush and my experience are probably my two biggest strengths.”

If Isabor makes the move to Cal, he’d do so already holding an undergrad and master's degree and would enroll in one of Cal’s certificate programs.

“I already have my undergrad degree and am just wrapping up my master’s in Transformative Coaching and Leadership,” noted Isibor.

Besides Cal, Isibor made the trip down to Alabama and also enjoyed official visit to Auburn.

“That was cool, too,” said Isibor. “I like the culture there, as well. They’re nice people. Very family-oriented. It was nice. The campus, it’s still Auburn, Alabama so it’s obviously not the same as Cal would be but it was nice. It was homey.”

As for what will be driving his decision, he noted:

“I would say a good portion of it would be how successful I would be at football at my next school,” said Isibor. “Definitely life after football and what a new program could provide for me, where I could take advantage of their resources. Both programs do that very well, which makes the decision harder.”

With regard to playing time opportunity, Isibor talked about the situations he’d be walking into with both programs.

“I know for a fact that they have two guys at Auburn returning who started last year who are pretty good,” said Isibor. “They also moved a few guys, including a tight there. I think I could come in and make an impact immediately. And then at Cal, I think they only have one or two experienced guys on the outside.”

With slots dwindling and time a big factor at both Cal and Auburn, Isibor is looking to make a decision on a short timeline.

“Hopefully soon,” said Isibor. “When I know, I’d like to decide then and there.”

Stay tuned for the latest on Isibor’s decision in the coming days.

More stories:

Bears Make Another Big OL Portal Addition in Lovell

Bears Make a Key Addition With Portal Transfer OT TJ Session

Discussion from...

Isibor Down to Cal and Auburn, Almost Ready For Decision

10,523 Views | 38 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by MoragaBear
76BearsFly
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Let me ask you: Do you feel lucky? Yep!!
calumnus
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UCLA offers a Masters in Transformative Coaching and Leadership
WalterSobchak
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calumnus said:

UCLA offers a Masters in Transformative Coaching and Leadership
Exactly. But at what cost? Obviously it has tanked their academic ranking and they've seen a massive plunge in high-quality applicants!
BearForce2
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Great culture at Cal football.
BE AT CAL.
Eastern Oregon Bear
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helltopay1 said:

UCLA also offers a Ph.D in gaseous emissions and its impact on global warming.......DEgree holders are often puzzled why getting a job after graduation is so taxing...Newsom is considering taxing gaseous emissions...
Pops, take your politics elsewhere. We're talking football here.
helltopay1
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What do you know about football????
Goobear
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helltopay1 said:

What do you know about football????
Hell you know better. This is football only. Go to Off-Topic to battle politics.
Bobodeluxe
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We needed this one:

A football players name
Goobear
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Bobodeluxe said:

We needed this one:

A football players name
Saw him play at JSerra in South Orange County. He did not look good then. Glad he got better and got his chance.
NVBear78
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Goobear said:

Bobodeluxe said:

We needed this one:

A football players name
Saw him play at JSerra in South Orange County. He did not look good then. Glad he got better and got his chance.


Goo, are you referring to Isibor?
Goobear
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No Booty the QB, sorry
NVBear78
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Got it, thanks!
philbert
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BearForce2
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CAL FOOTBALL CULTURE
BOOM.
wifeisafurd
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Great athlete, great fit, welcome aboard Odua.
BearForce2
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He's the 13th Bruin defensive player to enter the transfer portal since the end of last season. Will UCLA have a defense next year?
helltopay1
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I'm envious of players who transfer and play right away...I transferred and had to sit out a year....Still rankles to this day...Cal is a C+/B- football program...Not sensational but light years aheAd of the basketball program.....SAD....
calbear80
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Cal is an
. A+ University with an
. A+ academic ranking and an
. A+ worldwide reputation.

Go Bears!
calbear80
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calbear80 said:

Cal is an
. A+ University with an
. A+ academic ranking and an
. A+ worldwide reputation.

Go Bears!

I want to give you an example. Last week I was on a multi-week organized tour of Egypt. Our (highly sophisticated world-traveled) Egyptian tour guide was bragging that her friend's son is going to Berkeley and how she wished her son was such a high achiever. Cal/Berkeley is internationally known and highly respected worldwide.

Go Bears!

P.S. I had to make two posts on this because someone posted something above which irritated me.
gardenstatebear
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He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
Goobear
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Odua welcome to Cal Football! Wishing you nothing but the best on and off the field. Go Bears!
Bobodeluxe
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gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
Kinda all the same in the modern game.
Bubba_Bear84
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gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.

Bimage made the same change last year. UCLA had this guy playing out of his natural position. They like a smaller, faster defense. But it's likely that Isibor felt he was being misused at DT and would have more success as a OLB/DE. Very similar situation to Bimage.
NVBear78
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Welcome to Cal and Go Bears!!!
MoragaBear
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Staff
gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
gardenstatebear
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MoragaBear said:

gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
confirms my point. He was an outside linebacker as a redshirt frosh, and was a DT as redshirt junior. The assumption must be that UCLA made a mistake in switching him and that he can change back now. I hope that works out, but it still strikes me as quite a change.
82gradDLSdad
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I don't worry about us being able to coach up linebackers
calumnus
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gardenstatebear said:

MoragaBear said:

gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
confirms my point. He was an outside linebacker as a redshirt frosh, and was a DT as redshirt junior. The assumption must be that UCLA made a mistake in switching him and that he can change back now. I hope that works out, but it still strikes me as quite a change.


The area I am most confident in our coaching staff, including our head coach, is coaching linebackers.
helltopay1
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CalBear80......I gave Cal a C+B- grade for their football program. Some might even say I was being generous...Why would that football assessment cause you heart palpitations????Do you dispute the football grade????Their basketball program today is clearly in the D range....Disagree????Address the topic at hand....We are not discussing academic excellence...We are discussing football and basketball...
calumnus
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82gradDLSdad said:

I don't worry about us being able to coach up linebackers


Beat me to the punch.
gardenstatebear
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calumnus said:

gardenstatebear said:

MoragaBear said:

gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
confirms my point. He was an outside linebacker as a redshirt frosh, and was a DT as redshirt junior. The assumption must be that UCLA made a mistake in switching him and that he can change back now. I hope that works out, but it still strikes me as quite a change.


The area I am most confident in our coaching staff, including our head coach, is coaching linebackers.
Fine. Let's hope we're right in our evaluation and that UCLA was wrong.
Cal_79
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gardenstatebear said:

calumnus said:

gardenstatebear said:

MoragaBear said:

gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
confirms my point. He was an outside linebacker as a redshirt frosh, and was a DT as redshirt junior. The assumption must be that UCLA made a mistake in switching him and that he can change back now. I hope that works out, but it still strikes me as quite a change.


The area I am most confident in our coaching staff, including our head coach, is coaching linebackers.
Fine. Let's hope we're right in our evaluation and that UCLA was wrong.

What's not to like about a player that's athletic enough to play OLB and robust enough to play DT?
Sonofafurd
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gardenstatebear said:

calumnus said:

gardenstatebear said:

MoragaBear said:

gardenstatebear said:

He's going to switch from defensive tackle to outside linebacker? That strikes me as quite a transformation for anyone, let alone someone old enough to be a senior. UCLA must have really misjudged this young man if he is now thought to be a potential linebacker.
From the story:

As a redshirt junior playing as an undersized DT, Isibor totaled 14 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks on the season. As a redshirt frosh in 2018, isibor was a part-time starter at outside linebacker and a move to Cal would see him return to Cal at his more natural position to help boost Cal's pressure potential on the edge in '22.
confirms my point. He was an outside linebacker as a redshirt frosh, and was a DT as redshirt junior. The assumption must be that UCLA made a mistake in switching him and that he can change back now. I hope that works out, but it still strikes me as quite a change.


The area I am most confident in our coaching staff, including our head coach, is coaching linebackers.
Fine. Let's hope we're right in our evaluation and that UCLA was wrong.
So far they were more right about Bimage than Texas. We'll see about Carlton and Utah as well (OLB/DE vs DT)

However I wonder if this is less of a case of the other schools being wrong and more of teams wanting depth of big bodies on the DL regardless of fit. If so, we are in a good position with our 3-4 scheme and our Correia/McKenzie pair at NT.
calumnus
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We are incredibly deep at LB and fairly deep at DL. It really doesn't matter if Isibor is an OLB, a DE or a DT.

We just need the 7 on the field to make plays.
75bear
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Pretty sweet to say we beat out Auburn for a recruit.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Blue & Gold, Odua!
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