Just wondered how everyone felt about the recruits who dazzled us, tempted us, flirted and then wound up going elsewhere. In the recent past, there was the CalGang of 2012. The disciples of Tosh - the Toshites. A few names - Hoffpauir wound up across the Bay sliding his hand across Luke's face last year; Payton is receiving in Westwood; Shaq is now on to the NFL; Shittu, who cares; Arik Armstead played for Chip in Eugene; and, Ellis McCarthy, a Bruin. There may have been another one or two.

The question is what did we lose? Everyone probably agrees that Thompson was the biggest loss. Hoffpauir, played a fairly decent safety for the Cardinal. Armstead didn't impress me given his size, his heritage and the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Not sure he was THAT BIG a loss. As MB revealed, Shittu engaged in some unbecoming conduct on his recruiting trip and gave us a clear signal he was trouble-coming. Payton is middle-of-the-road wideout. I don't think he's on the level with Harris, Lawler, Treggs, Davis or even Harper, last season. McCarthy's dad apparently had directed his kid to go to UCLA. He also directed his kid to leave some eligibility and declare for the NFL. I don't know whether he was drafted, but the word from Westwood was he was less than terrific as a player.

All in all, we could have used some defensive help from this class. The results speak for themselves. The others, not so sure we lost all that much.

Can you recall others who we almost had, but joined another school. In the end, they weren't worth the aggravation.

I worry more about the ones we got rather than the ones we didn't get

We missed on Suh

We missed on DJ Williams.

You guys are masochists. Errr... I mean Bears.

I only pay attention to the young men who became BEARS!

Ishmael Adams was a huge miss that seemed like a lock. Owa was a productive player at ucla as well and we basically traded him for chris martin. Wadood looks like he's going to be a stud. Ego furguson was another one that ended up at LSU. Robert Woods and Marquis Lee would have been great.

Dbearson;842526657 said:

---

We missed on Suh

---

Oh, yeah. Suh was going to major in architecture at Nebraska. The school is well known around the world for its architecture department. :rollinglaugh:

tim94501;842526663 said:

---

Ishmael Adams was a huge miss that seemed like a lock. Owa was a productive player at ucla as well and we basically traded him for chris martin. Wadood looks like he's going to be a stud. Ego furguson was another one that ended up at LSU. Robert Woods and Marquis Lee would have been great.

---

Never thought we had a chance with Woods or Lee. I thought OO was coming to Cal, but .......

NYCGOBEARS;842526656 said:

---

I worry more about the ones we got rather than the ones we didn't get

---

hahahahah

Do you guys remember Eddie Goldberg from a few years ago? He got a free trip to California and then signed with Florida State.

6bear6;842526655 said:

---

Just wondered how everyone felt about the recruits who dazzled us, tempted us, flirted and then wound up going elsewhere. In the recent past, there was the CalGang of 2012. The disciples of Tosh - the Toshites. A few names - Hoffpauir wound up across the Bay sliding his hand across Luke's face last year; Payton is receiving in Westwood; Shaq is now on to the NFL; Shittu, who cares; Arik Armstead played for Chip in Eugene; and, Ellis McCarthy, a Bruin. There may have been another one or two.

The question is what did we lose? Everyone probably agrees that Thompson was the biggest loss. Hoffpauir, played a fairly decent safety for the Cardinal. Armstead didn't impress me given his size, his heritage and the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Not sure he was THAT BIG a loss. As MB revealed, Shittu engaged in some unbecoming conduct on his recruiting trip and gave us a clear signal he was trouble-coming. Payton is middle-of-the-road wideout. I don't think he's on the level with Harris, Lawler, Treggs, Davis or even Harper, last season. McCarthy's dad apparently had directed his kid to go to UCLA. He also directed his kid to leave some eligibility and declare for the NFL. I don't know whether he was drafted, but the word from Westwood was he was less than terrific as a player.

All in all, we could have used some defensive help from this class. The results speak for themselves. The others, not so sure we lost all that much.

Can you recall others who we almost had, but joined another school. In the end, they weren't worth the aggravation.

---

we probably should have never gone the tosh route. we probably should have focused on getting 4-5 big time recruits per class and the rest solid contributors with emphasis for character and academics. that is i believe the best combination of recruiting for Cal. you build the blue collar culture around the lower rated recruits, but have them out number the big time stars so that theres accountability. the kids with the egos have to be outnumbered

Dj foster

6bear6;842526655 said:

---

Just wondered how everyone felt about the recruits who dazzled us, tempted us, flirted and then wound up going elsewhere. In the recent past, there was the CalGang of 2012. The disciples of Tosh - the Toshites. A few names - Hoffpauir wound up across the Bay sliding his hand across Luke's face last year; Payton is receiving in Westwood; Shaq is now on to the NFL; Shittu, who cares; Arik Armstead played for Chip in Eugene; and, Ellis McCarthy, a Bruin. There may have been another one or two.

The question is what did we lose? Everyone probably agrees that Thompson was the biggest loss. Hoffpauir, played a fairly decent safety for the Cardinal. Armstead didn't impress me given his size, his heritage and the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Not sure he was THAT BIG a loss. As MB revealed, Shittu engaged in some unbecoming conduct on his recruiting trip and gave us a clear signal he was trouble-coming. Payton is middle-of-the-road wideout. I don't think he's on the level with Harris, Lawler, Treggs, Davis or even Harper, last season. McCarthy's dad apparently had directed his kid to go to UCLA. He also directed his kid to leave some eligibility and declare for the NFL. I don't know whether he was drafted, but the word from Westwood was he was less than terrific as a player.

All in all, we could have used some defensive help from this class. The results speak for themselves. The others, not so sure we lost all that much.

Can you recall others who we almost had, but joined another school. In the end, they weren't worth the aggravation.

---

Shittu we didn't lose. McCarthy realistically wasn't coming anyway. I'm not worried about losing a receiver, we don't need them. Shaq was a huge loss. Hoffpauir would easily have started and was honorable mention Pac-12. Not understanding your comments about Armstead. You don't get a hype discount when you play. No, he didn't come close to living up to the hype, but he would have easily started (same is true of Moala by the way - people seem to judge him by what they hoped he'd be rather than what he was as a junior - a solid starter). It's like he'd be better if he was a 2 star coming out of high school.

That is three starters that would have bolstered a horrible defense. Personally, I'm not sure the point in speculating about recruits we went after and lost, but since you did, yeah, those three would have been significant help.

guys we let get away
DL cassius marsh [ucla]
DL tashon smallwood
DL/TE austin hooper
DL takk mckinley [ucla]
DL arik armstead
DB jaeel wadood [ucla]
DB koa farmer
DB tyler foreman [ucla]
DB nathan meadors [ucla]
DB shaq thompson
ATH marquise lee [usc]
WR robert woods [usc]
WR daniel imatorbhebhe [usc]
OL bobby keenan
OL kolton miller [ucla]
OL davis perrott
RB nick wilson
RB terrell newby
RB dj foster
QB jake browning
QB brady white
QB johnny capra


guys we should’ve had more traction w/
DL matt dickerson [ucla]
DL eddie vanderdoes [ucla]
DL nico falah [usc]
LB dj calhoun [usc]
LB michael hutchings [usc]
DB isaiah langley [usc]
DB kevin king
RB byron marshall
OL jack dreyer
OL dru samia
+ every DB we offered in 2013
+ every top OL we offered in 2012
+ every (all) OT we offered in 2015

that's not including guys who liked us, but only as a backup (Meeks, Buncom) or guys we pushed out (Egu, Lealao), or guys we replaced/didn't care about (Payton, Walker)

while WR is of little concern to us, and while he is too cocky, Payton being called a "middling receiver" by Cal fans is amusing... 67 rec, 954 yds, 7 TDs last season on a pretty talented team...

I motion that the conversation move towards "women you almost had, could smell and almost taste but just missed out and you're a weirdo weenie forever but you could have, should have and would have".


Next up: self-flagellation!

Gabe King
Chris Martin
Tiny Moala
Chris McCain
Every QB from 2006-2012

beeasyed;842526676 said:

---

guys we let get away
DL cassius marsh [ucla]
DL tashon smallwood
DL/TE austin hooper
DL takk mckinley [ucla]
DL arik armstead
DB jaeel wadood [ucla]
DB koa farmer
DB tyler foreman [ucla]
DB shaq thompson
ATH marquise lee [usc]
WR robert woods [usc]
OL bobby keenan
OL kolton miller [ucla]
RB nick wilson
RB terrell newby

guys we should’ve had more traction w/
DL matt dickerson [ucla]
DL eddie vanderdoes [ucla]
DL nico falah [usc]
LB dj calhoun [usc]
LB michael hutchings
RB byron marshall
DB kevin king
+ every DB we offered in 2013
+ every top OL we offered in 2012

---

What about that DL/DE from Germany (?) that chose FSU over us? Bjorn Werner. He ended up 1 first round pick in 2013. He would have been useful.

grandmastapoop;842526681 said:

---

What about that DL/DE from Germany (?) that chose FSU over us? Bjorn Werner. He ended up 1 first round pick in 2013. He would have been useful.

---

im sure i've left out a lot of names...
i think my favorite story on that list in recent times is 2014 JC OT bobby keenan. son of 2 Cal alums--ended up choosing oregon state instead of us.

beeasyed;842526683 said:

---

i think my favorite story on that list in recent times is JC OT bobby keenan. son of 2 Cal alums--ended up choosing oregon state instead of us.

---

Lol.

We can start with Tom Brady and Andrew Luck and work our way down the list.

The RB who went to Marylan
Stafon Diggs?

tommie317;842526693 said:

---

We can start with Tom Brady and Andrew Luck and work our way down the list.

---

Did we miss out on OJ?

tommie317;842526693 said:

---

We can start with Tom Brady and Andrew Luck and work our way down the list.

---

Matt Barkley - His dad told me Cal was #2

72CalBear;842526697 said:

---

Matt Barkley - His dad told me Cal was #2

---

How come we let Dan Fouts slip away?

lebron james

Dirk Novitsky.

look forward not backwards

6bear6;842526655 said:

---

Just wondered how everyone felt about the recruits who dazzled us, tempted us, flirted and then wound up going elsewhere. In the recent past, there was the CalGang of 2012. The disciples of Tosh - the Toshites. A few names - Hoffpauir wound up across the Bay sliding his hand across Luke's face last year; Payton is receiving in Westwood; Shaq is now on to the NFL; Shittu, who cares; Arik Armstead played for Chip in Eugene; and, Ellis McCarthy, a Bruin. There may have been another one or two.

The question is what did we lose? Everyone probably agrees that Thompson was the biggest loss. Hoffpauir, played a fairly decent safety for the Cardinal. Armstead didn't impress me given his size, his heritage and the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Not sure he was THAT BIG a loss. As MB revealed, Shittu engaged in some unbecoming conduct on his recruiting trip and gave us a clear signal he was trouble-coming. Payton is middle-of-the-road wideout. I don't think he's on the level with Harris, Lawler, Treggs, Davis or even Harper, last season. McCarthy's dad apparently had directed his kid to go to UCLA. He also directed his kid to leave some eligibility and declare for the NFL. I don't know whether he was drafted, but the word from Westwood was he was less than terrific as a player.

All in all, we could have used some defensive help from this class. The results speak for themselves. The others, not so sure we lost all that much.

Can you recall others who we almost had, but joined another school. In the end, they weren't worth the aggravation.

---

There are lots of recruits we missed on. Assuming that some of them actually could perform. How many of them could have made it at Cal academically.

This type of thread assumes so many things and sounds too much like a whining "coulda" "woulda" "shoulda".

I totally forgot about brady

Trent Dilfer as well

grandmastapoop;842526681 said:

---

What about that DL/DE from Germany (?) that chose FSU over us? Bjorn Werner. He ended up 1 first round pick in 2013. He would have been useful.

---

Soccer team signed Klinsmann's son. After Dirk and Bjorn that makes us down one in Germany...

6bear6;842526655 said:

---

Just wondered how everyone felt about the recruits who dazzled us, tempted us, flirted and then wound up going elsewhere. In the recent past, there was the CalGang of 2012. The disciples of Tosh - the Toshites. A few names - Hoffpauir wound up across the Bay sliding his hand across Luke's face last year; Payton is receiving in Westwood; Shaq is now on to the NFL; Shittu, who cares; Arik Armstead played for Chip in Eugene; and, Ellis McCarthy, a Bruin. There may have been another one or two.

The question is what did we lose? Everyone probably agrees that Thompson was the biggest loss. Hoffpauir, played a fairly decent safety for the Cardinal. Armstead didn't impress me given his size, his heritage and the hype surrounding him coming out of high school. Not sure he was THAT BIG a loss. As MB revealed, Shittu engaged in some unbecoming conduct on his recruiting trip and gave us a clear signal he was trouble-coming. Payton is middle-of-the-road wideout. I don't think he's on the level with Harris, Lawler, Treggs, Davis or even Harper, last season. McCarthy's dad apparently had directed his kid to go to UCLA. He also directed his kid to leave some eligibility and declare for the NFL. I don't know whether he was drafted, but the word from Westwood was he was less than terrific as a player.

All in all, we could have used some defensive help from this class. The results speak for themselves. The others, not so sure we lost all that much.

Can you recall others who we almost had, but joined another school. In the end, they weren't worth the aggravation.

---

Every non Cal fan in the world thinks Payton would start over most if not all of the above named receivers. Armstead impressed me. Somehow, he was a top twenty pick by an NFL team. Meanwhile, we started an over achieving DT who was a 5'10 walkon. I'd say not getting Armstead impacted us.

MiZery;842526695 said:

---

The RB who went to Marylan
Stafon Diggs?

---

forgot about him--WR for maryland who just got drafted this year

Pele and Muhammed Ali