Cal Football

J. Michael Sturdivant - A Perfect Fit for California?

By Bear Insider

May 29, 2020

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Desean Jackson. Keenan Allen. Marvin Jones, Jr.

All current NFL stars who mastered their craft in Berkeley playing for Cal.

When Justin Wilcox, Burl Toler and the Cal staff look to evaluate prep recruits with the potential to follow in those player's footsteps, they are looking for very special and unique young men.

DeSean Jackson

It starts from the shoulders up. Are they players who truly love playing football or do they simply like being a football “player”? Do they have confidence, vision, and passion to hone their craft and lift their team-up?

In the 2021 class, there’s a tremendous depth of talent at wide receiver but there has been only a small handful of prospects who have stood out to the Bears, players’ who have both the attributes listed above to match with impressive athletic and physical gifts. One of those is J Michael Sturdivant‍ from Dallas, Texas.

Let’s break down what Sturdivant brings to the table as a football player:

Size/Build - Sturdivant is a lean 6’2+ tall with long arms and a frame that implies he could get closer to 6’4 while holding 200lbs+ in his college career. There’s a natural strength to his game and despite the thinner frame, he routinely broke tackles and held off defensive backs to create space.

Keenan Allen

Speed/Quickness - J. Michael has as effortless and smooth a stride as you will see on the football field. While he’s not sudden, he has a good first step with smooth acceleration and deceiving top-end speed. His gait does not signal to defensive backs that he’s going all out and then boom, he’s by them. A strong performer on the track with Sophomore year 100M times in the low 11’s and 200M times in the low 22’s and a PR in the long jump of nearly 21’. He is a long ball threat with his size and top-end speed and with added strength will be able to take the top off college defenses.

Agility/Cutting/Footwork - While there’s plenty of room for improvement with Sturdivant’s relatively raw route running and footwork, the building blocks are in place. For a long receiver, he has a nice jump cut move to evade press coverage and can stick a foot in the ground and cut without losing a lot of speed. That makes him a factor in getting yards after the catch and in creating separation on posts and slant routes. As he learns to get more precise with his foot placement and less obvious with his body lean, he can become more proficient running outs and come back routes.

Body Control/Contested Catches - J. Michael has very little of the awkwardness one often sees with longer wide receivers in high school. He adjusts fluidly to the ball once it’s in the air, has plus vertical explosion (a 34” vertical as a HS sophomore) to high point the ball and can use his long arms to rise above defenders. Needs more strength to create space on contested balls.

Marvin Jones

Ball Skills - This is tough to evaluate going off only highlight reels, but Sturdivant’s productivity at the 6A level of Texas football where he was a first-team All-District performer as a junior suggests he can consistently catch the ball. Occasionally, the ball will get on his body and there’s work to do to better pluck the ball rather than catch it when it’s tight.

How might he fit with the Cal Offense:

J. Michael projects as an outside receiver in the Bears offense. A downfield threat who can also be used on WR screens and as a primary red-zone target. Musgrave’s offense has a lot more verticality to the route tree which plays well to Sturdivant’s strengths. A power run game will result in a lot of single and man to man coverage schemes allowing Sturdivant to utilize his length and athleticism to win one on one battles. As he gets stronger. more physical and develops better footwork, he has the potential to be an All Pac 12 performer with an NFL future and could potentially be a game-changing addition should he choose the Bears.