Bear Insider Video: Cal Football 2019 Class, Including Transfers

Today's National Letter of Intent Day was status quo for Cal football, with no new additions to the early 2019 recruiting class officially signed as of today outside of Penn State transfer safety Isaiah Humphries, though the Bears will remain active in the transfer and grad transfer market.

Humphries announced his transfer to Cal January 13th and jumped right into the swing of things, enrolling the next week for spring semester, along with fellow transfers DeSean Collins (CCSF), Devon Modster (UCLA/Palomar College) and Kuony Deng (Independence CC) and prep players Makai Polk (El Cerrito HS), Braxten Croteau (Liberty HS) and Orin Patu (Rainier Beach HS)

Using Rivals’ recruiting ratings, Cal’s 2019 class averaged 3.0 stars per recruit -the Bears second-best star average in the past 7 recruiting classes. The star average did not include two Bears transfers -both of whom were 4 star prep recruits in Modster and Humphries. Including the two players would’ve put the class star average at 3.08. The fifth place team in average stars -Utah- had only 17 members of their class as opposed to Cal’s 24, with more limited opportunity to impact the program in the future.

The Bears’ failure to close on many of their top targets, especially local stars, continues to be problem for the program, though it remains to be seen what impact a 7-win bowl season will have on future recruiting efforts after the program experienced five losing seasons in the prior six years before the 2018 season.

Below are highlights from the 2019 recruiting class. Stay tuned for quotes from head coach Justin Wilcox focusing on several areas of the recruiting class, along with thoughts on coaching moves, recruiting strategy and more.