6-1/185 Calabasas High School QB Jaden Casey became the 21st member of Cal's 2020 recruiting class after decommitting from Fresno State and moving North to Berkeley.
“I’m grateful,” said Casey of the opportunity. “I can’t wait.”
Following an unofficial visit for the North Texas game, Casey and his family took an official visit during the bye week and his experience reinforced his positive earlier impressions, prompting the commitment to Cal.
“The first time I went up there, I loved the area around Berkeley and I wanted to stay in California,” said Casey. “Just talking to Coach Wilcox and Coach Baldwin, it just felt like at at-home feel.
“I love the offense they run and obviously the Berkeley degree -it all just checked off all the boxes for me to make the flip (from Fresno State).”
Calabasas head coach Chris Claiborne had this to say of Casey:
“Super athletic,” said Claiborne. “The kid can dunk. Super athlete with very high potential. He’s not maxed out as an athlete at all. He moved very well and he’s a very tough competitor.
“The thing for Jaden is he’s had two offensive coordinators the last two years and he’s been able to pick up different terminology and go out and execute. We’ve been trying to expand on his game and he’s done a great job of following the lead and going out there and doing it.”
With offers from Alabama, much of the Pac-12 and other national program, the high 3 star QB had no shortage of options after committing early to Fresno State but Cal OC and QB coach Beau Baldwin mainained the relationship with Casey and when the time was right, the talented QB made the flip to Cal today, saying simply in his tweet: “Berkeley, I’m home. Go Bears”
Even though he didn’t take a lot of visits due to his early commitment, the environment surrounding the Cal program had what he was looking for if he were to make a change in his commitment.
“It was just different,” noted Casey. “The academics separated Cal from the other programs and the culture Coach Wilcox is building with Cal football stands out.
“Being a student athlete at Cal takes a lot of commitment and hard work and I’m up to that challenge.
“I can see their brotherhood on my visit. Seeing my hosts (Brayden Rohme and Brian Driscoll) and their relationship with their teammates, it really carries over to the football field. It makes it fun. I hung out with Mike Saffell, too. He’s hilarious. You can tell how close those guys are and they treat the freshman just like all the other guys on the team.
“I was watching film with Coach Baldwin the next day and you can just see how well they all communicate, both on and off the field.”
Baldwin has been Casey’s main point of contact during the recruiting process. He also credited Wilcox and recruiting strategy director Marshall Cherrington in building the relationship, as well.
“Coach Baldwin’s an awesome guy,” said Casey. “He’s a really educated guy when it comes to football and I’ve talked to him throughout the process. He’s a guy I’d love to play for.
“We went over the offense and different concepts and I know he can help get me to that next level. That’s my dream, to play in the NFL. He has a lot of pro concepts in their offense.”
Casey’s particularly familiar with some of his potential teammates, playing against future Cal backfield mates, Damien Moore and Chris Street.
“They’re great football players,” said Casey. “We just played Chris Street’s team a couple weeks ago and have played against him twice. Both those guys, Damien and Chris, they’re tough running backs. I know Dameon’s more of a downhill running back and Chris is a very shifty guy. They’re good guys off the field, too. I can’t wait to take over the Pac-12 with them.”
“Chris Street’s good, man,” said Claiborne. “He’s a monster. The year before last, he went for over 100 on us. Great inside the box. Hard to tackle. Great competitor. He’s a very good player. They got a good one in him and from what I hear, a great kid, too.
“We haven’t played Damien Moore yet but I’ve seen his work this year and he’s ballin.’”
The strong-armed senior has followed up a stellar junior season where he threw for 3,161 yards, 38 touchdowns and nine interceptions and a 64.5% completion percentage, so far passing for 1495 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior, leading Calabasas to a 5-2 record to-date.
Casey would like to study business at Cal and sports a 3.4 gpa. He was particularly impressed with the future opportunities a Cal degree affords Cal players and graduates.
“I talked with Coach Cocc (Ron Coccimiglio) about Cal’s Life After Ball program and was really impressed with the internship opportunities and all the doors a Cal degree opens,” said Casey. “You know how moms are always focused on academics and my parents were really impressed, too. The connections you can build with Cal alumni are hard to turn down.
“My mom loved it. My dad loved it. The whole family did. That was a big part of my decision. It just felt like home, for both me and my family. They felt comfortable with me being at Cal, for sure.”
