Yoon Talks Cal Offer, Recruiting Momentum

6-5/280 Loyola (Los Angeles, CA) High School junior offensive tackle Sam Yoon‍ has risen on the radar of several programs after a solid junior season and recent strong camp performances, earning a Cal offer last week. Rated 3 stars by 247, Yoon is still unrated on Rivals as of yet.

Yoon’s combination of his stellar 4.6 gpa and 1550 SAT’s along with his size and athleticism earned him prestigious offers on the academic side from Harvard, Princeton and Columbia before recent offers from Kansas State and Cal.

Despite the recent offer, Yoon has been on the Bears’ radar for a while, developing the relationship prior to the offer.

“I’d say around spring of my sophomore year, Cal’s running back coach came to Loyola, and even though I wasn’t being recruited at that point, my head coach let me sit down with him so that was my first conversation with Cal,” said Yoon. “Then after a few months, Coach BMac (Director of Recruiting Strategy Brendan McInerny) reached out to me and was talking to me so that was great getting in touch with an alum from Loyola.”

Cal offensive line coach Angus McClure also got to see Yoon in action recently while attending an event his son Malcolm -a junior linebacker from Bishop Manogue in Reno- participated in, as well.

“A few months after that, I got put in touch with Coach Angus, who’s a friend of (Loyola) Coach Casani’s,” continued Yoon. “That was awesome. We go back and forth all the time on Twitter DMs and we’ve had some good calls the past couple weeks. And then it really came to a head this past weekend when I went to an Elite Offensive Lineman Prep Showcase at Mission Viejo High School and did well there. He really enjoyed the way I moved and played so he called me the next night and told me I had an offer.”

So far so good in Yoon’s relationship with the Cal staff.

“Nothing but positive reviews from me,” said Yoon. “They’re incredible people from what I've seen before.

“I’ve grown up in California  so I’ve grown up watching Pac-12 sports so it's really cool to know I have the opportunity to go to a great school and play a sport I’ve seen so often on tv.”

The 3 star OT is a two-sport athlete for Loyola. Though he didn’t play this season, he hopes to play basketball his senior year after playing his first two seasons for the Cubs.

“I’m a shorter center,” said Yoon of his position. “I’m not quite as mobile as your high school 4 but I do a lot of work on the block, a lot of blocks and  a lot of rebounds.”

Yoon is considering studying business or engineering at the next level so academics factor in highly for him for his future destination. He’ll see Cal up close and personal June 11-13 after locking in his official visit last week after the offer. He’ll be in a big group of official visitors, joining Washington RB Djouvensky Schlenbaker‍, Glendora LB Braydon Brus‍, Utah OL Eric Wilder‍, SRV OL Jackson Brown‍, Washington OG Dave Iuli‍, Reno OG Sioape Vatikani‍ and Colorado OLB Nunie Tuitele‍.

“I want the best combination of high-level football and high level academics,” said Yoon of his main criteria in his decision. “I’m not entirely sure when I’ll decide where I’m going because recruiting is really picking up for me at this moment so I'm looking to narrow down my options by the end of the summer. But in terms of making a decision, I’ll just wait to see how things play out.”

Other stories:

Blue and Gold Defensive Line is Green

Bears Continue to Lock in Official Visits in June