The Bears picked up their eight commitment of the 2023 class today, pulling a verbal from 6-3/245 Rio Hondo (Arcadia, CA) Prep OLB Ryan McCulloch this afternoon.
“I just think going into it, I just wanted to go somewhere that I could just push myself the most but academically and athletically and I think the at Cal, they fit me perfectly in that aspect,” said McCullock of the reason for his commitment to Cal.
The three-sport athlete had plenty of opportunities to see the program up close and personal with three visits to Berkeley in the last five months.
“I’ve been there three times,” said McCulloch. “My sister lives near there so it made it easier to take those unofficial visits so I could see her every time I went up. The first time was for the spring game. Then I went up there for a camp and then last week, I was up there for the barbecue. Cal offered me prior to the camp but they wanted me to visit whenever I could. I kind of like sealed my deal at the barbeque.”
On his visits, things clicked for McCulloch as he began to see more clearly how he could fit in well with the program and develop under the tutelage of new OLB coach Vic So’oto.
“Having meetings with Coach So’oto, I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback,” said McCulloch. “They compared the film of guys like Cameron Goode and Marqez Bimage to mine and they showed me clips of myself and how they think I have the potential to do some of the same things.
“I talk to Coach So’oto and Coach (Ben Hawk) Schrider the most. He’s a hometown kid. They’re both great guys. I think Coach So’oto’s the kind of coach who can really push me to my limits and at the same time, I think he’s a great dude and a great family man and coach.”
Many players with aspirations of playing at the next level play the transfer game, chasing higher profile exposure opportunities to try and accomplish their dreams but McCulloch had faith -with a little help- that success would find him where he was if he worked hard enough to obtain his goals. He did give it some hard thought, at least before arriving at that conclusion.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said McCulloch of thoughts of transferring at some point. “I’m not going to lie about that. Early on in my high school time, I did almost transfer going into my sophomore year but after talking to my parents and Coach Carson, my head coach, I think the intentions of the people there were real and that they’d end up helping me be a better person and a better young man, so I think that’s the reason I stayed. I talked to my dad and he agreed. He said if I work my butt off, I’ll get those Power 5, Pac-12 scholarships that I wanted. I set myself a goal after my freshman year that I wanted to take football seriously and play in college.
“I think I’m really blessed that it worked out that way and I stayed home. The way my school works is we have a sister school called Pearl Prep for grades 1-6 and I was there. Then a lot of the students from there go to Rio Hondo Preps so we’ve been together a long time. I’ve known my classmates since we’ve been little.”
Attending such a small school, the program needs all the athletes they can get so there’s little to no bench time for most everyone in the program.
McCulloch totaled 76 tackles 22 tackles for loss and 13 sacks on defense. On the other side of the ball, the 3 star OLB gained 408 yards on 67 carries and six TD’s on the ground and caught seven passes for 192 yards and three receiving touchdowns.
“It’s kind of crazy,” said McCulloch. “We all have to play both ways and everyone pretty much plays three sports. This year I won’t be able to play basketball so I’ll just be playing football and baseball.”
Also an accomplished baseball player, McCulloch had an impressive .462 batting average, with seven home runs and 46 RBI to lead the region.
The Bears beat out Colorado, Washington State and Ivy League universities Harvard, Yale and Columbia for his commitment.
McCulloch becomes the eighth Bear commit of the ‘23 class, joining WR Nyziah Hunter, DT Ashton Sanders, DL Zurich Ashford, DE Tiumalu Afalava, ILB Cade Uluave, safety RJ Jones and CB Sailasa Vadrawale.
More stories:
Ashford Makes the Call for Cal
Afalava Talks About Fit at Cal
