Cal Football Recruiting: 2007-2015

Is it stars per player?  Is it Pac 12 ranking?  National ranking?   Ego vs. Team first?  Academic casualties?  Guys who really want to play football

Let’s look back at our recruiting classes from 2007 to 2015 (the final one where we have three seasons to evaluate) and with the benefit of hindsight see how each class performed relative to its ranking and hype.

NOTE:  Players in italics are still eligible and on the roster

1st Place

2007: (26 players) 3.00 stars;  4th in Pac 12; 28th nationally 

Conclusion:  A great class by many measures, big time stars and lots of difference makers with some quality depth as well.  Some misses but within context of this large of a class not damaging

Stars:  Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen

Difference Makers:   Matt Summers-Gavin, Chris Conte, Mitchell Schwartz, Cameron Jordan, Bryan Anger

2+ year starter:  Justin Cheadle, DJ Holt, Sean Cattouse, 

1 year or less starter:  Robert Mullins, Todd Huber, Devin Bishop, Ernest Owosu, DJ Campbell

Backups/Special teams:   Brock Mansion, Alex Lagemann, John Tyndall, Skylar Curran

Rarely/Barely Played:  Todd Huber, Mike Calvin, Sam DeMartinis (all due to ongoing injuries)

Never showed up/didn’t see playing time:  Alex Cook, Sa’vi Eselu, Scott Smith, Justin Gates

2nd Place:

2011:  (19 players)  3.45 stars per player; 3rd in the Pac 12; 13th nationally

Conclusion:  This class was caught up in the coaching change and had more than it’s share of injuries, early NFL departures and transfers.  It had some of the challenges of the 2010 class in terms of talent over fit yet still holds up in hindsight as a strong class given nine strong contributors from a smaller class.   

Stars:  None

Difference Makers:  Stefan McClure, Mustafa Jalil, Brennan Scarlett, Avery Walls, Daniel Lasco, CJ Anderson, Jordan Rigsbee

2+ year starter:  Jalen Jefferson, Richard Rodgers

1 year or less starter:  Kameron Jackson, Brendan Bigelow, Vi Moala, Todd Barr, Puka Lopa

Backups/Special teams:   Matt Williams, Joel Willis, Nathan Broussard, Darren Ervin

Rarely/Barely Played:  Jason Gibson (due to chronic injuries)

Never showed up/didn’t play much:  Kyle Bohm, Jordan Morgan

3rd Place:

2012:  (19 players) 3.11 stars per recruit; 5th in Pac 12;  26th nationally

A solid if unspectacular class at NLI, it turned out to be a barbell.  Plenty of contributors and plenty of non contributors with little in between.

Stars:  None

Difference Makers:  Bryce Treggs, Kenny Lawler, Chris Harper

2+ year starter:  Michael Barton, Darius Powe, Steven Moore, Hardy Nickerson, Cole Leininger

1 year or less starter:  Freddy Tagaloa, Matt Cochran

Backups/Special teams:   Cedric Dozier. Max Espitia, Jeffrey Coprich

Rarely/Barely Played:  Zach Kline, Antoine Davis

Never showed up/left early:  Raymond Ford, Christian Okafor, Michael Bennett, Willie Fletcher

4th Place:

2015:  (24 Players) 3.08 stars per player; 6th in Pac 12; 26th nationally

Conclusion:  This class’ evaluation is clearly incomplete with nearly 3/4 of the class still holding eligibility and on the roster yet the early results are very promising.  Already with three likely difference makers and at least 2 or three others capable of getting their in 2018.  Very few outright misses as well.

Stars:  None yet

Difference Makers:  Evan Rambo, Kanawai Noa, Cameron Saffle

2+ year starter:  Patrick Mekari

1 year or less starter:  Antoine Albert, Ross Bowers, Devante Wilson, Khairi Vanderbilt, Luc Bequette, Jaylin Hawkins, 

Backups/Special teams:    Brandon Singleton, Russell Ude, Semisi Uluave, Zeandae Johnson, Tre Turner, Derron Brown, Ryan Gibson, Malik Psalms

Rarely/Barely Played:  Lonny Powell,  Greyson Bankhead, Billy McCrary, Trevor Howard

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Carlos Strickland, Austin Aaron

5th Place:

2008:  (22 players) 2.81 stars; 8th in Pac 12; 35th nationally

Conclusion:  Very mixed.  A lot of whiffs/wash outs tempered by quite a few quality starters.

Stars:  Mychal Kendricks

Difference Makers:   Marvin Jones, Trevor Guyton

2+ year starter:  Marc Anthony, Dominic Galas, Anthony Miller, Verran Tucker

1 year or less starter:  Aaron Tipoti, Chris Little, Kendrick Payne, Josh Hill

Backups/Special teams:   Tyler Rigsbee, Spencer Ladner, JP Harrell, Covaughn Deboskie, Matt Rios

Rarely/Barely Played:  Beau Sweeney

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Jarret Sparks, Kameron Yancy, Charles Satchell, LJ Washington

6th Place:

2013:  (26 players) 2.96 stars per player; 6th in Pac 12; 32nd nationally

Conclusion:  An unusually high number of wash outs and starters who were not difference makers marks this class.  Still Goff + 5 solid contributors keeps it from being a complete disaster

Stars:  Jared Goff

Difference Makers:  Chris Borrayo

2+ year starter:  Khalfani Muhammed, Darius Allensworth, Ray Hudson, Cam Walker, Aaron Cochran, Tony Mekari, Ray Davison, Kyle Kragen

1 year or less starter:  Caleb Coleman

Backups/Special teams:   JD Hinnant, Marcus Manley, 

Rarely/Barely Played:  Trey Cheek, Sione Sina, Vincent Johnson, Garrett Hughes, Jack Austin, Drake Whitehurst, Jacobi Hunter

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Takk McKinley, Johnny Ragin, Erik Bunte, Ed Tandy

 7th Place:

2009:  (21 players) 2.76 stars;  7th in Pac 12;  42nd nationally

Conclusion:  Not a strong effort.  Three difference makers is not bad but the total number of quality starters was very low.  Almost 50% of the class were wash outs/whiffs

Stars:  None

Difference Makers: Deandre Coleman, Steve Williams, Brian Schwenke

2+ year starter:  Isi Sofele

1 year or less starter:  Jared Price, Alex Logan, Ryan Davis

Backups/Special teams:   Allen Bridgeford, Jerome Meadows, Steven Fanaua, Keni Kafusi, Vince D'Amato

Rarely/Barely Played:  Desarte Yarnway, Mark Brazinski, Vachel Samuels, Lucas King, Chris Moncrease

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Charles Siddoway, Charles Ragland, Markish Jones, Tyler York

8th Place:

2010:  (19 players) 3.58 stars per player; 2nd in the Pac 12; 7th nationally

After NLI, this was Cal’s greatest ever recruiting class . . . on paper.  In reality, it was something very different.   Academic flunk outs, character issues, huge egos, injuries and kids who weren’t passionate about playing football showed that Tedford recruited a lot better in 2010 than he scouted.  

Stars:  Keenan Allen

Difference Makers: Chris McCain, 

2+ year starter:  Chris Adcock, Michael Lowe (Coley)

1 year or less starter:  Nick Forbes, Alex Crosthwaite

Backups/Special teams:   Gabe King, Austin Hinder, Adrian Lee, Jacob Wark, Geoff Gibson

Rarely/Barely Played:  Cecil Whiteside, Kaelin Clay, Trajuan Briggs, Coleman Edmond

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Chris Martin, Tevin Carter, David Wilkerson

9th Place:

2014:  (24 players) 2.46 stars per player; 12th in the Pac 12; 71st nationally

If not Cal’s all time worst recruiting class on paper, it’s close.  Very little in the way of quality depth and more than 1/3 of the class being washouts/whiffs.

Stars:  None

Difference Makers:  Devante Downs

2+ year starter:  Tre Watson

1 year or less starter:  Luke Rubenzer, Darius White, Vic Enwere, Quentin Tartabull, Trevor Kelly, Jonathan Johnson, Kamryn Bennett, Dominic Granado, Jake Kearney

Backups/Special teams:    Aisea Tongilava, Hamilton Anoi’a, David Davis, Chase Forest

Rarely/Barely Played:  Michael Trani, Kennedy Emisibe, Noah Westerfield, AJ Greathouse, Arthur Wainwright

Never showed up/didn’t play:  Erik Brown, Sam Atoe, John Porchivina, Chandler Leniu

Comparison Table

Conclusion:

Stars matter when viewed over the entirety of college football.  Yet they can be misleading when looking at any particular program over a period of time.  Making sure you find players who can handle Cal’s academics, put team before their egos and who love to play football versus being football players feel more important when reviewing Cal's last decade of reruiting classes.  Scouting for upside and player development count for a lot as well.    This historical retrospective speaks well of Justin Wilcox's approach to recruiting and may add some perspective to his results thus far when looking at player star rankings