A year and two days ago, 6-2/205 Garfield (Seattle, WA) High School QB EJ Caminong committed to Cal days after his official visit weekend. He chose the Bears over Colorado, BYU, Texas A&M, WSU, OSU and more after decommitting from Washington.
As a senior, the newest Bear QB led Garfield to a 7-4 record and the second round of regional playoffs.
“EJ up in Seattle, recruited him for a long time,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said on signing day. “He's played a lot of quarterback. We think he's got the traits. He's been down here a bunch and really just looking forward to getting him here and, and starting to to work with him. Obviously. that position, there's a lot of development and the transition to college and the offense and all those things. You never exactly know how that's gonna go for each individual. But he's got the physical traits, and we're looking forward to getting him here.”
The relationship bonds Caminong built on his recruiting visits went a long way towards helping the future Cal QB make his choice.
"For sure the coaching staff," Caminong said of some of the biggest factors in his commitment. "The people in the building, I like the way they operate and the way they interact with each other and their players and even the parents and overall, the relationships and community that they build. That really like like latched onto me because that's kind of where I come from. So that for sure, along with they've had success with the quarterbacks and putting them into the draft felt comfortable with that for sure."
Caminong saw new QB coach Sterlin Gilbert added well after his commitment but so far he’s liked what he’s seen in his new QB coach.
"Our relationship's been good ever since I met him right when he touched down,” Daminong said of Gilbert. “He touched base with me, called me and made sure we were all straight, make sure we were all good and introduced himself. He flew right out to come see me. So it was definitely good and we're gonna keep building that relationship. I've got nothing but great things to say about Coach Gilbert."
Caminong will also come in to work with a new OC with OL coach Mike Bloesch adding the offensive coordinator title to his duties.
"Coach Bloesch is a really creative mind," Caminong said. "I've been seeing that just from being here and watching us go through walkthroughs and plays. Our offense is really dynamic. So being here and seeing it and being around him as well, he has great energy and the players love him. So definitely been a great experience so far, and I can't wait to get going."
Veteran QBs Fernando Mendoza and Chandler Rogers have also been a big help to the new Cal QB.
"They've been great to me," Caminong noted. "They've really been a big helping hand in terms of the playbook or what's going on with workouts, they've just been guiding me and kind of had their hand on my shoulder this whole time, letting me know what I need to do and not do so it's been really good. And being able to soak up all that from those guys has been great for me."
As for his first season at Cal, Caminong is enrolled in two classes and hopes to earn a spot in Cal’s prestigious Haas School of Business. Other things he’s looking forward to?
"Definitely just growing as a player and watching our team succeed is the top thing for sure," Caminong said. "I want to keep personally reaching my goals, but I'm excited to see college for the first time. I'm excited to see what it's like to be on the field with the team. So I really just want to see us do great and I think we will."
Stay tuned on more from Cal’s summer arrivals in days and weeks to come.
Related:
New Bears in Town: Defensive Lineman TJ Bollers
What does that mean?stanfurdbites said:
Hopefully it's the Cal version of AR and not the subsequent version of him
