Bears Stay Local, Add Archbishop Riordan OLB/Edge John Tofi Jr

The Bears picked up their first commitment of the 2025 class since summer with the addition of 6-5/210 Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, CA) outside linebacker/edge John Tofi Jr‍ tonight with his announced commitment to Cal.

Tofi was recently offered by the Bears and the steady stream of strong communication with the staff as well as Cal’s academic rep told Tofi all he needed to know about his future program instead of waiting to collect more offers.

Coach Vic (So’oto) and Marshall Cherrington have been the coaches at Cal I’ve talked to the most and they’ve been great with their communication and making sure I know they’d like me to play at Cal,” Tofi said. “I can really see myself playing there and the chance to get a degree from their was really important for me, too.”

Tofi is relatively new to football as he enters just his third season in the sport. After his father John Sr finished his playing career in Belgium and moved the family back to the states to Sacramento, the future Bear soon began playing for the Oakland Soldiers, where he played wing and averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds a game this last season.

After playing basketball at Sheldon his first season at Sheldon, Tofi joined his brother Tommy, a 4 star 2026 OT who has also been offered by Cal, on the gridiron as a soph where he played some QB.

The family made the move to John Sr’s alma mater, Archbishop Riordan, last season where the future Bear was limited by injuries much of the year, keeping him off the recruiting radar. However, his senior season has gotten off to a strong start, with the 3 star edge totaling 18 tackles, a sack and an interception in Riordan’s first three games.

Tofi becomes the 15^th commitment of the 2025 class. He will be taking an unofficial visit to Cal next weekend as the Bears face off against undefeated Miami at 7:30 at Memorial Stadium on ESPN.