Bears Add JUCO Sack Leader Edge John Gayer From CSM

The Bears continued to keep their College of San Mateo pipeline open, pulling in their second in three days and third of the class so far with the commitment of CSM outside linebacker and JUCO state sack leader John Gayer‍ today. Gayer will join fellow OLB Odera Okaka‍ and QB Dominic Ingrassia‍ as spring enrollees at Cal this month.

The Bears are getting a seasoned player in Gayer, who played for SoCal powerhouse Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks, graduating in 2021. He greyshirted his first year at CSM and lost a season to a torn ACL but the talented OLB came back with a flourish in 2025, totalling an eye-popping CSM record and state-leading 15.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss for the state champ in 2024 along with 53 tackles, 2 pass breakups and a fumble recovery

Both Gayer and Okaka were coached by former Cal player and grad assistant Ben Hawk Schrider at CSM.

"Coach Schrider, he's been great," Gayer said. "Coming off my injury, he really just just helped me get back to it as soon as I could start doing game drills. I was out there in the winter, doing the different drills that we brought from Cal so I think just starting to work early in the winter, just going throughout the whole spring and summer, I think that played a big role in how my season turned out.

“It really just helped me conceptualize everything, being able to see the bigger picture, and not just with my position and what I have to do, but understanding the whole defense. Just understanding the whole defense really helped me when I finally got back, just to be able to be in the right spot at the right time. And me being in the press box during games and then helping out coaching during practice, I think that helped my development, too.”

"When I got there, John was already there,” Schrider said. “I didn't recruit him. I had just come from Cal as a GA. He got hurt the spring that I got there. And what's remarkable about him was when he got hurt, a lot of guys, they kind of just go into rehab and do that but he became kind of like a GA coach for me. So he basically did all my breakdowns, all the O-line reports, tagged all the data for me while he was rehabbing and really played that mental game, like was getting all these mental reps. And when he came back this year stronger and healthy and just worked and I think a lot of that year, it was kind of like having another coach on the field. He's so mature and understands the game so well after that. I mean, he's just dominant on the field.

"He just loves the game of football. He's really physical, plays the run well, but just has a knack for hunting the quarterback, and he does such a good job just playing with relentless effort and just wearing O-linemen out. I mean, there's so many times where you just watch and these O-linemen get worn out over time. But he's an amazing kid. Had some injuries early in his career, so he greyshirted initially at CSM, and then he played as a freshman, and then he tore his ACL, so he had to medically red shirt. And then last year, he came in and had the best season from an edge I've ever witnessed at any level of any football. To have 15 1/2sacks, break the single-season CSM record, lead the state in sacks, and was named Defensive Player of the Year. You know, he did it all."

Related:

College of San Mateo QB Dominic Ingrassia Commits to Cal

Bears Grab Former 4 Star UW OLB Transfer Jayden Wayne