With “talent acquisition” being a primary priority for first-year Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi and staff, the Bears have been casting their recruiting nets far and wide, including focusing on several promising prospects in the 2029 recruiting class at the tail end of their freshman years.
One of the Bears’ 2029 targets to keep an eye on is 5-10/160 St. John Bosco frosh receiver David Plunkett III.
The talented frosh visited practice at Cal in April and loved what he saw, particularly with a couple of familiar faces now on the roster and on staff with the Bears.
“My visit to Cal was great,” Plunkett said. “I loved the campus. I connected with Kai Meza, who is an early enrolled freshman wide receiver. We are both from San Jose so it was good talking with him, getting some advice and just asking him about the program.
“I think Coach Tosh is building something great over at Cal. I see the players he is bringing in and staff like my old wide receiver coach from Bosco (Geoff McArthur) now the assistant wide receiver coach at Cal, so already having that relationship is great.
“Practice was great as well. The players and coaches had a lot of energy which I thought was cool.
“I’m excited to watch them this year.”
The speedy frosh with an impressive 4.46 laser-timed forty had an eventful freshman year after moving from San Jose, where his parents both attended college, to Bellflower where he joined the talented St. John Bosco program. The Braves are one of the top teams in the nation every season and finished ranked #1 in the country in 2019 and 2022.
Plunkett quickly worked his way up after the move.
“I moved from San Jose to Bellflower in early June,” the frosh WR said. “It was a tough transition but I adjusted very well. I began the season playing with the freshman team and a few games on JV. I got moved up to varsity before the Mater Dei game.”
Despite the moves, Plunkett had a very productive freshman season with 15 catches for 604 yards and 7 TDs through the air, 6 carries for 79 yards on the ground and an amazing 3 TDs and 339 yards on kick returns in just six kicks returned, with 1,022 in total yards and 11 total TDs.
Programs are starting to take notice, with UCLA, San Jose State, Oregon State, Colorado State and more extending early offers to the up and coming athlete.
While it’s still early, it’s fair to say that Plunkett is definitely a player to watch in the coming seasons.
