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Cal Football

Bears Grab Receiver With Commitment of Bradford

June 26, 2018
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6-2/195 Millikan (Long Beach, CA) High School receiver Malik Bradford became the first WR commit of the Bears' 2019 recruiting class with his commitment to Cal today.

"I've always wanted to play in California so my parents and friends could watch me play," said Bradford of his commitment to Cal. "To be able to do that and attend the best public university in the country is a great opportunity."

Bradford initially announced his commitment to Cal via twitter, saying: 

"After talking with my family and coaches, I am proud to announce my commitment to the University of California Berkeley. I would like to thank the entire Cal coaching staff for believing in me!! #GoBears #CalFamily"

The 3 star receiver's relationship with receivers coach Nick Edwards also made Cal feel like a good fit for the talented Bradford.

"I like Coach Edwards a lot," said Bradford. "Me and him low-key have a lot of things in common and I feel like it will be a really good fit with him. He played receiver and is pretty much exactly my size so he knows the type of receiver I am and how to get the most from my abilities. He's also young and can relate to us better than someone that's older might be able to so I like that, too.

"I also like the offense a lot and think it fits me really well."

Bradford had the chance to visit Cal during spring ball and knew he'd found a place he could see himself thrive in the future.

"I liked it. I liked the school a lot," said Bradford. "I loved the size of the campus and the football facilities are great, just perfect.

"Malik is a big and long target for us," said Millikan head coach Justin Utopo. "On the field, we have a young quarterback and him being an upperclassmen, with us starting a sophomore QB, he helped him come along in the meeting room and on the field to read defenses and grow as a player. He's a mentor on the field for our underclassmen and with his physical, big play ability, he's a leader on the field in that aspect, as well.

"We're excited for him and his family. He's come a long way. He's young, too. He's a year younger than his class so he's growing into his big frame.

"If you see him in person, he's got big, broad shoulders. We did weigh-ins recently and he's a solid 218 but he's still moving the same. In fact, faster, in my opinion. He's a legitimate 6'2."

"Off the field, he gets along well with everyone and he's a good student, too.

"I know he'd like to play early at Cal so I think he's going to look at graduating early and coming in for spring semester this year at Cal."

As a senior, Bradford hauled in 37 catches for 667 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging an impressive 19 yards per catch for the season.

As to his future aspirations at Cal, the 3 star receiver's aiming high.

"I'm really looking forward to getting up there next year," said Bradford. "I've set a goal for myself and I'd like to push to start as a freshman."

"I'm excited and happy for him. Cal's getting a great student athlete with Malik," concluded Utopo.

 

Discussion from...

Bears Grab Receiver With Commitment of Bradford

68,997 Views | 43 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by OdontoBear66
MoragaBear
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OdontoBear66 said:


I find agreement with most all of what you post here. As I read it, I have one concern. If this "empire" is being built slowly, what kind of street cred does Wilcox have when success comes, in either retaining assistants and/or getting as good or better replacements. I can guess at the answer, but I certainly think that as things get better a number of assistants will be improving their own situation (often elsewhere). Wilcox has had great exposure as his growth has gone on, and I think we will do just fine, but we have lost a great DL coach, while still having some great position coaches. Is there a perception that other coaches would "love to work with Wilcox"? I think this will play heavily if our growth curve is to continue on an upward spiral.
His staff loves working with him because of the level of respect and input he gives them. Greatwood basically said he's in coaching heaven with Wilcox and this group and that he's never been on a closer staff.

One of Tedford's big problems is that he was good in identifying his first staff but once they started to take other opportunities, the replacements always seemed to be a downgrade. I don't sense that would be a problem for Wilcox but time will tell.
packawana
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Recruiting has never been Cal's problem; we've consistently filled the top of the underperformers lists for major college programs. I think we're getting talent, we just never have the right coaching barring the first few years of JT.

That said, I would like to see WR recruiting pick up this cycle -- it's the only position I feel like we're not doing well in so far.
71Bear
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MoragaBear said:

71Bear said:

U
If you are suggesting that the top of the recruiting mountain is unattainable because most recruits at that level are not academically oriented, would not fit the Cal culture or are not team first you are wrong. That is the reason Cal has wallowed in the mire for so long. Excuses are not acceptable and I know that Coach Wilcox doesn't subscribe to the old - we are Cal; we don't recruit quality athletes because we have our nose too high in the air. Don't believe me? Take a look at the school on the Peninsula, They are kicking ass with their five stars and are at the top of the conference APR rankings.
What 5 stars are they kicking ass with? They have 3 on their roster and only two of them have played so far.
They have five on their current roster (per Rivals) - Sarell, Little, Mills, Irwin, Robinson. Cal has signed four since the dawn of the Tedford era (2002) - Robertson, Jackson, Martin and Allen.
BearGreg
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Since Jim Harbaugh has arrived, Stanford has climbed to the top of the recruiting mountain (defined as a consensus top 10 national class) but once. What they've done that's impressive is consistently land top 15-top 30 classes. That's absolutely the level of recruiting that Wilcox aspires to achieve.
GivemTheAxe
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MoragaBear said:

OdontoBear66 said:


I find agreement with most all of what you post here. As I read it, I have one concern. If this "empire" is being built slowly, what kind of street cred does Wilcox have when success comes, in either retaining assistants and/or getting as good or better replacements. I can guess at the answer, but I certainly think that as things get better a number of assistants will be improving their own situation (often elsewhere). Wilcox has had great exposure as his growth has gone on, and I think we will do just fine, but we have lost a great DL coach, while still having some great position coaches. Is there a perception that other coaches would "love to work with Wilcox"? I think this will play heavily if our growth curve is to continue on an upward spiral.
His staff loves working with him because of the level of respect and input he gives them. Greatwood basically said he's in coaching heaven with Wilcox and this group and that he's never been on a closer staff.

One of Tedford's big problems is that he was good in identifying his first staff but once they started to take other opportunities, the replacements always seemed to be a downgrade. I don't sense that would be a
problem for Wilcox but time will tell.


IMO another problem of JT is that he would micro manage the offense and sometimes the defense and not give the OC and D.C. the freedom to make their own decisions. With the result that they would get frustrated and leave.
71Bear
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BearGreg said:

Since Jim Harbaugh has arrived, Stanford has climbed to the top of the recruiting mountain (defined as a consensus top 10 national class) but once. What they've done that's impressive is consistently land top 15-top 30 classes. That's absolutely the level of recruiting that Wilcox aspires to achieve.
If Wilcox can consistently match Stanford's results, Cal will become a player....
MoragaBear
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71Bear said:

MoragaBear said:

71Bear said:

U
If you are suggesting that the top of the recruiting mountain is unattainable because most recruits at that level are not academically oriented, would not fit the Cal culture or are not team first you are wrong. That is the reason Cal has wallowed in the mire for so long. Excuses are not acceptable and I know that Coach Wilcox doesn't subscribe to the old - we are Cal; we don't recruit quality athletes because we have our nose too high in the air. Don't believe me? Take a look at the school on the Peninsula, They are kicking ass with their five stars and are at the top of the conference APR rankings.
What 5 stars are they kicking ass with? They have 3 on their roster and only two of them have played so far.
They have five on their current roster (per Rivals) - Sarell, Little, Mills, Irwin, Robinson. Cal has signed four since the dawn of the Tedford era (2002) - Robertson, Jackson, Martin and Allen.
I must've looked at 247 instead, where they have 3. I swear 247 has somehow taken over google with their search engine optimization. But even with 5, they're averaging one 5 star commit a year. Every Cal fan would take one a year but it's not a roster full of 5 stars kicking ass.

Wouldn't say they're kicking ass with Mills, who's still a backup, or Irwin. With 43 catches and 2 td's in 2 more games as a junior than Cal played, he still would've been 4th in receptions and receiving td's in comparison. And Robinson's been okay. He had 23 tackles last season. Not exactly kicking ass.

Their bread and butter is their OL and 4 star depth. Looks like Cal's building really nice talent and depth on OL but could use some more 4 star talent overall.
71Bear
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MoragaBear said:

71Bear said:

MoragaBear said:

71Bear said:

U
If you are suggesting that the top of the recruiting mountain is unattainable because most recruits at that level are not academically oriented, would not fit the Cal culture or are not team first you are wrong. That is the reason Cal has wallowed in the mire for so long. Excuses are not acceptable and I know that Coach Wilcox doesn't subscribe to the old - we are Cal; we don't recruit quality athletes because we have our nose too high in the air. Don't believe me? Take a look at the school on the Peninsula, They are kicking ass with their five stars and are at the top of the conference APR rankings.
What 5 stars are they kicking ass with? They have 3 on their roster and only two of them have played so far.
They have five on their current roster (per Rivals) - Sarell, Little, Mills, Irwin, Robinson. Cal has signed four since the dawn of the Tedford era (2002) - Robertson, Jackson, Martin and Allen.
I must've looked at 247 instead, where they have 3. I swear 247 has somehow taken over google with their search engine optimization. But even with 5, they're averaging one 5 star commit a year. Every Cal fan would take one a year but it's not a roster full of 5 stars kicking ass.

Wouldn't say they're kicking ass with Mills, who's still a backup, or Irwin. With 43 catches and 2 td's in 2 more games as a junior than Cal played, he still would've been 4th in receptions and receiving td's in comparison. And Robinson's been okay. He had 23 tackles last season. Not exactly kicking ass.

Their bread and butter is their OL and 4 star depth. Looks like Cal's building really nice talent and depth on OL but could use some more 4 star talent overall.
Of course, half of Cal's 4 five stars since '02 played a total of one season between them.

Mills was redshirted in 2017 (his first year). 2018 will be his first shot at playing time. It will be interesting to see if has fully recovered from his injury.

Re: the OL, I noted in another post that I like the plan Wilcox has developed. Building his program "inside out" is reminiscent of the approach Bruce Snyder used to build his program so many years ago. And yes, more four stars would be welcome.......




OdontoBear66
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MoragaBear said:

OdontoBear66 said:


I find agreement with most all of what you post here. As I read it, I have one concern. If this "empire" is being built slowly, what kind of street cred does Wilcox have when success comes, in either retaining assistants and/or getting as good or better replacements. I can guess at the answer, but I certainly think that as things get better a number of assistants will be improving their own situation (often elsewhere). Wilcox has had great exposure as his growth has gone on, and I think we will do just fine, but we have lost a great DL coach, while still having some great position coaches. Is there a perception that other coaches would "love to work with Wilcox"? I think this will play heavily if our growth curve is to continue on an upward spiral.
His staff loves working with him because of the level of respect and input he gives them. Greatwood basically said he's in coaching heaven with Wilcox and this group and that he's never been on a closer staff.

One of Tedford's big problems is that he was good in identifying his first staff but once they started to take other opportunities, the replacements always seemed to be a downgrade. I don't sense that would be a problem for Wilcox but time will tell.
This may be the best news yet looking forward with optimism. I believed that was the case and one can possibly perceive it in the excitement of recruits and their families as they visit Cal. If JW can backfill and do so with quality we will be just fine.
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