Cal Bears: Coach Wilcox Takes First Step in Rebuild with Recruiting Class

Justin Wilcox has gone through his first National Signing Day as the Cal Bears’ new head coach, and while the class isn’t great, it’s a good first step towards a rebuild.

Yesterday was National Signing Day, and it was Justin Wilcox’s first as a head coach at the collegiate level. The Cal Bears didn’t exactly have an outstanding day, but all things considered, it wasn’t half bad either.

The Bears’ recruiting class isn’t great by any means. They only landed 14 recruits, much smaller than the average class. Scout has their class ranked 64th nationally, while they are ranked 72nd by Rivals and 247 Sports. Cal ranks last among Pac-12 schools according to all three publications.

But Wilcox has only been on the job for less than a month, and has had to spend a significant amount of time putting his coaching staff together. He was already well behind the eight-ball in recruiting because of the timing of his hiring, so Wilcox and his crew kind of just had to take what they could get.

Of the 14 new players, only six are defensive guys. Wilcox, as well as new defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, have a tall task of improving one of the worst defenses in the FBS last season, and they are hoping for quality over quantity out of this class.

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On Wednesday, Cal received commitments from a pair of three-star cornerbacks, Branden Smith and Elijah Hicks. Smith is from Lancaster, California, while Hicks, a former Notre Dame commit, is from La Mirada. Both players are already on campus at Berkeley. They also got a commitment from another defensive back, safety Daniel Scott out of St. Francis High School in La Cañada.

In the trenches, defensive linemen Alex Funches and Gabe Cherry are also coming to Cal for the 2017 season. Funches is a junior college transfer, coming from Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, and is already on campus. At Trinity Valley, Funches had seven sacks, to forced fumbles, and an interception in 2016. Cherry played his high school ball at Centennial High in Bakersfield, California.

The lone local recruit for Cal comes in the form of linebacker Kyle Harmon, coming from Freedom High in Oakley. They lost out on another local linebacker on signing day. Paul Scott, from Oakland, became the latest player to de-commit following Sonny Dykes’ firing, instead choosing Hawaii.

On the offensive side, Cal was able to add some more good pieces to an offense that is already stocked with good pieces. Quarterback Chase Garbers, Cal’s lone four-star recruit, will be added to what new offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin is calling an open competition in Spring. He will have to beat out redshirt junior Chase Forrest and redshirt sophomore Ross Bowers, the top quarterbacks on the team.

They also added running back Biaggio Ali Walsh, an explosive speedster from powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Ali is the grandson of the legendary Muhammad Ali, and averaged over 11 yards per carry in three years at Bishop Gorman. Michael Saffell, a center from Edison High in Huntington Beach, is a mauler in the running game and was ranked the 15th-best center in the country by 247.

Next: Beau Baldwin Replaces Spavital as Cal's OC

2017 will probably be a rough season for the Bears, with their top quarterback, receiver, and running back headed to the NFL. But this is a start to the rebuild, and just the first step. With a full year to build the next recruiting class, coach Wilcox and his staff can continue to build this team back up.

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