Feb 7, 2008

Did losses hurt Cal recruiting?

Class isn't ranked as highly as in previous years

By Jonathan Okanes / MediaNews

BERKELEY - Six months ago, Cal coach Jeff Tedford could have sold potential recruits on the elite program the Bears had become - three successive top-25 rankings, two 10-win seasons in the past three years, the near-BCS misses.

It may have been harder for Tedford to make that argument during the latter stages of this recruiting season after a chaotic 2007 campaign left Cal out of the national spotlight. An unsightly second half of the season had the Bears scrambling to finish with a winning record.

Were potential recruits turned off by Cal's precipitous fall from the national scene last season? Maybe a little. But the class the Bears signed Wednesday - on the first day recruits can sign national letters of intent - still addresses some of the program's pressing needs, and recruiting experts downplayed theeffect the 2007 season may have had on the Bears' efforts.

"I don't think it had a dramatic effect,'' said Jamie Newberg, a recruiting expert for Scout.com. "It definitely may have hurt with a kid or two. But regardless of the season that Cal had, they've filled their needs. You're still talking about a top-30 class.''

Scout.com ranks Cal's class as the 31st-best in the country. Rivals.com has it ranked No. 33. Those numbers are the worst since Tedford's first year at Cal in 2002. Rivals.com had ranked three of the Bears' previous four classes in its top 20, while Scout.com had each of the previous four in its top 25.

Tedford admitted that some potential recruits may have been turned off by the way Cal's season ended, but said he didn't notice a significant impact while he was out on the recruiting trail.

"People had opinions about certain things,'' Tedford said. "They were concerned about the way we finished. But it's not like we were getting blown out. We were right there in position to win almost every game. I think some of the recruits see that you're right there.''

Tedford said one recruit told him, "I just didn't like the way you guys finished,'' and committed to another school.

One reason Cal's class may not rank as high as in previous years is that it's lacking that one marquee player who can boost the quality of an incoming group. In 2005, DeSean Jackson helped give the Bears' the ninth-best class in the country. Last year, Jahvid Best gave Cal a boost up to No. 12, according to Scout.com.

"It may lack the star power of a DeSean Jackson or Jahvid Best, but it's a very balanced class,'' said Greg Biggin, director of recruiting for Student Sports. "It's not that glamorous if you're looking for that one marquee name, but overall I think they did a nice job of meeting their needs.



"You never know, maybe they lost a player or two because they weren't as good as the last couple of seasons, but recruiting is a weird deal. Every year is different. They could have gone 11-0 and could have recruited the same class.''

One piece of evidence that perhaps the second half of the season didn't hurt recruiting too much is that of the 21 commitments Cal has received, according to Rivals.com, 11 have come since the end of the regular season. That means less than half of the Bears' incoming class committed before the season started to unravel, although most of their higher-rated recruits come from that group.

Covaughn DeBoskie, a running back from Chandler, Ariz., arguably is the Bears' best recruit that committed after the season. He said Cal's second-half swoon never turned him off from coming to Berkeley.

"That didn't worry me at all,'' said DeBoskie, who graduated from Hamilton High School early and already is enrolled in spring classes at Cal. "They beat top-notch teams like Oregon and Tennessee. That just shows what happened to them was just a little flukey thing. Plus, I don't care about the previous season because that doesn't mean anything for next year. I'm happy to be here.''

NOTE: Tedford said running back James Montgomery underwent minor surgery on his right knee after the season but is expected to be close to 100 percent healthy by the time spring practice begins on March 17.