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Cal’s 2021 Recruiting Class Ranked No. 20 By ESPN

Dec 16, 2020
Cal has the nation's No. 20 signing class according to ESPN.

Justin Wilcox Press Conference | Cal’s 2021 Recruiting Class Ranked No. 20 By ESPN

BERKELEY – Head coach Justin Wilcox announced Wednesday the first 19 members of Cal's 2021 recruiting. The class is currently ranked No. 20 nationally according to ESPN, which is the Golden Bears' highest-ranked class since Cal ranked No. 15 nationally by 247Sports and was ESPN's No. 18 class in 2011.

The class includes eight four-star recruits with seven ranked among the nation's top 300 players by at least one of the primary recruiting outlets including WR J.Michael Sturdivant (No. 104, ESPN), QB Kai Millner (No. 114, ESPN), TE Jermaine Terry (No. 162, 247Sports), WR Mavin Anderson (No. 196, 247Sports), LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr (No. 218, 247Sports), DL Akili Calhoun (No. 224, 247Sports) and DL Derek Wilkins (No. 375 247Sports Composite). OL Bastian Swinney is the other four-star recipient in the class.

"This is a good group," Wilcox said. "We have a sizeable number of players that proved during their junior year that they were capable of playing at the Power 5 level. Unfortunately, most of them did not get to play their 2020 season due to COVID-19, but we can't wait for them to arrive at Cal."

All 19 players in the class are high school seniors including a strong local contingent of a dozen that played their most recent prep football at California high schools before the pandemic in Anderson (Mission Viejo), Calhoun (Liberty), Elarms-Orr (Moreau Catholic), DB Lu-Magia Hearns (De La Salle), DB Kaleb Higgins (Folsom), OL Ryan Lange (Pittsburg), TE Keleki Latu (Jesuit), LB Moses Oladejo (Cosumnes Oaks), LB Nate Rutchena (Monte Vista), Terry (Kennedy), Wilkins (Santa Margarita Catholic) and Myles Williams (Bishop Alemany).

"Our recruiting philosophy is to focus on local guys and work out from there," Wilcox said. "That may change year to year depending on the ebbs and flows of geographical hot spots in recruiting, but there was a tremendous amount of talent in the immediate Bay Area and in the greater Northern California. We have a lot to offer to student-athletes, so we try to make it as difficult as possible for them to say no and leave the Bay Area."

The geographic make-up of the remainder of the class includes seven student-athletes from outside the Golden State in DB Hunter Barth (Chandler, AZ/Queen Creek), LB Patrick Hisatake (Kalihi, HI/Westview OR), LB Fatuvalu Iosefa (Waipahu, HI/Mililani HS), OL Dylan Jemtegaard (Yelm, WA/Yelm), Millner (Gilbert, AZ/Higley), Sturdevant (Flower Mound, TX/Marcus) and Swinney (Minneapolis, MN/Edina HS).
Barth, Millner, Sturdivant and Swinney are the only four members of the class that have played football during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eight members of the class – Barth, Calhoun, Higgins, Hisatake, Lange, Rutchena, Swinney and Terry – are expected to begin their careers at Cal as mid-year enrollees in January of 2021. The others are expected to arrive in June.

There are eight offensive players in the class including three offensive linemen (Jemtegaard, Lange, Swinney), two wide receivers (Andersen, Sturdivant), two tight ends (Latu, Terry) and one quarterback (Millner).
The 11 student-athletes on defense include four linebackers (Elarms-Orr, Hisatake, Oladejo, Rutchena), four defensive backs (Barth, Hearns, Higgins, Iosefa) and three defensive linemen (Calhoun, Wilkins, Williams).

Cal did not sign a specialist on early signing day. 2021 Cal Football Recruiting Class (as of December 16, 2020) NAME – POS – HT – WT – YR – EXP – HOMETOWN (LAST SCHOOLS)
Mavin Anderson – WR – 6-0 – 195 – Fr. – HS – Mission Viejo, CA (Mission Viejo HS)
Hunter Barth^ – DB – 6-2 – 205 – Fr. – HS – Chandler, AZ (Queen Creek HS)
Akili Calhoun^ – DL – 6-4 – 265 – Fr. – HS – Brentwood, CA (Liberty HS)
Kaleb Elarms-Orr – LB – 6-3 – 225 – Fr. – HS – Hayward, CA (Moreau Catholic HS)
Lu-Magia Hearns – DB – 5-10 – 165 – Fr. – HS – Pittsburg, CA (De La Salle HS)
Kaleb Higgins^ – DB – 6-2 – 190 – Fr. – HS – Austin, TX (Folsom HS)
Patrick Hisatake^ – LB – 6-5 – 250 – Fr. – HS – Kalihi, HI (Westview HS)
Fatuvalu Iosefa – DB – 6-0 – 185 – Fr. – HS – Waipahu, HI (Mililani HS)
Dylan Jemtegaard – OL – 6-4 – 305 – Fr. – HS – Yelm, WA (Yelm HS)
Ryan Lange^ – OL – 6-7 – 330 – Fr. – HS – Pittsburg, CA (Pittsburg HS)
Keleki Latu – TE – 6-6 – 210 – Fr. – HS – Sacramento, CA (Jesuit HS)
Kai Millner – QB – 6-2 – 195 – Fr. – HS – Gilbert, AZ (Higley HS)
Moses Oladejo – LB – 6-3 – 235 – Fr. – HS – Elk Grove, CA (Cosumnes Oaks HS)
Nate Rutchena^ – LB – 6-3 – 225 – Fr. – HS – Danville, CA (Monte Vista HS)
J.Michael Sturdivant – WR – 6-3 – 185 – Fr. – HS – Flower Mound, TX (Marcus HS)
Bastian Swinney^ – OL – 6-6 – 290 – Fr. – HS – Minneapolis, MN (Edina HS)
Jermaine Terry^ – TE – 6-5 – 255 – Fr. – HS – Richmond, CA (Kennedy HS)
Derek Wilkins – DL – 6-5 – 270 – Fr. – HS – Irvine, CA (Santa Margarita Catholic HS)
Myles Williams – DL – 6-3 – 250 – Fr. – HS – Woodland Hills, CA (Bishop Alemany HS)
^Mid-Year Enrollees In January 2021