Cal coach Jeff Tedford is expected to announce today an incoming class of about 20 recruits that could be considered one of his best or could be shunned from the nation's top 25, depending on a pair of last-minute decisions. Four-star recruit Stan Hasiak, who is widely considered the best offensive lineman in the Western region, and four-star Randall Carroll, one of the nation's top-ranked receivers, are both considering Berkeley. Each will wait until today to make his school of choice official, on national signing day. "Compared to any other year, there have been more crazy changes, more decommits and more last-minute decisions, nationally," said Rick Kimbrel, Rivals.com Pac-10 analyst. "Cal's been right in the middle of a lot of it."
If Hasiak makes his verbal commitment to Cal official, the Bears will have gotten four All-Americans to spurn previous commitments, joining center Mark Brazinski, defensive tackle Deandre Coleman and defensive back Steve Williams. Hasiak once again is considering UCLA, the school of his original verbal commitment. USC has held a commitment from Carroll since the beginning of his junior season, but he has re-opened the possibility of attending UCLA, Cal and Arizona State.
"I love this class, especially if they can ink Hasiak," said Brandon Huffman, Scout.com West Regional manager. "They really attacked a wide area of the nation and spread wings to fill some needs." As it stands (Hasiak to Cal, Carroll to USC), Rivals ranks Cal at No. 30 nationally and Scout ranks the Bears at No. 29, but much of the mediocre ranking has to do with the size of the class. Cal has verbal commitments from only 18 scholarship players, making it impossible to be ranked with 23- to 25-player classes. The average star ranking of the Bears' 17 players, however, is 3.24 stars from Rivals and 3.35 on Scout. Using that statistic, Cal ranks No. 22 and No. 16 in the nation. The Bears' class of scholarship players includes 15 high school players and three junior-college transfers, and is especially strong up front, according to team sources. By position, the class has one quarterback, two running backs, a receiver, four offensive linemen, three defensive linemen, three linebackers, three defensive backs and a kicker.
Under NCAA rules, coaches are prohibited from talking about their recruiting classes until they have the signed letters in hand. Cal will host a signing-day news conference at 3 p.m., which can be followed on Calbears.com. With or without Hasiak, the lines are the strongest position groups. Brazinski, from New Jersey, is considered one of the top two centers in the country, offensive tackle Charles Siddoway from Oregon is considered the state's best lineman and Coleman, from Washington, grabbed the same reviews in his home state. "What's good about these linemen is that it was a very down year for big guys in the west, and Cal was able to go all over the country to find some of the best," Rivals' Kimbrel said. "These are the cream of the crop." The sexier names in the class are quarterback Allan Bridgford, an Elite 11 selection from Mission Viejo (Orange County), and running back Dasarte Yarnway from Sacred Heart Cathedral, a pairing that drew this review from Huffman: "They've got probably the best 1-2 punch, in terms of QB/RB, out West this year." Defensive lineman Jerome Meadows from San Jose Community College and linebacker Jarred Price from Blinn College (Texas) could compete to play right away. Williams, a 5-foot-10 corner from Dallas, impressed at the Under Armour All-America game last month. "He's a smaller guy, but he plays big," Huffman said.
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