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Atonio Mafi on his Cal Commitment, Staying Home, and More

BERKELEY, CA -It was a bit of a shock for new Cal commit Atonio Mafi to receive an offer Sunday after Cal's lineman camp, but after an excellent performance at the camp, Mafi had a meeting with the Cal coaches, as Justin Wilcox extended the offer.

"It was crazy. It was unexpected, didn’t know it was going to happen. I’ve talked to the coaches before, but there were no major signs that they were going to offer me. It was a very good surprise at the end of camp." Mafi said about his experience, "I feel like I did great (at the camp). I went out there and I had one goal, that was to try to do my best and show the coaches what I was about and I felt like I dominated the competition."

It didn't take long for Mafi to jump on that offer. It was a grand total of three hours and 34 minutes between the offer announcement and the commitment announcement on Twitter, but for Mafi it was even faster.

"Honestly, leaving the building I knew that I was going to commit," Mafi noted, "but I had to talk to all of my family first so once we got home I told them how I felt and they were all on board and agreed that Cal’s a great place to get a great education and also a great career in football, so I already knew right after getting the offer that I was going to commit, just need to check off with my family. Then we gave coach a call around 6, 7, and we told him that my family and I are committed for me to go to Cal."

Commitment Analysis: Atonio Mafi

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As noted before, Mafi is being brought in as a nose tackle, something the Bears will need going into 2018 as they continue getting in players for a 3-4 defense, but the Serra lineman is going to need to become more familiar with the position, as he played more on offense a year ago, something shown in his film.

"It was crazy because I didn’t play a lot of defense last year and at the camp they told me to go in as a defensive lineman," Mafi said,"not an offensive lineman, what I usually play at. Then when we had our meeting afterwards with the head coach and all of them, they told me that they were offering me as a D-lineman, and I was totally down for it. I love defense, wish I could have played more last year, but this year I definitely am focusing more on defense."

One of the big factors in staying home for Mafi was family, as he noted that they helped him make his final decision.

"It would be weird or a little difficult for me to play far away without the ability to look up in the stands and know my family’s there," Mafi said, "so it was definitely a big role in my decision of choosing to stay home."

Mafi also had the help of some of his football family, who helped to convince him to come to the camp. The coaching staff had been recruiting Mafi starting in May, but hadn't been as demonstrative as they could have been, wanting to see him in a camp setting, and those friends (seen in the picture below, Junior Fehoko, Dimitri Sakalia, Ben Makoni, Moala Tautuaa, and Noa Ngalu) played a role in getting him there.

"I’ve talked to them a couple times before," Mafi said about the coaches, "earlier in May was the first time I talked to them and then things slowed down a bit, but then right before the camp they reminded me there was a camp. I wasn’t too sure about attending, then I decided I was gonna go through with the camp, then it all worked out."

"(My friends) were all there and I felt like ‘oh since all my other boys are going I might as well go in too. It’s gonna be a good time, Sunday morning, workout with the boys, so that also helped me out, to feel comfortable going to the camp."

Mafi noted that he wanted to get a few of these guys to follow him to Cal," I know a couple of them already have offers from other Pac-12 schools, so I’m gonna try to steal them away."

One other person who helped Mafi at the lineman camp was another Cal commit in Nick Alftin.

"He was a big factor in me doing well at the camp," Mafi said. "He was encouraging me just to be myself and ball out. He made me feel comfortable, so that was great."

Another Cal target that Mafi is close to is Tyler Manoa, who noted that he'd like to play with Mafi if the dice roll that way, and Mafi touched on their friendship.

"It’s great, strictly competitive, but we’re great friends," Mafi said,"We work out together, we run the hills together and we love competing against each other but we know at the end of the day we’re brothers. It’s great to see where he’s going right now with his career in football and that we’re both achieving what we set out to do since freshman year."

For now, Cal has their man who may be able to anchor the nose guard spot in the 3-4, a big need filled as they move forward recruiting the 2018 class.

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