Big Bear: Cal Lands DL Ricky Correia

Size has been a priority for Cal during the time Justin Wilcox has been in Berkeley, but they hadn't quite landed a true nose guard to this point. That changed this morning, as the Bears went into central California and pulled Ricky Correia out of Central HS in Fresno. The 6'4", 320 lb defensive lineman announced his commitment to Cal Friday morning, marking the 22nd commit in Cal's 2020 class. Correia joins teammate WR Jeremiah Hunter in committing to Cal.

Correia had most recently visited the Bears for the Arizona State game, as he got a firsthand look at the game experience of Cal, one of multiple visits to Berkeley for the Central defensive lineman.

"I was pretty excited to see the atmosphere that Cal had, with all the fans they had there," Correia told GoldenBearReport, "I had a pretty good feeling about it and I loved being up there. I talked to coach Wilcox and coach Browning and a couple other coaches while I was up there, letting them know how my season is going. (Wilcox) was just telling me about my place, where I'm standing, and about my season."

Cal finally offered Correia on October 7th, as the Bears were looking for Correia to recover from broken wrists that took away his junior year. Defensive line coach Andrew Browning was the main recruiter for Correia, though a former Central HS alum played a role in Correia's courtship to Berkeley.

"I talked to Z (Zeandae Johnson)," Correia noted last week, "he's a former Central player, so I've been talking to him a lot about the program and how coach Browning is and all that. He's been helping me a lot and giving me good information."

Cal hasn't had a true nose guard prospect over the past two classes. Brett Johnson and Aaron Maldonado have played it, but may be better suited to the defensive end spots in the 3-4. Correia may see the field early in his Cal career because of that.

Correia joins Stanley McKenzie and Ethan Saunders on the line in this class, and is the 9th defensive player among the group.

1. Correia is the 14th commitment from the state of California in the 2020 class, with the state breakdown being as follows:

CA: 14

AZ: 2

OR: 2

HI: 2

WA: 1

TX: 1

2. Correia is the second commit of the week, after Cal flipped QB Jaden Casey from Fresno.

3. Correia is the third defensive lineman of the class, as the numbers for the class look like this:

QB: 2

RB: 2

WR: 5

TE: 2

OL: 2

DL: 3

LB: 2

DB: 4