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Cal flips Stanford commit, Tennessee transfer RB Justin Williams-Thomas

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Pulling in a top-75 transfer player would be good enough, but when a program can pull away a top-75 transfer from its rival it becomes that much sweeter. That is what Cal was able to do Sunday when four-star Tennessee transfer Justin Williams-Thomas backed away from his previous commitment to Stanford in favor of the Bears after a late visit to Berkeley.

The 6-foot running back committed to the Cardinal less than two weeks ago, but transfers don't have to sign a National Letter of Intent meaning players are able to commit to as many programs as they want before any decision is final.

That left the door open for Cal to make a late move and get Williams-Thomas on campus during the new brief visit window for midyear transfers that comes to a close Sunday.

Williams-Thomas is currently rated as a four-star transfer player by Rivals and is the 75th-ranked player overall on the list.

The freshman from Dallas, Georgia played in just three games in Knoxville finishing the season with 11 carries for 37 yards rushing. However, he was rated as one of the top recruits at his position in the 2022 class by Rivals.

At that time, Williams-Thomas was a four-star recruit ranked No. 156 overall in addition to being rated as the 11th-best running back in the class.

He had offers from over two dozen schools when he signed including programs such as USC, Michigan, Auburn, Louisville, Arkansas, Ole Miss, West Virginia and Pittsburgh among others.

The running back position has become a strength heading into next season for the Bears with the staff already adding four-star Oregon transfer Byron Cardwell, who is currently ranked No. 45 among all portal players this offseason.

Williams-Thomas and Cardwell will join a group that already includes standout freshman Jaydn Ott, who finished the season with 897 yards rushing and 8 rushing scores.

The Tennessee running back is the second transfer of the day for the Bears after the program earlier added North Texas tight end Asher Alberding.

Williams-Thomas still has four seasons of eligibility remaining with the Bears.

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