Mark Madsen has landed his first high school commitment since arriving at Cal. The new Bears head coach has been active this offseason building the roster for his first year at the helm in Berkeley, but he has also had an eye on the future.
The work on building his next roster began earlier in the year when Madsen and his staff hit the road to evaluate prospects around the country.
One recruit who caught the eye of the Bears is Atlanta-based point guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, who gave Cal his commitment Wednesday after a weekend visit to Berkeley.
"They offered me something that I haven't really seen many places with just the family feel," Wilkinson told Golden Bear Report. "I know everybody talks about the family feel, 'we have this,' but it's different when you go and actually feel it with your future teammates, your coaches and everybody around there — students included.
"The more I was around, I was super embraced by the rest of the team. I was super embraced by the coaching staff. I just feel like they really can help me get to the highest level and go win games with them."
The 2024 guard from The Skill Factory was previously committed to Mississippi State for several months before backing away from that pledge in May. It was not long after that decision when Cal decided to enter the mix with an offer followed by Tulsa and New Orleans.
Florida and Butler were two programs in the mix when Wilkinson made his original commitment to Mississippi State back in January.
Ultimately, he came to a decision after getting the chance to see Cal in person over the weekend as the Bears hosted a group of recruits on the first weekend of the fall semester.
Wilkinson gives the Bears another versatile player for the back court who will help solidify the future of the guard position alongside freshman Rodney Brown and others.
The Bears have added multiple perimeter players this offseason, but many of those guards will have used their eligibility when Wilkinson arrives on campus. The new commit sees Cal and playing for Madsen as his best path to playing the game beyond college one day.
"They definitely run a pro-style system, an NBA-style system, so if that's your goal and where you're trying to get to in life, you gotta go do it as early as possible," Wilkinson said. "His coaching style all around, whether it's workouts or the way he coaches in game, is super pro style, super NBA style. They play in space, that's really what I like and is somewhere I can really help the team.
"I just feel the way they coach really compliments me as a player."
Ole Miss, Saint Louis, Murray State, and Georgia State are some of the other schools that offered Cal's newest commit earlier in the process. Loyola Chicago was another program pursuing Wilkinson at one point, and his lead recruiter is now on staff at Cal.
Bears assistant Amorrow Morgan built a relationship with Wilkinson at his previous stop, and that continued to build with Morgan now in Berkeley.
Wilkinson says he will now be turning his attention to helping the Bears land other prospects in the 2024 class including fellow weekend visitor Malick Diallo.
"I wanted to get the decision done, but I feel like I really did think about this decision," he said. "It is really exciting to be their first commit, and I feel that the more people that see the program, the more people are going to want to come with the new coaching staff, new players and everything."
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