Official visits continue to bear fruit for the Bears, as Cal lands yet another target off an official visit. Servite lineman Ender Aguilar, fresh off an OV, picked Cal over offers from the Arizona schools, Colorado and Oregon State among a whole host of schools. Aguilar felt Cal was the right fit for a few reasons.
"Coach Wilcox, his culture that he's bringing, and Steve Greatwood," Aguilar said about some of the factors pushing toward his commitment, "(Greatwood) sends a lot guys to the NFL, Cal sends a lot guys to the NFL. They have a really good player base, and it's very unique in the Bay Area. And it's not far from home."
Aguilar becomes commitment number 11 for the Bears, and the second offensive lineman alongside Everett Johnson. Unlike Johnson, Aguilar only just started playing on the offensive line at Servite. That move, suggested by former San Francisco 49er Jesse Sapolu, earned him a number of offers, including the Cal one.
"It helps the team a lot more. I started working with Jesse Sapolu," Aguilar said in May, "who helped me on my run blocking for tight end, and he said I'd be a really great offensive tackle. So I tried out my kickstep, I caught onto it very quickly and then the next week I told coach 'hey, I know we're missing a tackle, I'm more than willing to play offensive tackle for my team.'"
Aguilar's position move isn't unlike a number of other offensive linemen, who played tight end in high school but moved due to a more lucrative future at tackle. Aguilar has the speed and size to make that move inside. With a college weight room, Aguilar can make a jump up to around 290, good size for a tackle under Steve Greatwood. Aguilar also got to know the Cal coach during his visit.
"He's a straight-up guy, and he's also very family (oriented)," Aguilar said, "I feel like it's pretty cool, because that's who I want to be coached by. I really liked him as a coach in the film room, and I really liked the family they're making with Wilcox. He's providing a really strong foundation for the culture to be brought up."
A big piece of Aguilar's future development is going to rely on being in the weight room a whole lot, and he got to meet with Torre Becton to talk about it all.
"Coach Becton is great, he really knows a lot about the body," Aguilar said, "he's a guy I can trust to take me to the next level after college."
This visit was also the chance for him to talk in-depth with Wilcox, which helped seal the deal for him
"My mom, my dad, and I really liked it," Aguilar said, " because he's really player-centralized, he cares about his players. It's a family thing they've got going on."
Aguilar's commitment bumps the Bears back up to 33rd in the Rivals team rankings, and he plans on trying to bring more talent up with him, including a teammate in Jake Overman.
"I want to get all the good SoCal players to come play with me," Aguilar said.