Cal QB Commit Justyn Martin on Early Commitment to the Bears

Cal landed their quarterback for the 2022 class Monday in Justyn Martin. Martin, a four star quarterback out of Inglewood, had connected with offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave early in the process, as the Cal OC's experience helped to sell Martin on the program.

"It being a California school, it was already a high priority for me," Martin said, "I liked coach Musgrave's profile, he has a whole bunch of experience in college and the league, I didn't see it getting much better than that as far as OC and quarterback play. Then Cal has a great history of producing big time quarterbacks, so it just fit me."

While Martin committed just under a month after the Bears offered, the recruiting process has been relatively constant since coaches were able to reach out to 2022 players, and the Bears had been a prominent player leading up to his Monday commitment.

"On September 1st, they were the first one to text me," Martin said, "so this has been a long process. I actually got to talk to Marshall Cherrington before he left (for USC), he was real excited, he helped me and set everything up (for committing)."

Martin also came up for a visit to Berkeley a week before he committed. He had been on a virtual visit with the Bears right before they offered, and the in-person visit was a time to put some locations to what he saw on screen.

"(The visit) solidified (my decision)," Martin noted, "the people there, it reminded me of the people down here, the environment was very calm, it fits me. I felt at home when I was up there, it definitely solidified my decision. I got to see the outside of all the stuff I saw on the visit. I couldn't go in, but it looked amazing from the outside, and hopefully when everything opens back up, I can get back up there and actually go in to see all the stuff."

Now, Martin has accomplished one of his goals, committing early to help build a class.

"Originally, before COVID, I wanted to commit after the junior season," Martin said, "which would have been early December, I didn't want to make a decision too late, because I'm still trying to fill the class. It gives me this year to start building relationships and pulling people to come with me."

While he builds the class, Martin is playing with Premium Sports, which has one of the top 7 on 7 teams on the west coast. It's unclear when high school football is coming back in the state of California, so Martin's current play is to continue to prepare to play, whenever that happens.

"We're doing 7 on 7," Martin said, "we had a tournament in Arizona last weekend. My plan is to continue doing 7 on 7 and preparing myself for whenever we play. I'll be at some events here and there, but I'm mainly focusing on playing."

Martin is also focused on building relationships with the 2022 class and the players already at Cal, as he talked to fellow commit Damonic Williams after Williams committed, and other Bears have reached out since Martin's commitment.

"I talked to him when he committed, I was happy to see that he committed," Martin said, "I had heard a lot about him, because he's a big name in LA. I've heard a lot about him and I've seen him play, so I was excited to see him commit. A lot of (the current players) followed me and hit me up. I know Damien Moore, I used to train with him a while back, I talked to him before I committed and he was excited and ready to get working."

With the commitment in the books, Martin can focus on whatever kind of football season he's going to get moving forward, as he looks to connect with other 2022 recruits and fine-tune his game.

"It feels good," Martin said of being committed, "I don't have to worry about where I'm going or moving far away from home, I can focus on the good stuff."