Cal Stays Hot in Oregon, Landing Lake Oswego ATH Casey Filkins

While commitment number three took a little bit longer to land in Andy Alfieri, commitment number four of the 2020 class comes in Lake Oswego ATH Casey Filkins. Filkins, fresh off the Opening in Oakland and a visit to Berkeley. Cal offered Filkins two weeks ago, and his main focus for a school was on fit.

"My number one thing I talk about is fit," Filkins noted, "it’s not just fit in the football program, on the team and with the guys, it’s fit on campus, what’ my gut telling me when I’m walking around and experiencing campus life, knowing that I’m supposed to be there and feel comfortable there. The next thing is somewhere I can go and compete every single day, where I can push myself to become a better player, teammate, leader, all-around, and then reflect that in the classroom, learn as much as I can."

Filkins committed to the Bears over offers from the Oregon schools and multiple Ivy League offers. Beau Baldwin, Steve Greatwood, and Burl Toler were his main recruiters, as Baldwin and Greatwood visited his school before offering.

Filkins had built a relationship with those coaches, as Greatwood has a bit of a rep in the state of Oregon.

"Coach Greatwood is my area recruiter," Filkins noted in April, "so I’ve known him and built a relationship with him more than coach Baldwin, but I’ve just started to build a relationship with Baldwin, and both are so awesome. Greatwood knows coach (Steve) Coury really well, they played against each other in college, they’ve known each other for a long time, that’s how I’ve made that connection to Greatwood, talking to him about him. (Greatwood’s) a super nice guy, likes hard-working kids, and thinks I’m a great fit. Coach Baldwin, I get the same feel, I get a great feel from all the coaches, it’s been great to get to know them. I really like coach Toler, we touch base once or twice a week, and I’m sure that’s only going to increase. He checks in with me, asks how the family’s doing, talks some ball with me."

Filkins, who led Lake Oswego to a state title with 1160 yards rushing on 171 carries and 28 TDs, along with 47 receptions for 866 yards and 9 TDs, is rated by Rivals as the 5th best player in the state of Oregon, highlighted Cal's Life After Ball program as something that stood out during his junior day visit.

"Getting a feel for the football program was great," Filkins said, "but I also wanted to get a feel for the campus and the school, see what they had to offer on that end. It was great to get a feel on that, with the LAB program, Life After Ball, I think that’s really special, I think the way they value the balance of being great on the football field and competing in the classroom outside of football is really awesome."

Filkins joins Alfieri, Isaiah Young and Everett Johnson in the 2020 class