Keli'i Montibon Excited About his Cal Offer

At the press conference to announce the 2017 class, Justin Wilcox noted that they were keeping a few scholarship slots open for one reason or another. Part of that would be for the class of 2018. Another reason would be to give scholarships to a couple deserving walk-ons. The final part of that would be to add to their 2017 class, which they may have the opportunity to do with Riverside CC offensive lineman Keli'i Montibon. Montibon was extended an offer yesterday by Cal offensive line coach Steve Greatwood after asking Montibon to come up to Berkeley for a visit.

“He had texted me to give him a call," Montibon said about receiving the offer, "because we were going to talk about a visit. So I called him up when I was available. We talked about heading up on a visit, going up there, and at the end he surprised me and he said we have an offer for. Right there, I was surprised and stoked.”

Montibon would add immediate depth to the offensive line in the fall, which will have ten scholarship players there in the fall (eleven if walk-on C Addison Ooms receives a scholarship). Since he was a qualifier out of high school, he would be able to go to a four-year school after only a year at a JC, much like Jordan Kunaszyk did last year and Aaron Rodgers did when he came to Cal.

Montibon had to make an adjustment, coming from Kamehameha High School in Kea'au, a small town on the big island of Hawaii, to Riverside, home of current Cal RG Dwayne Wallace.

"Coming to California," Montibon said, "I had to get get used to some things. It’s different out here. But I came out here for one goal, to get an education and play hard enough to get to the next level."

Montibon only had an Army offer coming out of high school, and has received Nevada and Florida Atlantic offers during his freshman season at Riverside.

Montibon played tackle during the year at Riverside

“After being here at Riverside and playing my freshman year at tackle, right now I feel comfortable at tackle,” Montibon said. "The coaching staff really helped me, I got my technique better. Playing at that college speed and level really helped me out."

On his strengths and weakness, Montibon noted that "As a lineman, I feel like my pass set and pass blocking is my strength," while noting that he wants to improve "Run blocking and just being a lot more explosive off the ball."

Montibon said he was looking at a visit to Berkeley on the weekend of March 17th, and that he wants to make a decision at the end of the spring.

"I’m just trying to see what offers I could get and maybe make a decision by the end of spring if I feel like somewhere could be home for the next 3-4 years."

Montibon is currently undecided in what he wants to study in college, but is considering sports medicine or business.

Adding depth at the line is something that a lot of people have wanted to see with the Cal program, and they have a unique opportunity to do so with Montibon. They have the space and Montibon could compete for one of the three open spots on the offensive line.