Kennedy Catholic ATH Justin Baker Makes the Call for Cal

Cal's work in recruiting the Pacific Northwest continues to pay dividends, as they landed one of the fastest players in the region Sunday. Justin Baker, a 5'10" 180 lb athlete out of Kennedy Catholic HS in Burien, WA, chose the Bears from his final four of Oregon State, Nebraska and Arizona.

Baker becomes commitment number nineteen of the 2020. RB coach Nick Edwards and WR coach Burl Toler were the main recruiters for Baker, as the Kennedy Catholic standout should add more speed to the wide receiver room.

Baker notably played with DB commit Trey Paster on the FSP 7 on 7 team, and had over 1500 yards on offense at Kennedy Catholic last year (55 receptions, 1500 yards, 18 touchdowns).

Cal stood out when he visited the Bears the weekend of the Opening, and they'd been a favorite ever since.

"Cal’s one of the best schools in the country," Baker told Golden Bear Report back in May, "and they talked a lot about the opportunities not related to football that you get from going there. You go to a lot of these schools, and they’re talking about a 40 year plan, not a 4 year one, Cal’s pretty much the best you can get."

With Baker, the Bears get a multi-tooled threat that can be used both on offense and on special teams. He'll likely get a first look at wide receiver, but he's a guy that can line up all over the field, catching passes out of the backfield, taking jet sweeps, all the things that Nikko Remigio and Jeremiah Hawkins are set to do this year. Baker also has some kick return ability, something the Bears could use with Ashtyn Davis gone after 2019.

Baker becomes the 12th commitment on the offensive side of the ball, and the fifth WR commit, joining Tommy Christakos, Casey Filkins, Aidan Lee, and Jeremiah Hunter at the spot.

1. Being Cal's 19th commit, Baker is the third commit from the Pacific Northwest, joining ILB Andy Alfieri and WR Casey Filkins in that regard. He's the second commitment from the state of Washington in the past two years, joining OLB Orin Patu (who moved up to Washington his senior year)

2. Baker's commitment could mean that the Bears don't take more receivers in the 2020 class, depending on where he ends up at Cal. Spots are tightening up (six left, by our count), and the Bears could use a couple more linemen (OL and DL combined), another DB, then another couple of flexible players to add depth.

3. Commitments by Position:

QB: 1

RB: 2

WR: 5

TE: 2

OL: 2

DL: 2

LB: 2

DB: 3

4. Commitments by State:

CA: 12

AZ: 2

HI: 2

OR: 2

WA: 1