Oakland-McClymonds standout running back Jaivian Thomas has been on campus at Cal a few times already, but now he can begin to take the process with the Bears a bit more serious. The hometown school offered Thomas this week becoming the first Power Five program to officially jump into the mix with the 5-foot-10 speedster.

Overall, he has eight offers in the process, and he has seen increased attention as of late after helping McClymonds put together another strong season. The team is headed into the end of the regular season with just one loss, and Thomas has helped lead the offense with his production at the running back position.

So far this season he has rushed for over 1,200 yards to go with 13 rushing scores. He has also played a part in the receiving game and helped out on defense.

It has added up to some increased attention for Thomas, who has seen a few new offers come his way in recent days.

"It's been real big," he said about watching his latest wave of offers come through late in the season. "It's huge for me right now, but I'm really just letting the season play out, staying patient and letting things go with the flow."

Rice and UC Davis are a couple of his other offers that have come in recently, but he also holds offers from San Jose State, Army, Sacramento State, Idaho and Northern Colorado.

The offer from the hometown school is an important one, and it came after Thomas made his latest visit to Berkeley.