Nine new Cal Golden Bears made their way onto campus, starting Tuesday morning with the beginning of a new semester. Six are signings from the early signing period, one's a preferred walk-on from CCSF, one's a Penn State transfer, pulled from the transfer portal just over a week ago, and the last one is Chris Fatilua.

(From left to right: Chris Fatilua, Jack Newman, Kuony Deng, DeShawn Collins, Makai Polk, Braxten Croteau, Isaiah Humphreys, Orin Patu, Devon Modster)

Fatilua's had one hell of a journey to get to Cal. He suffered a severe spine injury the weekend before he was set to enroll at Cal for the summer. He torqued his spinal cord diving into a pool awkwardly, which sent him into surgery and recovery at the Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Inside linebackers coach Peter Sirmon noted that Fatilua was walking around mid-August, and he surprised the team by coming up for the Oregon game at the end of September. He was honored at halftime of the UCLA game as well for his efforts. Now he's with the team, and while he will likely not play football again, he'll be around in some capacity.

Now, let's go through the rest of the group, alphabetically.

DeShawn Collins, RB, 5'10", 200 lbs, Jr. (CCSF/Grant HS)

Collins was offered late in the cycle by the Bears, coming off a strong year at CCSF, where he rushed for 923 yards on 192 carries with 10 TDs, along with catching 28 passes for 434 yards and 4 TDs in 2018. Collins did all this despite a crack in his collarbone and spending 30 hours a week working at San Francisco Airport. He has been a workhorse in multiple senses of the word.

"Collins comes out of Grant High school in Sacramento," Justin Wilcox said in December of Collins, "Grant’s had some guys here that have been really good football players. He was a real productive high school running back, went to City College, and got a chance to watch him play. He’s built low to the ground, he’s really stocky and strong. The thing that sticks out the most is he can run the ball, he’ll catch, he’ll block, catch, block, and another guy who’s extremely focused on football. Very serious guy. He is another guy who can come in and compete for reps right away."

Braxten Croteau, DL, 6'5", 240 lbs, Fr. (Liberty HS)

Croteau's one of six Arizona commits in the class of 2019, a top player in 6A football in the state, and possibly a bit of a project, as far as putting on weight goes. Croteau put up 68 tackles, 18 TFLs, 8 sacks, as well as two touchdowns as a receiver. Croteau has some length to add to the defensive side of the ball, as Cal's defense adds a number of long-armed bodies to serve in their 3-4.

"Braxten is a great fit at Cal in terms of his athletic ability coupled with his character and academics," Wilcox said in the press release for the 2019 class, "he is very athletic and has a great frame that will allow him to continue to develop physically and put on good weight. He comes to us as an excellent pass rusher, and he is also just what we're looking for at the defensive end position in terms of development. We are excited that he will be able to join us in January and get started."

Kuony Deng, LB, 6'6", 235 lbs, Jr (Independence CC/John Champe HS)

Deng's about as unique a player as you'll get at the college level. He can play either inside or outside linebacker, he has fantastic length, and the general tag on him is that the Cal staff is just going to let him loose as every position they can put him at. He's got a ton of potential, though he is relatively new to the game of football. He'll be in immediate contention for reps, as he practiced with the Bears in the leadup to the bowl game.

2018 stats: 48 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 1 sack, 6 QB hurries, 6 PBUs, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery in 10 games played

"He's 6'5"+ and about 230 right now, you don't see a lot of guys that height do it," Peter Sirmon said about potentially putting Deng at ILB, "but you see his Independence film, he does it for the whole season, he plays like an inside linebacker. We'll have to see what's best for him and what's the best configuration for the guys we have coming back."

Isaiah Humphries, S, 5'11", 190, RS Fr. (Penn State/Sachse HS)

Cal landed Humphries after a visit on January 13th, as the Sachse product announced a transfer from Penn State at the end of November. Humphries will have to sit out in 2019 unless the Bears can get a waiver for him, but should be in contention to start in 2020 after Ashtyn Davis, Jaylinn Hawkins, and Trey Turner all graduate. Gerald Alexander kept on Humphries once the redshirt freshman put his name in the transfer portal.

"He was the first person to contact me," Humphries said, "and I already had them on my mind, because I knew that I wanted to go out there. After I put my name out there in the Portal and I was thinking about where I wanted to go, it just happened that they had room, they had needs, and I kept that relationship with coach Alexander through my recruitment, the relationship was still in good standing, so he picked me up."

Devon Modster, QB, 6'2", 215 lbs, Jr. (Palomar College/UCLA/Tesoro HS)

Modster kept Cal out of a bowl in 2017, oh how the turntables...

Anyhow, Modster's set to compete for the starting QB job after transferring from UCLA. The former four star (and friend of incoming WR transfer Kekoa Crawford) is immediately eligible and is familiar with Marques Tuiasosopo, his main recruiter when he initially went to UCLA. Either way, he'll either make Chase Garbers better, or elevate the level of QB play.

Jack Newman, QB, 6'1", 200 lbs. RS SO (CCSF/Analy HS)

Newman turned down four FBS offers to walk-on at Cal, and will look to earn a starting spot through the spring. Newman comes from Analy HS in Sebastopol, by way of CCSF, as he and Collins will reunite at Cal, as Newman visited the Bears on the final weekend before the first signing day.

2018 stats: 3,468 yards, 31 TDs, 12 INTs, 61.1% completion

Orin Patu, OLB, 6'4", 200 lbs. Fr. (Rainier Beach HS)

Patu came back up to Berkeley right after playing in the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii. Patu should be one of the players to benefit the most from getting in early, as he'll need to put on some weight to adjust to the OLB role Tim DeRuyter sees him in. Patu's father played with Justin Wilcox and Peter Sirmon at Oregon

"Orin is an athletic player who has displayed the ability to be an excellent pass rusher," Wilcox said in the press release. "Coach Sirmon and I have a long history with his family, having played at Oregon with his father Saul. It's great to have that history with his family and we know the type of makeup and potential he has."

Makai Polk, WR, 6'3", 175 lbs, Fr. (El Cerrito HS)

Polk comes in from nearby El Cerrito, where he helped push a good El Cerrito team to a 9-4 record and a perfect 5-0 in conference. He played both ways for the Gauchos, but will add to the WR depth at Cal. He looked strong at Cal's camp over the summer of 2018, playing both ways for El Cerrito's 7 on 7 team and looking fluid with the ball in his hands. He's also a guy who'll be able to use the extra strength and conditioning to bulk up.

2018 stats: 30 receptions, 900 yards, 10 TDs; 42 tackles, 8 INTs

"We were very impressed with Makai when we saw him at one of our summer camps," Wilcox said, "he wasn't being heavily recruited at the time, but he definitely made a strong impression on us with his competitiveness and ability to stretch the field and go up and get the ball."