OLB Patu Picks Cal After Saturday Visit, Camp
During Cal's lineman camp Saturday, the Bears' staff lined up outside linebacker Orin Patu against 2020 OL commit Everett Johnson on multiple occasions in one on ones. It's a matchup they'll be seeing for years to come, as Patu committed to the Cal staff Saturday, announcing his commitment Sunday.
"I committed yesterday, it feels great," Patu said. "I know that that's the spot for me. The coaches have great leadership on the team, and I like where they're headed. I want to be a part of their program and do great things for them."
Patu, a three star outside linebacker from Rainier Beach HS (by way of Sheldon HS in Eugene, OR), had been recruited by Tony Tuioti ever since the Bears offered on his initial visit back in April, but there's been a whole host of coaches getting to know him.
"He's the main coach that was recruiting me," Patu said ,"so it was good to come back to see him again. Coach Wilcox, Coach Sirmon, coach Tuioti, coach (Andrew) Browning (defensive quality control coach), coach Alexander, coach DeRuyter, coach Hank (Weinberger, Director of Recruiting), a lot of coaches on their staff have been talking to me."
Of note, Wilcox and Sirmon played with Patu's father, Saul Patu, while at Oregon.
Read: Patu Trusts the Process, Gets Cal Offer
Listed at 6'4" and 190 lbs by the Rivals database, Patu is slim, and got the comparison to Cameron Goode because of it. He'll be playing that Sam linebacker position like Goode, and showed some solid edge rushing skills during the camp, and had the benefit of watching his reps from the camp afterward with the coaches. He'll have to gain size and get more comfortable in coverage, but during the camp, Patu's athleticism was on display. He moves well in space, and having long arms with the speed that he has makes him difficult to block on the edge.
Patu, who will join Ryan Puskas and Blake Antzoulatos at the linebacker position in the class of 2019, noted that he'll take an official visit to Cal sometime in the fall, is the 12th member of Cal's 2019 class. He joins McKade Mettauer in committing today as well, and picked the Bears over offers from Virginia, Boise State, and Washington State. As for why today was that day for Patu?
"I've just been thinking about it, it's been heavily on my mind. I felt like this was the right time to do it, so I did it."