Puskas Breaks Down His Cal Commitment

It took Liberty safety/linebacker Ryan Puskas a little longer to solidify his decision to commit to Cal than teammate Braxten Croteau did. About seven and a half hours longer in fact, but Puskas took his time, mulled on the decision, and came to the same conclusion that Croteau did, that Cal was home.

"It feels great," Puskas said about being committed, "with the time to be able to dwell on the trip, it just felt like home, it really did."

At the end of the day, having conversations with the Cal staff and one of their top players at his future position made the difference.

"It was really good to be able to hang out around all the coaching staff," Puskas said, "some of the players. JK (Jordan Kunaszyk), he's a really good dude, definitely someone you want to build your program around, and he's kinda like me, humble and ready to go. Coach Peter Sirmon, I talked to him, Coach Ragle of course, Coach Wilcox, Cory Nicol (Cal's director of player personnel), he toured us around, all those conversations were really, there wasn't really any bad conversation."

During some of those conversations, Puskas noted that the Bears are going to have him at inside linebacker, as he plans on making the move down from safety.

"I feel good, fired up," Puskas said about playing on the inside, "I'm actually coming down from safety and going into linebacker for my senior year, so I'll get some experience before I head off for college."

As far as a major goes, many incoming players say business as a catch-all subject, but Puskas is taking a different track.

"Architectural design," Puskas said about his preferred major, "they showed me the building and then we talked to the academic adviser about some of the architecture classes and all that. (You realize) just how important the academics are, everybody says student (first) in student-athlete, but there it's really beyond that."

That's something that Justin Wilcox and staff have emphasized, that it can't be just about football at Cal, and that came across for Puskas when he talked to his future head coach.

"It was a good conversation," Puskas said, "I really like him. He really cares about your well-being and your future overall, I think that's really important in a head coach."

Now that he's in, set to play with a good friend in Croteau going forward, Puskas appears to be locked in with the Bears.

"I'm not gonna take any more visits (elsewhere)," Puskas noted, "I feel locked in and committed to Cal. I'm definitely going to take an official visit there, but I'm gonna talk to my parents over the summer and see if we can take a visit up there."