QB Jaden Casey on a Cal Commitment that 'Checked all the Boxes'
With a week post committing to Cal, Calabasas QB Jaden Casey noted that in addition to the academic side of things, the culture of the team and the coaching staff drew him to Berkeley after an official visit during the bye week.
"Football’s really important to me, it’s a dream of mine to go to the NFL, and I think coach Wilcox and coach Baldwin really drew me to them," Casey said, "with how cultured the team is, how cultured coach Wilcox is, the offense that coach Baldwin has, it’s an offense that works well for me, it checked off all the boxes for me. I had a bye week, they had a bye week and I spent a lot of time with the coaches, talking about the football aspect of the program, going over the offense, schemes, stuff like that. We talked about the education part, they took me on tours."
After Casey came up for the North Texas game, getting a look at some of the academic stuff with his mom in tow was an important piece of the official visit. Standing out in that regard was talking to Cal's director of career development Ron Coccimiglio. Coccimiglio runs the 'Life After Ball' program at Cal, and Casey cited that meeting as a big part of his trip.
"Taking my mom down there was important," Casey said, "talking to (Coccimiglio), my mom loved that meeting, talking about summer internships and stuff like that."
The North Texas visit was a time for Casey to come see the game atmosphere as well.
"It was awesome," Casey said, "I was sitting in the alumni section, and they love their football up there, definitely a lot of opinions in the stands, it’s kinda funny, fans take it personal and I do too, it was an awesome game and an awesome atmosphere."
Casey has gotten in on the recruit groupchat, which now has 23 members, though he's had a couple Cal commits in his ear for a while now.
"Trey Paster, he’s been the guy I’ve been talking to for a while now," Casey noted, "Chris Street I’ve talked to a little bit."
Right now, Casey's looking to finish out his senior year, one in which he's thrown for 25 touchdowns through 8 games (with a 6-2 record), and he's looking to lead Calabasas into the playoffs with people he's played with for all four years.
"It’s been going great, this is my third offensive coordinator in three years," Casey noted, "we have coach Curtis Conway, he’s taught me next-level things. I’ve been at Calabasas all four years, it’s good to get to cap off my senior year with my teammates."
No matter how that proceeds, Casey plans to come up for the USC game, as he's excited to be locked in with the Bears
"I’m just excited for me and my family, to be committed to Cal," Casey said, "I don’t have to be worried about it later in the season, I can just focus on my season. It’s good to know I’m going to such a prestigious University, with their education and football part, it’s just exciting."