S Raymond Woodie III on Choosing Cal the Second Time Around

It's a quick turnaround for Raymond Woodie III, as the former Florida State safety and newly minted Cal Bear went from putting his name in the transfer portal to committing to Cal to now signing with Cal in the span of a week and a half. Even with the quickness of the decision, Woodie's choice to come to Cal was grounded in knowledge from when the Bears recruited the former four-star recruit out of high school, along with a couple more years of maturity.

"They reached out to me really right when I entered the portal and built that relationship," Woodie told GoldenBearReport Sunday, "I was already familiar with a lot of the coaches from high school and they were one of my finalists coming out of high school. It was good to reconnect with them again, and I really thought it was the perfect match, not only on the field, but for the opportunities outside of football as well."

Cal was a school recruiting Woodie hard out of high school and the continuity with the majority of their defensive staff played a role in connecting with him quickly. What did change was the position coach recruiting him, with Marcel Yates taking over for Gerald Alexander last year, but the Cal DB coach has built a relationship with Woodie, looking at him as a solid tackler on the back end.

"I got a chance to talk with coach Yates," Woodie said, "love coach Yates and I'm really excited to work with everybody on the staff, excited to go up there, meet my teammates and get going. They liked that I'm a willing tackler, coming down to hit, guarding the slot, being able to come in and bring some experience."

Woodie has played in 19 games over the last two years, putting up 34 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one pass defended and one pass breakup over that time. He'll jump in with three years of eligibility remaining and the ability to play multiple safety spots. Cal used a handful of three safety sets last year, so there will be opportunities for Woodie to get on the field and contribute.

"I play all of them," Woodie said of where he fits, "last year I started some games at free (safety) and at box (safety), and even in the nickel I've got some experience guarding the slot. Whatever the team needs, that's what I'm going to do."

The football piece aside, the decision for Woodie came down to one of the main pitches for Cal in recruiting, the doors a degree from Cal can open.

"Just being more mature and realizing that being able to set yourself up after you're done playing the game," Woodie said, "whenever that is, having that degree from Cal and the weight it holds (is important). Being around places like Google, EA Sports, being in that big of a city with the connections, the different routes you can take are endless. That was a big selling point for me as well as the football aspect."

The recruitment of Woodie, like many in the past year, hasn't culminated with any sort of visit to Cal. Woodie noted that he's been in the state of California once, for a 7 on 7 tournament in Los Angeles. He lived in Eugene for a year while his father worked for Willie Taggart at Oregon, which was his sole year on the west coast. The change from Florida to California will be drastic, but Woodie is ready for it.

"I'm aiming to get up there sometime next week," Woodie said, "It's crazy sitting now and thinking about it, but I'm excited to get over there and get to work."