St. Augustine DB Tyson McWilliams became Cal's 23rd commitment in the 2020 class, committing after his official visit for the Oregon State game, and the thing about the Bears that got him, in addition to the football side of things, was the Bears' Life after Ball program.

"What really got me was the degree," McWilliams said, "the life after football program they've got there really sets you up for your future, not only football, but they've said it's not a four year commitment, it's a forty year commitment having a Cal degree, and that experience will set you up for life."

In fact, it was after a meeting with Ron Coccimiglio, Cal's Director of Career Development, that McWilliams and his mom knew that Cal was the place for him.

"That was a big deal for me and my mom. Parents, the education is what they want for their kids," McWilliams noted, "so after that meeting, she gave me that look like 'it's not going to get better than this,' so after that, we met with coach Wilcox. In between those meetings, my mom said 'I can see you here,' and I said the same thing. I committed to coach Wilcox in our meeting, it was really exciting."

The meeting with coach Wilcox is where he committed.

"I'm a quiet guy, so I was like 'coach I want to commit and be a part of this,'" McWilliams recalled. "He was like 'really?' I was like 'yeah,' he said 'are you gonna make it public,' I said 'of course,' and he was excited about it. They're excited, they're building something special with the 2020 class I feel. Coach Alexander was excited as well, he's ready to get to work, and so am I, I want to learn as much as I can from that man right there."

McWilliams got added to the recruit groupchat, as he's been welcomed by a handful of guys to the 2020 group.

"Trey Paster, he's kinda the face of it all," McWilliams said, "he's trying to get more guys to commit. He kinda got me, Justin Baker's real cool, Chris Street, Ricky (Correia), Jaden Casey too, just talking football and what we're going to do when we get there."

Now McWilliams is part of a five man DB group in 2020, with Paster, DeJuan Butler, Collin Gamble, and Isaiah Young, and McWilliams got to see what his group could be in the form of Cal's senior defensive back class.

"Seeing their senior class now, that's the goal. Seeing the way that guys like Ashytn Davis communicate," McWilliams said, "they're like a DB family, whoever gets the recognition, it's them as a whole. I feel like that's a direction this freshman group can go with this unit. I got to see them working out on Sunday, we were eating dinner at the top of the stadium, they were putting in some footwork on their off-day. Coach Alexander said, 'that's what it takes right there, no one asked them to be out there,' they were doing some cone drills. That stood out to me, because those guys are seniors and they're putting in that work."

Until he gets to Cal, he's focusing on the remainder of his high school season, playing both ways for St. Augustine and returning kicks.

"We're 7-2 going into the last regular season game," McWilliams said,"we're currently 3rd in San Diego County, behind Cathedral (Catholic) and Helix, who we both lost to. We're looking to close out strong going into the playoff, where we're probably going to have to play Cathedral or Helix again first round, so our guys are looking forward to that. I think we have a good chance at winning CIF this year, we've just got to get healthy and make a playoff push like we did last year."

McWilliams is now at the end of his recruiting process, but now he gets to be a representative of his future school every time he goes out on the field.

"For it to be over, it's a relief in a way," McWilliams said, "where I can focus on the rest of my high school season. There's a lot of excitement, because I'm representing the Cal Bears when I'm playing for the Saints too, it's a lot to play for and it's really exciting."