One thing about having a consensus All-American cornerback is that eventually you will have to replace him. Nohl Williams emerged as a star in the Cal secondary over the last two seasons, but the Bears must now look for a replacement with the senior moving on in his career.

The work to begin finding his replacement continued Friday night as FIU transfer Hezekiah Masses announced his commitment to Cal following a visit to Berkeley last week. Masses, who has played in 36 games over his career with the Panthers, picked the Bears over Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

He took visits to all three schools before coming to a decision.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound cornerback will head to Berkeley with plenty of experience under his belt. He has played and started all three seasons at FIU including making 10 starts and playing in 12 games during the 2024 season.

The Deerfield Beach, Florida native has appeared in 36 contests overall and has played both cornerback spots at different points in his career.

Masses was a preseason All-Conference USA selection by multiple outlets and followed that up by putting together another strong statistical season. He came up just four tackles shy of his career high, which he set in 2023, with 38 tackles this year to go along with 1 tackle for loss, his second career interception, 5 passes defensed and his first career forced fumble.

Over his three-year career, Masses has totaled 105 tackles (74 solo) to go along with 4.5 tackles for loss and 14 passes defensed.

Masses is the third public transfer addition for the for the Bears up to this point in the cycle, but that number is expected to grow in the final visit weekend before the start of the new year. Defensive lineman Tyson Ford (Notre Dame) and kicker Kyle Cunanan (Charlotte) are the other two newcomers Cal has added via the portal this offseason.