The Bears picked up some needed experienced depth in the quarterback room with the commitment today of Ohio University redshirt senior QB CJ Harris after his official visit.
"It was great," Harris said of his visit. "The setting, being from a Midwestern area like Detroit, I think for me being out west and kind of being a really cool area like the bay, you've got all the major cities around. The weather is amazing. It feels great, 70-80 degrees. I love it out there. It was great for sure. That most definitely went to the decision."
Though he hasn’t had a great deal of collegiate starts, the 6-4/220 Harris proved himself in several recent critical opportunities, including earning MAC Offensive Player of the Week in his first career start late in 2022 in a big win over Bowling Green where he accounted for 4 TDs including 3 on the ground. He was also named the Arizona Bowl MVP to cap off the season when Ohio defeated Wyoming in OT, 30-27 with Harris going 20-for-33 for 188 yards and 2 TDs and no interceptions, also picking up a net 52 yards on the ground.
In 2023, Harris had a rough start in Ohio’s narrow season-opening loss to San Diego State, throwing 3 interceptions in the defeat but he bounced back the next week completing 7-of-8 passes before going down with an injury that forced him to miss the rest of the season.
Since entering the portal two weeks ago, Harris and the Cal staff have developed a quick bond culminating in his visit and commitment.
"It's been great," Harris said. "They've been talking to me for a couple weeks now. They were on top of things with me coming out for a visit and I was, too. Talking to Coach Gilbert, talking to Coach Bloesch, Coach Wilcox and Coach Johnson, the quarterback GA, they seem to me like they have a lot of faith in my ability and what I can do and how I can get developed so it's been great.
"They like the fact that I have experience but also I think they like the fact that I'm able to move, I'm agile, and like I said, me having the experience of being able to play college football before. I think it's gonna really help me a lot in my development and getting used to the offense quicker."
Academically, Harris has excelled in the classroom, earning both his undergraduate diploma and a Master’s in Management. He’ll be enrolling in Cal’s Entrepreneurship certificate program this fall with two seasons of eligibility with 2020 not counting towards eligibility and a redshirt season in 2021. Having missed most of 2023, he could be eligible for a 7th season with a petition in 2025.
Harris becomes the 39th signee of the 2024 Cal recruiting class as the portal recruiting season winds to a close.
To an extent, I'm still wrapping my head around this new portal recruiting process. Clearly we have a lot of athletes who showed great interest, but chose somewhere else, experienced buyer's remorse and reconsidered Cal as their final destination. This is a gargantuan and talented class. If they gel, watch out!
Welcome to Cal...a fresh start and a new conference. I got tired of biased refs gypping us at Oregon and USC, it was the same old, well-worn patterns of hierarchy.
Here, every game will be a new experience, and will generate excitement.
