Cal Sports Report

Defensive Lineman Tiumalu Afalava Commits to Cal for 2023

Golden Bears had to beat out some big-name schools to land him

Jake Curtis

Tiumalu Afalava, a defensive lineman from Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, Calif., became the seventh player to commit to Cal for the class of 2023 when he made his announcement via social media on Wednesday. And the Golden Bears had to beat out some big-name football schools to get him.

Afalava chose Cal over offers from Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Florida State, Miami and Arizona State, among others.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Afalava is rated the nation's 85th-best defensive line prospect in the class by 247Sports.com, while the 247 Sports Composite rankings, which averages a number of ratings from recruiting sites, place Afalava as the 125th-best defensive line prospect in the country. Rivals.com ranks him as the 87th-best prospect in the state of California. 

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The six previous 2023 commitments to Cal were wide receiver Nyziah Hunter, safety RJ Jones, linebacker Cade Uluave, cornerback Sai Vadrawale, defensive tackle Ashton Sanders, and punter Ethan Baxter.

It is noteworthy that five of the commitments are on the defensive side of the ball.

Afalava's most recent visit to Berkeley was on June 17, and attended a Cal football camp. He was recruited primarily by Cal defensive line coach Andrew Browning.

Afalava is an edge rusher, which means he could either be a defensive end in Cal's 3-4 defense or an outside linebacker. Here is a look at what he can do.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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