Cal Sports Report

Class of 2027 Linebacker and Junior College Punter Commit to Cal

LB Gunnar Perry commits to Cal for 2027, and DVC punter Jacob Johnson commits to the Bears for next season
Jake Curtis|
Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi
Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi | Photo by Jake Curtis

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California Golden Bears

Cal picked up two commitments on Friday: Linebacker Gunnar Perry committed to Cal for the class of 2027, and punter Jacob Johnson, who played for Diablo Valley (Junior0 College this past season, committed to Cal for the 2026 season. Both made their announcements on social media.

Cal assistant general manager Marshall Cherrington confirmed those two commitments by retweeting their social media commitments on his twitter page.

One other player, edge Dabe Nwude of Palos Verdes High School, announced on social media this week that he has committed to Cal for the 2026 season, and On3 lists him as having committed to Cal on Thursday. However, there is no other confirmation of his commitment to any school, so his status remains somewhat unclear. He also had offers from Florida and Arizona State.

The 6-foot, 225-pound Perry is from Scottsdale, Arizona, and attends Notre Dame Preparatory High School in Cave Creek, Arizona. He is the second player in the class of 2027 to commit to Cal under new head coach Tosh Lupoi. He listed as an “athlete” by the 247Sports website and is categorized as a linebacker on the On3 website. He is expected to be a linebacker in college.

Cal appears to be the only school that offered Perry a scholarship at this early point in the recruiting process.

Jake Wilkinson of NXTGen Recruits, LLC reported that Perry received a scholarship offer from Cal last month.

Perry just completed his junior season and has not been assigned any stars or a national ranking yet. He is the younger brother of wide receiver Cooper Perry, who transferred from Oregon to Cal last month.

Johnson presumably will compete for the punting job at Cal next season.   The two players who shared the punting chores for Cal in 2025, Michael Kern and Brook Honore Jr., both entered the transfer portal last month.  The Bears brought in transfer punter Angus Davies, who did the punting for Tulsa the past three season.

Now the Bears bring in Johnson, who did the punting for Diablo Valley College the past two seasons.

In 2025, he punted 28 times for a 41.5-yard average. Seventeen of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line and eight resulted in fair catches. Only four were touchbacks.

As a freshman in 2024, Johnson punted 32 times and averaged 41.2 yards per punt. That season, 14 of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line, five were fair caught and one resulted in a touchback.

In 2025, Johnson punted 28 times for Diablo Valley College for a 41.5-yard average. Seventeen of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line and eight resulted in fair catches. Only four were touchbacks.

As a freshman in 2024, Johnson punted 32 times and averaged 41.2 yards per punt. That season, 14 of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line, five were fair caught and one resulted in a touchback.

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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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