Cal Sports Report

Defensive Lineman Mays Pese Commits to Cal for 2025

Pese is the Bears' 12th commitment from a high school prospect for the class of 2025

Jake Curtis

Mays Pese
Mays Pese /
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Mays Pese, a three-star defensive tackle from Santa Barbara, Calif., announced on social media on Sunday evening that he has committed to Cal for 2025.

The 6-foot-2, 275-pound Pese was among a large contingent of recruits who visited Cal this past weekend.  He becomes the 12th high school prospect to commit to Cal in the class of 2025.

Pese attends Bishop Garcia Diego High School and chose Cal over offers from Michigan State, Arizona, Oregon State, Washington State, Fresno State and Boise State, among others. He had received a scholarship offer from Cal in March, a few days before Arizona and Michigan State made their offers to him.

Eight of the Bears’ 12 commitments for 2025 are defensive players and three play on the defensive line.

Cal has been stacking up commitments lately as eight of their 12 commitments have come since May 20.

Pese recorded 63 tackles, including 46 solo stops, as a junior in 2023.  He also had six tackles for loss, one sacks and one forced fumble.

He is ranked as the nation’s 120th-best defensive line prospect in the class by 247 Sports, while Rivals did not give him a national ranking but lists him as the 88th-best prospect in the state of California.

"I really like the academics at Cal," Pese told Bear Insider. "They talked to me about the degree if I graduated from there. A Cal degree will really help my family and they have really good academic support, too. I went to other schools and visited them and most of the schools, they only talk about football. I went to Cal and they talked to me about life after football. A big thing that stood out to me, because I know football is going to end for me point, but what I can do in football can only last so long but a Cal degree can take me 40 to more years in life. I don't just play football, but my focus is also very academic."

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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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