Cal Sports Report

Hawaiian TE Taimane Purcell Commits to Cal Football for 2026

Oregon, USC and Tennessee were among the schools that offered Purcell before he chose Cal
Jake Curtis|
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Three-star tight end Taimane Purcell, who had offers from USC, Tennessee and Oregon among others, committed to Cal for the class of 2026, according to multiple reports.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Purcell attends Kamehameha High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is ranked as the nation’s 30th-best tight end prospect in the class, according to 247 Sports, and On3 rated him the 38th-best tight end prospect.

Purcell was one of a number of prospects who visited Cal this past weekend, and he is the fifth player from that group to commit to Cal in the past few days, joining offensive tackle Tommy Tofi, four-star running back Victor Santino,  defensive tackle Nemyah Telona and offensive lineman Elisha Faamatuainu.

Cal has about a dozen more prospects visiting the campus this coming weekend.

Cal tight end coach Mike Saffell was the primary recruiter for Purcell.

Besides USC, Oregon and Tennessee, Purcell also had offers from Florida, BYU, Oklahoma State, SMU, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, UCLA, Utah, Arizona State and Stanford.

At Cal, Purcell joins a number of players from Hawaii, including quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and safety Aiden Manutai.

“For Cal, it’s that Poly pipeline with Aiden Manutai and Jaron Sagapolutele,”Purcell told Rivals. "Just knowing people from over there and coming from Hawaiian culture, there is that family feel."

247 Sports national recruiting analyst Greg Biggins said this about Purcell:

Purcell is on the short list when talking about the top all around tight ends out West. He’s a two-way player and talented enough to play college ball at the edge rusher position but is being recruited primarily as a tight end. We had a chance to see him at the Warriors 4 Youth Camp back in January and he really flashed for us. Boasts an athletic 6-3, 235 pound frame, is a fluid mover and shows natural hands as a pass catcher. He’s extremely quick off the line, can stop and start on a dime and can separate down the field. Shows high level body control to win jump ball battles and has the strength to catch the ball through contact. Strong in-line blocker and his physicality shows up in his ability to break tackles after the catch and on the defensive side of the ball. May not have ideal tight end size but makes up for it with a large catch radius, quick twitch explosiveness and toughness. Projects as a high Power 4 prospect with an NFL ceiling.

Two weeks ago, Purcell talked about his recruitment, the Poly pipeline at Cal, and his style:

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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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