Linebacker Who Had Committed to Cal for 2026 Flips to Texas

Cal suffered another recruiting setback presumably as result of the Golden Bears’ vacant head coaching position.

Rocky Cummings, a three-star linebacker who had committed to Cal in June for the class of 2026, has flipped his commitment to Texas, according to a social message by Rivals recruiting expert Hayes Fawcett on Wednesday.

Cummings subsequently reposted Fawcett’s tweet, essentially confirming the information, and other recruiting sites have reported Cummings’ commitment to Texas as well.

Rocky Cummings reposts Hayes' Fawcett's tweet that he has committed to Texas | Rocky Cummings X

College teams that fire their football head coach invariably lose commitments from some recruits because of the prospects’ uncertainty about the program.

General manager Ron Rivera said he is not going to hurry the process of finding a successor to Justin Wilcox just to have somebody on board at the start of the signing period on December 3.

Several schools started to recruit Cummings in the past month, presumably because of Cal’s unsettled situation with its head coach.

Minnesota, Utah, BYU, San Diego State and Arizona were among the other schools that offered Cummings, who visited the Texas campus this past weekend.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pount Cummings attends Carlsbad High School in Carlsbad, California. The 247Sports site ranks him as the nation’s 37th-best linebacker prospect in the class of 2026, and Rivals ranks him 53rd.

Cal still has 17 commitments in the class of 2026, but players are not officially bound to a school until they sign a financial agreement, formerly known as a letter of intent. The first day high school players can sign a financial agreement with a college is December 3.

Cal has a 6-5 record this season heading into Saturday evening’s home game against 21st-ranked SMU (8-3). The Mustangs will clinch a berth in the ACC championship game if they beat Cal.

Cal offensive analyst Nick Rolovich will serve as the Bears’ interim head coach for the Cal game against SMU as well as Cal’s bowl game.

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