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Cal Sports Report

OL Joshua Bunni Has Never Played Football but Commits to Cal

Joshua Bunni is from Australia, and played Aussie Rules football and rugby growing up
Jake Curtis|
Tosh Lupoi
Tosh Lupoi | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cal picked up another Northern California commitment, this one by way of Australia, when three-star offensive lineman Joshua Bunni announced on social media on Sunday that he has committed to Cal for the class of 2027.

Bunni is an unusual recruit because he has never played in a football game.

The 6-foot-6, 335-pound Bunni attends Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California and becomes the third player to commit to Cal’s 2027 class in the past 24 hours,

He joins four-star athlete Elyjah Staples and four-star tight end Rahzario Edwards as players who committed as a result of visits to the Cal campus this weekend.

Bunni is a different kind of commitment, because he has never play a down of football at any level, but he nonetheless had football scholarship offers from BYU, Washington, Utah and Arizona as well as Cal based on his showing at camps.

He is from Melbourne, Australia, and he played Aussie Rules football and rugby growing up. He never played America football but he was impressive in Warriors 4 Youth Showcase in Hawaii in January.

That film caused a number of schools to show interest in him.

Bunni added to his resume with another impressive showing at the Rivals Elite Camp that was held in San Francisco this spring.

Here’s a taste of what he did:


Bunni is the 14th high school player to commit to Cal for the class of 2027.

Rivals rates him as a three-star prospect, but ESPN and On3 don't give him a rating since he has never played in a football game.

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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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