Jeremiah Hunter Leads Cal’s Talented But Inexperienced Wide Receivers
When you look at Jeremiah Hunter, Mason Starling, J.Michael Studivant, Mavin Anderson and Tommy Christakos you see endless possibilities at Cal’s wide receiver position. What you don’t see is experience, so we don’t really know whether they will be productive on game day next fall.
The Bears’ top three receivers in terms of receptions last year (Trevon Clark, Nikko Remigio, Kekoa Crawford) are all gone, leaving a major hole at the wideout spot. The Bears are trying to develop that position during the spring, and there have been signs of budding stardom.
“I feel like we’ll be great,” Hunter said in the video atop the story. “I feel like we’ll be the fire-starters for the offense.”
That, of course, depends on the quality of the Bears’ starting quarterback, but Hunter will be a prime target whichever player is throwing the ball.
Hunter is the Bears’ only current wideout who has shown he can excel in the Pac-12. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior had 21 receptions in nine games in 2021 and averaged 18.5 yards per reception. He has demonstrated that he is a big-play threat. Injuries the past two years have been the only things holding him back.
“We saw flashes of what he can do,” head coach Justin Wilcox said. “We’ve got to find ways to get him the ball, because he’s a play-making guy.”
Hunter is one certain starter, and he is likely to be paired with Sturdivant, Cal’s top-rated recruit in the class of 2021. He played sparingly as a true freshman, but he has the tools to be something special.
“It sure makes sense to have he and Jeremiah on the field at the same time,” Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said of Sturdivant.
At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds with plenty of speed, Sturdivant just needs to perfect his technique and his knowledge of the position to have a significant impact.
“He can just do some things that not many people can do in terms of his speed and him being as tall and long as he is,” Wilcox said.
Starling is the lone junior-college transfer on the team, and you don’t bring in a JC transfer unless you expect him to contribute immediately at a position of need. His progress during the spring has been slowed by a hamstring injury, which has limited his participation in drills. But the fact that he had 13 touchdown reception last season at College of San Mateo indicates he can be a big-play receiver.
“Red zone,” said Starling in the video below when asked how he was able to score so many touchdowns.
At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, Starling makes a good target close to the end zone. The Bears need that because they ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in red-zone offense, scoring 78 percent of the time once they got inside the 20-yard line. Their 24 red-zone touchdowns were the tied for the third fewest in the conference.
Starling said grades prevented him from enrolling in a four-year school out of high school, but he has the look of a Pac-12 possession receiver now.
“The obvious you see is Starling’s size; he’s huge,” Cal wide receivers coach Burl Toler said in the video below. “Big hands, long body, and he can run.”
Anderson has made considerable improvement in the offseason and has impressed coaches in practice, so he figures to be a factor in the fall.
But the standout in spring so far has been Christakos. He probably didn’t figure as a first- or second-team receiver when the spring began, but he has made so many impressive plays in the first few spring practices that he has to be challenging for serious playing time.
“Top-shelf Tommy we call him,” Toler said.
At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Christakos can just jump up and snatch the ball away from smaller defensive backs, and he has demonstrated that ability often during the spring.
Third-year player Justin Richard Baker and fifth-year player Monroe Young are also in the mix at wideout, but if you are looking for a Cal player who will step out of anonymity and into stardom in 2022, choose from among Hunter, Sturdivant, Starling and Christakos. Cal needs at least two of them to have breakout seasons to be competitive in the Pac-12.
Cover photo of Jeremiah Hunter by Al Sermeno
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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