Junior Jake Curhan recently verbally committed to University of California, Berkeley for football.

Over the summer, Curhan sent out a video to coaches and attended several college camps. Kosinski helped tremendously, giving Curhan phone numbers of various college coaches when they went through the recruiting process.

“I really had to be persistent with these coaches even though it is the most demeaning process ever. Until you get some success you have no idea what is going to happen,” Curhan said.

Curhan received offers from Dartmouth, Colorado State, Arizona State, Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Washington State. Curhan chose Cal out of all his other offers because it supports his academic interests, and the school’s football program is growing.

“I’d rather come into a program that isn’t fully established so I can make a bigger impact right away,” Curhan said. “It would be hard to play for a school that is already at its peak because I wouldn’t be able to make as big of an impact.”

Curhan hopes to make an impact when stepping on the team as a freshman. According to Curhan, another reason why he chose Cal was because they didn’t have a lot of other players at his position, an offensive tackle.

“[Berkeley] is shallow in the depth chart in my position. All of them are older, like juniors and seniors, so by the time I come in I will be able to compete for a position for 2 to 3 years,” Curhan said.

When Curhan began playing football freshman year, he had no idea that four years later he would play for a Division I team.

“I really didn’t know that I wanted to play in college until later when my friend and teammate Alex Kosinski was recruited to play at Arizona,” Curhan said. “I was like, ‘Hey, maybe I can do this too.”

Curhan attributes much of his success to Kosinski, who helped him start the recruiting process.

“At first, the game was so complicated and there were so many little things to understand, but Kosinski helped, teaching me how to make blocks and be aggressive,” Curhan said.

When deciding between schools, Curhan focused on how he would fit in as player, rather than the team’s ranking.

“It was definitely hard making a final decision. All the coaches kept influencing me and telling me to come to their school, throwing out reasons why. I went back and forth trying to choose the school with the best fit for me and I think I made a good choice,” Curhan said.