Jabari Bird to Cal, Wants to Bring Others Along

Jabari Bird committed to Cal as expected on Wednesday, and now he wants others to follow him.

The 6-foot-6 wing from Salesian High told the San Jose Mercury News he wants Oakland Soldiers teammate Aaron Gordon and fellow Californian Marcus Lee to join him.

“I’m definitely trying to get them now,” he told the paper after taking a weekend visit to Cal with both of them. “Hopefully, they can be Cal Bears with me. For the most part, both Marcus and Aaron liked the visit a lot. I’m just trying to build on that with them, so I can convince them to come to school with me.”

The 6-foot-9 Gordon out of Archbishop Mitty is planning five officials, to Washington, Arizona, Kentucky, Kansas and Oregon, and told SNY.tv in July that Washington, Arizona and Kentucky were his leaders.

The 6-9 Lee from Antioch (Calif.) Deer Valley has set several visits, including Louisville (Sept. 8), Kentucky (Oct. 12 for Big Blue Madness), Indiana (Oct. 20) and Duke (Oct. 27-28). He has also visited UCLA.

As for Bird, he cancelled visits to Washington, Oregon and Colorado after the Cal visit.

“I just feel like Cal is the right place for me. I woke up (Tuesday) and felt like it was time to decide,” Bird told the Mercury News. “It was comfortable, like I was at home.”

Bird averaged 18.7 points and 4.8 last season in leading Salesian to the Division IV state title.