How Does Khairi Fortt Help Cal?
On Wednesday, former Penn State linebacker Khairi Fortt announced that he would leaving State College to head out west to join the Cal Bears. The transfer is a blow to the depth at Linebacker U., but how will his arrival change the fortunes of the Boys of Berkeley?
Fortt is a junior with two more years of eligibility who was originally recruited by Cal out of high school. He was an ESPN 150 recruit and a U.S. Army All-American who made an official visit to Berkeley during his recruiting process, and had some pretty glowing remarks about the campus. He found Cal to be a beautiful place that was a huge contrast to what he was used to back east in his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut. He described Berkeley as much more “laid back,” and noted there was an abundance of “hippies,” which made him chuckle. Now, he’ll get to move into the renovated Memorial Stadium, which will only enhance the visual appeal of the Cal program.
Coming into the 2012 season, Fortt was listed as the “co-starter” on the Penn State roster at the middle linebacker position, but was most likely going to be the first linebacker off the sideline in the defensive rotation. In his career with the Nittany Lions, Fortt made 50 tackles with seven tackles for loss in 23 games. Last season, he had his best season, making 33 tackles, including 6 for loss, with 2.5 sacks. He missed much of the spring with a knee injury, but was still being looked to contribute heavily for the Nittany Lions.
At Cal, he’ll join a linebacking corps that finds itself surprisingly deep. Last week, there was some doubt who would be able to step up and replace the Pac-12 defensive player of the year, Mychal Kendricks. However, in the last week, the Bears have reinstated sophomore Cecil Whiteside (who had been dismissed from the team in the spring for breaking undisclosed team rules) who made 18 tackles and three sacks in his freshman campaign. Whiteside will likely be the primary backup to Chris McCain, another talented sophomore who made 28 tackles and 3 sacks in 2011. In addition, the Bears will put Dave Wilkerson, Dan Camporeale, Robert Mullins, Nick Forbes, and Jason Gibson into the rotation. Combined with the arrival of Fortt, the Bears now find themselves deep in backers.
Fortt will slide right into the linebacker rotation for Jeff Tedford‘s defense. He has the quickness to slip blocks well between the tackles and the speed to close well when chasing the run. In his one start at Penn State against Iowa, Fortt showed off above-average instincts and was able to line up inside and outside, which showed off his football intelligence. His versatility to play both inside and outside will only help his standing in defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast‘s base 3-4 scheme. The wide open race to replace both of their inside linebackers last season will give Fortt plenty of opportunities to win a starting spot with just his natural ability.
The hurdles that Fortt will have to overcome if he wants to contribute this season is just the short amount of time he’ll have to learn a brand new defense. Changing schemes is never easy, and coming from Penn State’s base 4-3 to Cal’s 3-4 will present all kinds of new challenges and wrinkles to learn. Fortt is expected to report to camp on Friday and start practicing on Saturday, which doesn’t give Pendergast and his staff much time to get the linebacker up to speed. On top of that, there is the question of his health after missing time during spring practices. If he is able to learn on the fly and stay healthy, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about his chances to succeed and contribute to the Cal Bears success this season.
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