It’s been an incredibly productive week for the Utah Utes football program on the recruiting front and particularly as it relates to junior college prospects, and that continued on Thursday.
On Thursday night, Cerritos College (California) wide receiver Luca Caldarella announced his commitment to the Utes on Twitter, becoming the fourth player overall to do so this week and the third from junior college.
Proud to say that I will be continuing my football career at the University of Utah‼️ #GoUtes #committed @_CoachBump @UteReef33 @UtahCoachWhitt pic.twitter.com/NFiFjoWYx5
— Luca Caldarella (@caldarella_luca) June 17, 2022
Listed by Cerritos at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Caldarella graduated from nearby Valley Christian in the spring of 2021.
According to a story by 247 Sports’ Greg Biggins in 2021, Caldarella didn’t have any scholarship offers at the time and had only heard from Army and New Mexico State from the Division I level, in part because high school football was not played in California in the fall of 2020 due to the pandemic.
So Caldarella went the junior college route, and in one season at Cerritos, he tallied 35 receptions for 482 yards with seven touchdowns in 11 games in 2021.
Still, Caldarella only received his first Division I scholarship offer on June 1, although it was a significant one, as Arizona State came calling.
Caldarella announced six days later on June 7 that he had received a scholarship offer from Utah, his second offer.
According to his bio on the Cerritos football program’s website, Caldarella is the cousin of Chad Manis, who also started his collegiate career at Cerritos before transferring to Utah.
Manis arrived in Salt Lake City as a quarterback in 2007 but moved to linebacker and became a productive starter.
According to a story by Biggins on Thursday, Caldarella has four years to use three years of his remaining eligibility.