[Goose]

Mendoza was out the door before the season ended.  His “sick out” v. SMU was a big clue regarding his interest in staying at Cal.  He also successfully convinced the recruit that Oregon was a better spot for him than Berkeley leading to the late switch in the recruit’s allegiance.  

Once the recruit watched some pre-Rose Bowl practices in Eugene (and heard Coach Lanning laud Dante Moore), he realized his path to seeing the field would be significantly better at Cal than UO, he left Oregon and headed to California.

True. However the scenario preceding the above was that Mendoza found out after Big Game that Bloesch had indeed promised JKS the starting job. After that, Mendoza was gone and also angry. It was also the supposed reason Mendoza convinced JKS that Kal was a bad place to be. It was a big change from Mendoza's immediate post Big Game words that caught everyone by surprise. From deeply praising "my guys" to a "sick out"? Made no sense otherwise. Not sure how much of this is true, but it is at least plausible. JKS has stated (FWIW) that Kal's new OC was a big factor in him leaving Oregon and returning to Kal. I suspect that is more an excuse than a reason, but it may well be there was some shall we say "lack of trust" that got removed along with Bloesch as OC.

[Goose]

Mendoza was out the door before the season ended.  His “sick out” v. SMU was a big clue regarding his interest in staying at Cal.  He also successfully convinced the recruit that Oregon was a better spot for him than Berkeley leading to the late switch in the recruit’s allegiance.  

Once the recruit watched some pre-Rose Bowl practices in Eugene (and heard Coach Lanning laud Dante Moore), he realized his path to seeing the field would be significantly better at Cal than UO, he left Oregon and headed to California.

True. However the scenario preceding the above was that Mendoza found out after Big Game that Bloesch had indeed promised JKS the starting job. After that, Mendoza was gone and also angry. It was also the supposed reason Mendoza convinced JKS that Kal was a bad place to be. It was a big change from Mendoza's immediate post Big Game words that caught everyone by surprise. From deeply praising "my guys" to a "sick out"? Made no sense otherwise. Not sure how much of this is true, but it is at least plausible. JKS has stated (FWIW) that Kal's new OC was a big factor in him leaving Oregon and returning to Kal. I suspect that is more an excuse than a reason, but it may well be there was some shall we say "lack of trust" that got removed along with Bloesch as OC.