Tony Mekari commits to Cal, flips from Arizona

Westlake defensive tackle and former Arizona Wildcats verbal commitment Tony Mekari has flipped his commitment to the California Golden Bears. Mekari is ranked as a two or three-star defensive tackle by all of the recruiting services. He has offers from only Cal and Arizona but was heavily pursued by both teams.

Mekari reportedly might have made an unofficial visit to Cal on Monday after supposedly cancelling his official that weekend, and it was enough to make him become a Bear. Mekari cited his family and the Cal coaching staff as primary reasons for switching his verbal to the Bears. Also, Mekari's primary recruiter at Arizona was Robert Anae, and he recently departed to BYU to accept the offensive coordinator job.

The Mekari commitment gives Cal their first real defensive tackle of their 2013 recruiting class. Cal already has commitments from four defensive ends like Takkarist McKinley, Garrett Hughes and JuCo transfers Kyle Kragen and Sione Sina.

With Mekari's decommitment, Arizona is down to only Luca Bruno as their only defensive tackle verbal. Arizona also has commitments from Calvin Allen and Jack Banda.