Nonso Adimabua Returns For Fifth Year
BERKELEY – This could be Nonso Adimabua’s best season with the California men’s soccer team.
An imposing, 6-foot-4 striker now in his fifth collegiate season, Adimabua was back wearing his familiar No. 10 jersey and mugging for the camera on media day Monday and enjoying time with his teammates on the first day of training Tuesday, as the Golden Bears began their third season under head coach Leonard Griffin.
In his second year at Cal in 2023, Adimabua earned spots on the All-Pac-12 Second Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Third Team after helping lead Cal to seven wins, which more than doubled its win total of 2022. He was eligible to be selected in the MLS SuperDraft in December but, unlike fellow current Bears Wyatt Meyer and Kevin Carmichael, was not chosen.
Still, Adimabua could have left the Bears to pursue a professional soccer career – Cal even celebrated him on Senior Day last fall just in case – but the Asaba, Nigeria, product decided to return.
“First of all, I do have a few classes I have to finish,” Adimabua, a political economy major, explained. “Second of all, we did well last season and I thought about it, and I thought this program is only going to get better. I should finish my classes and play one more year with the team and have an even better last year in general.”
Adimabua’s connection with Griffin was a factor. Griffin originally recruited Adimabua to the University of San Francisco, where he coached the forward for one season.
“I look up to him and learn so much from him,” Adimabua said. “Knowing he’s a great coach and a great father, I want to stick around and learn a lot from him and grow also as a person. He recruited me and knows my family, and I love everything he does.”
Griffin is happy about his protégé’s return.
“I’m excited,” Griffin said. “He’s always been a pivotal point of our attack. He draws so much attention on the field. Obviously, off the field, I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a student-athlete with high character, which is very valuable both on and off the field. Maybe he had a few opportunities to try and play past this level, but I think that’s the power of the Cal degree and what a degree from UC Berkeley means. I’m so glad he’s back and will graduate. He’s setting himself up to be successful, whether that’s in soccer or outside of…
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