UPDATE: Hart QB comments on Cal commitment

Hart quarterback JT Shrout throws a pass during an 11-on-11 practice against Crescenta Valley at Hart this summer. Katharine Lotze/The Signal
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Hart High senior quarterback JT Shrout has already delivered on one goal in prompt fashion.

The outcome of another aspiration will have to wait until the fall.

Shrout, a three-star recruit and the poster boy for those who believe players can wait their turn at one high school and still be recruited, committed to Cal Berkeley on Monday, one week after he said he’d be making his college choice before the start of the 2017 high school season.

Shrout said he wanted to decide between his list of 10 offers before the fall, in part, so he could turn his attention to another long-standing goal: ending Valencia’s Foothill League title run.

“That’s been the goal since you step on campus,” Shrout said of beating the Vikings, who have won the last eight league crowns. “Everyone knows that’s the team to beat.”

There were those, of course, who wondered why Shrout stayed at Hart long enough to get a shot at Valencia, after he backed up Nick Moore in 2015 and 2016.

Shrout says he never really considered leaving.

“No not really,” said Shrout, who joins Joe Kapp and Kyle Boller as Hart signal callers to pick Cal. “I have had people reach out to me, but I told them I was going to stay at Hart and stick through it.”

Several factors favored Hart.

Shrout’s father Jim played receiver for the Indians in the 1980s, his family on both sides has attended Hart dating back to the 1950s, and he said he loves playing for coach Mike Herrington.

“I knew if I stayed and had a good senior year, opportunities would open up,” Shrout said.

Really, they came a little sooner.

As of Friday, Shrout had offers from Cal, UNLV, Fresno State, San Diego State, Ball State, Colorado State, Hawaii, Montana State, Weber State and San Jose State.

He has said that playing in the Pac-12 was always a dream. But his pick of the Golden Bears wasn’t all about football.

Another influencer was Cal’s business school, regarded as one of the best in the nation.

“That’s what I want to major in,” Shrout said, “and the connections they have for me after football (are great).”

Shrout toured Berkeley on Friday, meeting with coaches and checking out the campus.

He called head coach Justin Wilcox with his decision on Monday before posting the news to Twitter.

“It has been a blessing getting to know Coach Wilcox, his staff and to have the opportunity to play college football for a great program as well as get a phenomenal education that will prepare me for life after my football career,” Shrout wrote on Twitter.

Cal went 5-7 under then-coach Sonny Dykes in 2016. It currently has five quarterbacks on its roster.

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