Beverly Hills Quarterback to Attend California

Ziv Gottlieb, Beverly Hills High’s two-time All-Westside quarterback, said Tuesday that he has made an unwritten commitment to attend California.

“It has everything I was looking for in a school--academics, their football program is up-and-coming and it’s away from home, but close enough so that it’s not a six-hour flight when I want to come home,” Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb, who passed for 2,825 yards and 27 touchdowns to lead the Normans to a school-record 10 victories and a berth in the Southern Section Division VIII semifinals last season, also visited Stanford, Colorado State, Duke and UCLA.

Gottlieb said he would not have ended up at California had Bruce Snyder, who left for Arizona State, still been coach because another top quarterback had committed to the school in late December.

“I thought it was done, but the new coaching staff came in, called and said they were real interested,” Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb was recruited by Keith Gilbertson, Washington’s offensive coordinator before going to Cal.

Gottlieb visited the Berkeley campus last weekend. His host on the trip was Perry Klein, the former Palisades High standout who is expected to be California’s starting quarterback this season.

The recruiting process taught Gottlieb that college athletics was, “more of a business than I thought of before.”

“The recruiters compliment you and everything, but they’re looking out for themselves first,” Gottlieb said. “The good thing is that I had my coach (Carter Paysinger) and brother (Erez Gottlieb, an offensive lineman at Colorado) explain things to me and I used that to my advantage.”

Gottlieb is expected to sign a letter of intent Wednesday, the first permissible day under NCAA rules.