College Football Recruiting: 5 Reasons Arik Armstead Should Pick Cal over Auburn

With just a few days left until National Signing Day on Feb. 1, much of the recruiting focus has now shifted to the top remaining uncommitted prospects in the country, as everyone tries to figure out where many of this year's big-name recruits will ultimately end up. 

One of the most highly touted prospects still remaining on the market is OT/DE tweener Arik Armstead, a 4-star prospect out of California's Pleasant Grove high school. 

Armstead has been one of the biggest mysteries of the 2012 class, as the former USC commit has yet to give any true indication of where he could be headed to play his college ball. 

What we do know is that schools like Auburn, California, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington are all still supposedly in the running.

Even though it's still tough to get a read on his recruitment, what we do know is that Armstead has shown some definitive interest in both Cal and Auburn, and he met with both head coaches, Gene Chizik and Jeff Tedford, this week. 

While we'll have to wait until National Signing Day to hear his official announcement, here's a look at five reasons that Armstead would be wise to choose Cal over Auburn.

At 6'8", 280 pounds, Arik Armstead is perfectly built to flourish as a 3-4 defensive end, and he would be a much better fit in Clancy Pendergast's 3-4 system at Cal than he would be in Auburn's 4-3 system. 

Armstead has said on numerous occasions that he hopes to play defensive end in college, instead of offensive tackle, and if he chooses the Bears, he'll definitely have that chance. 

With his type of size, strength and athleticism, Armstead has the chance to develop into a dominant defensive end in a 3-4 defense. 

We've seen Cal produce plenty of quality defensive linemen in recent years, with Trevor Guyton, Tyson Alualu and Cameron Jordan being the most recent examples.

If Armstead goes to Berkeley, he has all the makings to be the next great Cal defensive lineman. 

With both of last year's starting defensive ends—Trevor Guyton and Ernest Owusu—gone, Cal is now going to have some big holes to fill along the defensive line. 

That means a highly touted prospect like Arik Armstead would have a terrific opportunity to come in and start right away as a freshman. 

If Armstead chooses Auburn, he would likely have to sit behind Nosa Eguae and Corey Lemonier, who have already proven themselves to be capable starters. Plus, the Tigers have strong depth at the position with guys like Craig Sanders, Dee Ford and Devaunte Sigler. 

If Armstead wants to start early in his career, he would be wise to choose Cal.

Shaq Thompson is one of the high-profile Cal commits who was shocked by the news that Tosh Lupoi had left the Bears to join Steve Sarkisian's staff at Washington, and it's put his commitment to Cal in major jeopardy. 

Still, even though he's opened things back up in recent weeks, there's still a good chance that the Sacramento native could end up down at Cal, the same school his brother Syd'Quan played for. 

Growing up so close to each other, Thompson and Arik Armstead are both friends and they've openly talked about the idea of being a package deal. 

If Thompson stays committed to Cal, Armstead could be intrigued by joining his buddy in Berkeley

Arik Armstead lives in Pleasant Grove, California, a suburb of Sacramento, which is a little less than two hours from the campus of California-Berkeley. 

If Armstead chooses the Bears and stays in the Pac-12, he'll have the opportunity to play in front of his family and friends almost every weekend. 

That certainly wouldn't be the case if he chooses Auburn, which is about 2,500 miles away. 

One of the main selling points for recruits is often times how nice a school’s facilities are, which makes sense when you consider how much time players have to spend at the football facilities training and preparing.

That’s why we’ve been seeing a college football arms race over the last few decades, as schools try to one-up each other with bigger, better and more impressive facilities.