Five Cal seniors that will be suiting up for the Golden Bears in tonight's Cheez-It Bowl have actually been playing together long before they arrived in Berkeley.

When Chase Forrest, Malik McMorris, Justin Norbeck, Addison Ooms and Matt Rockett wake up Thursday morning to start the rest of their lives as former Cal football players, it will be the first time in about a decade that their futures will not be directly aligned.

"Myself, Matt, Justin and Addison played Pop Warner football together," Forrest recalled fondly. "We grew up as best friends."

"We all played against each other on different teams and then played together on All-Star teams," Ooms clarified before declaring that his regular-season squad was the best, which drew a loud round of laughter from the others as they reminisced about their long history together.

After meeting on the football fields of their youth, they went on to play prep football together at powerhouse high school Mater Dei in Santa Ana where they met McMorris.

Amazingly, all five ended up at Cal.

"It's such an incredible story," Ooms said. "It's so rare to have so many guys from one high school all play in college together."

Their story is not without twists, turns and hardships along the way.

Forrest was the only member of the group offered a Cal scholarship out of high school with the offer coming in just before signing day in February of 2014. Ooms and Rockett had been looking at several other schools but decided to come to Cal as walk-ons after Forrest signed his national letter of intent. McMorris and Norbeck joined them in 2015 with McMorris coming on as a true freshman and Nortbeck after one season at Golden West College.

Ooms and McMorris have had the biggest roles on the field. After playing sparingly his first two seasons, Ooms became Cal's starting center in 2016 and is the only Golden Bear to have started all 36 contests over the last three seasons. McMorris has also played regularly in specific roles as a hybrid fullback/tight end and managed to score five touchdowns.

But Forrest, Norbeck and Rockett have seen very little action on the field. Forrest is the only senior quarterback in the nation who both began and ended his collegiate career at the same school who never started a game. Norbeck never picked up much playing time. Rockett saw plenty of action early in a promising career before injuries derailed him.

Regardless of their varying levels of contributions on the field at Cal, Ooms said they all will have similar feelings when the clock counts down to zero on their Cal careers tonight..

"It's going to be emotional because we've done everything together for so long," Ooms added. "It's hard because we've sacrificed so much. It's going to be exciting to see what happens next but Its' going to be tough to leave because there have been so many unbelievable times here. I know that when it is over I'm going to cry my eyes out."

They may leave Cal after tonight not knowing exactly where the next chapter leads, but they will go with many valuable lessons from their long time together.

"It's going to different, but we will keep the friendships we have made," Rockett said. "The memories are always there."

They also hope to create some new memories as Cal football alums.

"We've yet to experience that post-Cal grad live," Ooms said. "I'm sure in the next few years we're going to get to experience that in a whole different way. I'm excited that we are going to be able to do that together."

But before they do that there is one final chance to run out on the field together just like they have done so many times before.