The Mystery That Is Jaydn Ott's 2024 Season . . . And His Future

Cal's star running back has kept a low public profile this season while dealing with what was a nagging ankle injury

Jaydn Ott / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Jaydn Ott rushed for 166 yards and a touchdown in Cal’s 27-15 win over Stanford in the 2023 Big Game. A year earlier, as a freshman, he had 97 rushing yards and a TD in the Bears’ 27-20 victory.

That’s 263 rushing yards in two games against Cal’s ancient rival. The stuff of a Big Game legend.

It’s also 16 yards more than Ott has totaled all this season.

We have no idea what the 2023 All-Pac-12 first-team running back might do for the Bears on Saturday when Stanford returns to Memorial Stadium for the 127th Big Game.

The fact is, we don’t know the exact state of the junior running back’s health these days. He injured an ankle way back in the Bears’ season opener and seemingly has never been the same. 

We don’t know, in part, because Ott has chosen not to speak to reporters since August. That’s his prerogative, of course, but the face of the program entering 2024 certainly hasn’t been the voice of the program.

The ankle caused Ott to miss three games altogether and often he’s had trouble gaining any traction even when he did play. Forty-one of his 82 carries — exactly half — have resulted in runs of 1 yard, zero yards or minus yards, although the state of Cal’s offensive line — also dogged by injuries this season — no doubt has been a factor.

Before Saturday, Ott’s longest run of the season was 23 yards. Even quarterback Fernando Mendoza has a run longer than that.

Through the Bears’ first nine games (he played in six of them), Ott was averaging 28 rushing yards per game, 2.4 yards per attempt. A year ago, those numbers were 109 yards per game, 5.3 per carry.

Ott had his most productive game of the season in Saturday’s surprising 33-25 loss to Syracuse. He gained 78 yards on 11 carries — a refreshing 7.1 yards per attempt — including a 15-yard touchdown dash.

His best moment came on the third play of the fourth quarter when he found a crease and sprinted 53 yards . . . until he was tackled from behind by defensive back Devin Clark.

Would that have happened either of the past two years? Before the ankle injury? I certainly don’t remember anyone chase Ott down in the open field.

Has the injury caused him to lose a step? 

Or a smidgen of confidence as an elite runner? 

The Bears have continued to feed Ott the football, no doubt because they believe in him . . . and need him. 

He had 11 of the 14 carries Cal’s running backs got Saturday when the home team ran just 57 plays and had to throw early and often after falling behind. Sophomore Jaivian Thomas, who had a career-long 75-yard TD run, got the ball just twice more.

We’re not so far from seeking an answer to another inevitable question: Where will Jaydn Ott be next fall?

Before the season, when some NFL draft experts projected he could be among the first running backs chosen in 2025, Ott publicly stated this would be his final college season. The pro game was beckoning.

Of course, he rushed for 1,300 yards last season and there was every reason to expect he would challenge Russell White’s Cal career record this fall then pursue his NFL dreams. That didn’t happen and Ott’s draft status will surely take a hit.

There certainly is plenty of speculation on that front, for whatever it’s worth. The website Pro Football Network doesn’t include Ott on its current list of the top-10 running back draft prospects. The venerable Walter Football site ranks Ott as No. 11 among backs. NFL Draft Buzz, has him as the 26th-best running back in the class.  

Ott’s three options after this season are to 1) return to Cal for a fourth and, hopefully, healthier season; 2) enter the transfer portal and try to boost his NFL prospects at another school, or 3) follow through on his original plan and enter the draft anyway.

Cal fans will have to wait to see what he decides. In the meantime, Ott will try to add to an already impressive Big Game resume.