Cal Safety Daniel Scott: The Old Man and the D

Sixth-year player is the most experienced player in the Bears' secondary

Safety Daniel Scott is the old man of the Cal defense. 

The 2022 season will be his sixth year of college football in Berkeley, and he will turn 24 midway through the season. He already has his Cal undergraduate degree. He earned a graduate certificate in business administration this past fall, will complete a certificate program in entrepreneurship this spring and will add graduate courses next fall.

With safety Elijah Hicks and cornerback Josh Drayden now gone, Scott is the voice of experience among Cal's defensive backs.

"I think my role has definitely evolved, especially with a lot of guys leaving," Scott said in the video atop the story. "I've definitely tried to work on my leadership role."

He could have given the NFL a shot this year, as Hicks and Drayden are doing, but he is back at Cal, working through another spring. 

Scott is expected to be one of Cal's best players in 2022, just as he was in 2021, although you wouldn't know it by the coaches' voting for the all-Pac-12 squads.

Scott had 82 tackles last season, the most on the team and by far the most by any safety in the Pac-12.  He also had three interceptions, ranking third in the conference in that category and returning one for a touchdown. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss.

However, he was not named to the all-conference first team or the second team as voted on by the Pac-12 coaches.  He was not even one of 10 Cal players to earn honorable mention status.

That's odd because Pro Football Focus, which claims to grade every player on every play, put Scott on its first-team all-Pac-12 squad.

"I don't read enough of the media to know who's getting looked at and who's getting overlooked," Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said. "We know he's a helluva player."

For some reason, Scott just doesn't seem to stand out on the field. Maybe it's because he just knows where to be all the time, making his plays look routine.

"He's a play-maker," Sirmon said. "He makes quick decisions, and I think that's what he does best. He has good instincts and when he makes a decision, he can go fast."

Scott says he doesn't worry about getting overlooked when it comes to accolades, and he agrees with Sirmon that his instincts are his greatest gift.

"Just for the feel of the game," he said.

He will need those instincts with the inexperience surrounding him in the secondary. Cornerback Lu-Magia Hearns III started eight games in 2021, when he was a true freshman, and cornerback Collin Gamble started eight games in 2021 as a sophomore but was not a starter at the end of the season. Otherwise, it's new faces in the secondary, which has been Cal's strong suit in recent years. Three recent Cal defensive backs (Camryn Bynum, Ashtyn Davis and Jaylinn Hawkins) are in the NFL, and Hicks and Drayden hope to add to the list.

Sirmon claims Scott's role shouldn't change much despite his edge in experience over his teammates, but the fact is, Scott will need to provide a consistent anchor on the back line if Cal is to be successful.

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Cover photo of Daniel Scott is by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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