Cal Sports Report

Will Cal Freshman Jaydn Ott Gain National Fame at Notre Dame?

Bears offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave says Ott 'has just been astounding' and promises more touches for young running back

Jake Curtis

Will Cal freshman running back Jaydn Ott go from being a nice little local story to being a national phenomenon on Saturday?

That may be the most interesting question regarding the Golden Bears’ visit to Notre Dame Stadium, especially since Cal coaches virtually guaranteed that Ott will get more touches this week against the Irish.

The play of Ott has been the most intriguing aspect of Cal’s first two games.

“Jaydn Ott, being a true freshman, has just been astounding,” Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said.

Ott’s speed, pass-catching skills, ability to break tackles and big-play potential have wowed everyone who witnessed the Golden Bears’ first two games. He had 104 rushing yards on 17 carries as well as two receptions for 18 yards and a touchdown in the opener against UC Davis.

But Ott had just 10 touches (seven carries, three receptions) in the 20-14 win against UNLV in the second game. He made the most of those touches, gaining 52 yards on the ground (7.4 yards per attempt), including a 2-yard touchdown run, and recording 16 receiving yards, including a 12-yard touchdown catch on a fourth-down play.

Despite his lighter workload, Ott was named the Pac-12 freshman of the week for the second straight week.

He is fourth in the Pac-12 in both rushing (78.0 yards per game) and average gain per rush (6.5 yards per attempt), and he ranks fourth in rushing among all true freshmen in the country.

Look for Ott to get more than 10 touches against Notre Dame.

“You saw Jaydn, what he can do when he touches the ball,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. “The touchdown run was great, but the catch and run was even more impressive on a fourth-and-2 play. So he’s continuing to flash. And we’ll look forward to him growing his role, and he is more than comfortable within the offense to do that. Again we need more than one running back, but look forward to Jaydn’s role continuing to grow.”

Musgrave is less ambiguous regarding Cal’s plans for Ott.

“He warrants as many touches as he can tolerate physically,” Musgrave said of Ott, “and so that’s going to be our plan going forward.”

It’s one thing for Ott to be impressive against an FCS school and a lower-level Mountain West opponent while doing it on a local network with limited exposure (Pac-12 Bay Area). It’s quite another to do against a perennial powerhouse like Notre Dame at a revered venue like Notre Dame Stadium in front of nearly 80,000 Irish fans and a national television audience on NBC. About 10 million people viewed Notre Dame’s game against Ohio State, and 2.5 million watched the game against Marshall. And you can bet a lot of folks will be tuning in Saturday to see whether Notre Dame will rebound from its startling 0-2 start after being ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll.

If Ott has a big day on Saturday, the entire country will know about it. If he is impressive and Cal somehow pulls off an upset of the Irish, ESPN's Sports Center will take note and Ott will be a national story.

But whether Ott can be as impressive against the defensive talent he will face on Saturday is the question. He has played in just two college games and has faced nothing remotely similar to what he will face Saturday.

Are we expecting too much too soon?

In Notre Dame's embarrassing 26-21 setback against Marshall last week, the Thundering Herd averaged  4.4 yards on its 50 rushing attempts and totaled 219 rushing yards. The Irish limited Ohio State, one of the most potent offenses in the country, to just 21 points in Notre Dame’s 21-10 loss in its opener, but the Buckeyes averaged 4.9 yards on 35 rushing attempts.

So the Irish have not exactly been stonewalling opposing running games, but this Irish defense is still a big step up from what the Bears faced in the first two games.

The opponent is different; the atmosphere is different, and the exposure is different. Ott seems destined for stardom in his college career, but will it come so soon, in his third college game?

“I’m blessed to have the opportunity to play another game of football with my guys outside of Berkeley,” Ott said.

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Cover photo of Jaydn Ott by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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