Cal Football: Jaydn Ott Says He's Added 10 Pounds But Hasn't Lost a Step

The junior running backs wants to win an ACC title and take home the Doak Walker Award next next fall.

Cal will begin spring practice on Monday with a deeper stable of running backs, getting Byron Cardwell back after a season-long injury in 2023 and adding Old Dominion transfer Kadarius Calloway.

Jamaal Wiley, a three-star high school prospect from Texas, will join the Bears this summer, adding to a roster of backs that also includes returnees Justin Williams-Thomas and Jaivian Thomas.

But it all begins with Jaydn Ott, the junior All-America candidate who plans to build on his All-Pac-12 season of a year ago when he rushed for 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Asked about his goals for the 2024 campaign as the Bears join the Atlantic Coast Conference, Ott said doesn’t hold back: “My team goal is to win the ACC championship. For myself, I want the Doak Walker Award,” he says in the video at the top of this story.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox has high hopes for Ott’s third season in Berkeley.

“Jaydn is a very talented young man, there’s no doubt about it. We’re going to make sure Jaydn has the ability to touch the ball,” Wilcox says in the video above.

“When you have a guy like that who can run the ball and create explosive plays, we’ve got to be able to take advantage of that and then create some other opportunities elsewhere on offense.”

To be his best, Ott said he’s added 10 pounds without sacrificing speed or quickness. He focusing on being better able to shed tackles and pick up yards after contact.

“If at any point I do feel uncomfortable with it I’ll just take it off,” he said of the weight that currently has him at 210 pounds.

“We don’t have that concern with him. He doesn’t look overweight by any means,” Wilcox said. “You want to carry as much good weight as you can without losing your explosiveness and quickness. Football is a really physical game, playing running back is a physical position. You want to have the ability to sustain elite play the entire game, the entire season.

“You’ve got to be robust. I think he’s taken that to heart and done a good job of addressing that and trying to improve himself.”

Becoming a more consistent player is a goal Wilcox has for Ott. He had five games last year with at least 165 rushing yards, but three others with 55 yards or fewer. He gained 274 yards against Arizona as a freshman but had only one other game over 100 yards.

“Being able to finish games, play more consistently throughout the year,” Wilcox said of his hopes for Ott. “He’s had great moments — we all know that. He’s an explosive player. Doing that week in and week out. The consistency: That would be the goal for Jaydn. That’s next step in his development — being that explosive threat down in, down out, game in game out.”

Ott said he’s embraced becoming a leader of what he called a player-led team.

“We all decided we don’t want a re-run of the last two seasons. It’s not up to the make that change. It’s up to us,” he said. “So we’ve got a group of leaders on the team who are really taking charge, making sure things go right, people are on time for meetings. If not, there’s punishments.”

It’s a mature aspect of Ott that Wilcox is happy to see emerge.

“He’s been here a little while now. I think he is embracing (leadership). He’s grown not only as a player but as a person here,” Wilcox said. “He takes that seriously. It’s important to him.”

Ott acknowledged he has one other goal he’d like to attain during his time at Cal. With 2,112 rushing yards in his two seasons, he is within striking distance of Russell White’s Cal career record of 3,367 yards, set from 1990-92.

“I’m 1,100 off?” he asked. Actually, 1,155. “Yeah, we’ll grab that, too, on the way out.”

Cover photo of Jaydn Ott trying to elude a Washington State tackler by Darren Yamashita, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo