Cal WR Trond Grizzell No Longer a Walk-On But He Continues to Practice Like One

The redshirt junior was put on scholarship this offseason and he won't relax in practice.

Cal wide receiver Trond Grizzell /

Nothing has really changed for Cal wide receiver Trond Grizzell. At least nothing related to the approach he takes in improving his game.

He was a preferred walk-on in the fall of 2021 when he arrived on campus from Park City, Utah.

He’s a scholarship junior now and the team’s top returning pass catcher.

Burl Toler III, Cal’s receivers coach, says he doesn’t see much difference nearly three years later.

“Trond is a guy — scholarship or not — he’s going to keep pushing to get better,” Toler said.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder certainly got better last year. He began to emerge during the Bears’ 2023 spring workouts, continued to impress in fall camp and wound up catching 39 passes for 590 and five touchdowns last season.

In January, coach Justin Wilcox summoned Grizzell to his office and awarded him a scholarship.

“It’s definitely a very cool experience, something I always dreamed of as a kid. A great feeling,” Grizzell said.

His outlook going forward remains the same: Work hard. Asked about his goals for next fall, Grizzell said, “Just improving myself and being the best player I can be and trying to help the team win.”

Grizzell certainly doesn’t downplay the progress he’s made so far. “Definitely very exciting. A big goal of mine was to play here,” he said. “It’s extremely exciting to be in the spot I’m at right now.”

As a walk-on, nothing is guaranteed. But Toler judges all of his receivers squarely, an approach no doubt impacted by the fact that he was a walk-on receiver for the Bears out of Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School back in 2001.

“Going through the walk-on process personally, it helps (me) out with a lot of the guys,” said Toler, who earned  a scholarship from former coach Jeff Tedford prior to his junior season. “My philosophy as a coach: I put the right guy in the right position and if you can play, I don’t care if it’s a freshman, a senior, a transfer, a walk-on . . . everybody gets the opportunity to play. The ones who take advantage of those opportunities are going to be on the field on Saturday.”

Grizzell has done just that, said Toler, who makes no promises to prospects. 

“It was just, 'You’ll have an opportunity come in and compete,’" Toler said.  “Trond said, 'Thank you, that’s all I need.’  He’s taken advantage of every opportunity he’s gotten and he’s where he is right now for that reason.”

Toler said it's important for scholarship players to show the same daily hunger in practice as walk-ons. "I still have a chip on my shoulder," he said. "The challenge for the scholarship guys is to have a chip on your shoulder as well. To be honest, I wish the whole team could be walk-ons to start."

Grizzell believes his advantage was having a position coach who went through the walk-on experience himself.

“Definitely helps a lot because your coach has been through the same things that you’ve been through. So he understands it,” Grizzell said. “They treat you just like everyone else. It’s definitely a great program for walk-ons.”

Grizzell would get no argument from running back Patrick Laird, safety Ashtyn Davis or receivers Chad Hansen or Stephen Anderson, all of whom experienced success at Cal after arriving without a scholarship.

All four of them not only became productive scholarship players for the Bears, but wound up in the NFL. Grizzell isn’t yet ready to share his daydreams on that topic.

“I don’t really want to look that far. Obviously, that’s a goal of mine,” he said. “I’ve just got to keep working every day and proving myself. Having a big year this fall will definitely help.”

A look at three other recent Cal receivers who began their careers as walk-ons: 

*** STEPHEN ANDERSON (2011-15): Arrived at Cal as a walk-on freshman wide receiver in 2011, redshirted and gradually worked his way onto the field. Playing wideout and tight end during his college career, Anderson caught 46 passes for 661 yards and five touchdowns in 2014, then 41 passes for 474 yards and two TDs as a senior in 2015.

Undrafted, Anderson nonetheless has gone on to play 81 games as a tight end in seven NFL seasons, totaling 63 receptions for 715 yards and three TDs.

*** BUG RIVERA (2014-16): The nephew of former Cal All-America linebacker Ron Rivera played running back at FCS San Diego before arriving in Berkeley in 2014. He redshirted his first season, moved to wide receiver and caught a 63-yard TD pass from Chase Forrest to cap a 73-14 rout of Grambling State in the 2015 opener. 

He flourished as a senior, catching 41 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns on the Bears’ 8-5 squad.

*** CHAD HANSEN (2015-16): Hansen arrived as a transfer from FCS Idaho State and had 19 catches for 249 yards and one touchdown in his debut season. He blossomed in 2016, catching 92 passes for 1,249 yards and 11 touchdowns from quarterback Jared Goff. Hansen had six games of at least 10 receptions and four games with two TD catches. 

He declared for the NFL draft after his junior season and was selected by the New York Jets in the fourth round. Hansen played 20 NFL games over two seasons, during which time he had 26 catches for 330 yards and one touchdown.