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RB room as it stands:

Jaydn Ott

Byron Cardwell

Ashton Stredick

Jaivian Thomas

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I guess Bob couldn’t convince his mom that Ashton should stay at Cal. I will miss his mom posting here.

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I'm really sorry to see this news. Every time he returned a kickoff I thought of his proud Mom in the stands beaming, albeit with a bit of a chip on her shoulder (I've been there and I get it, Mama Hayes). Ashton is someone I hoped and expected to get more playing time in the backfield; he's just too dynamic not to see the field ESPECIALLY in a more spread Spav-offense. While Kai is a higher priority, I hope the Cal staff leans on Ashton to stick around, though I know that's really a longshot.

Good luck to you, young man! Your effort and dedication will pay off.

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Jan 4, 2023·edited Jan 4, 2023

The Portal is a hell of a thing. It ensures that no team can hoard talent but may not reap the benefits of developing it. Hope he finds success.

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100% agree. But I want one thing that Utah has better than any other PAC12 team...its their brand: toughness and physicality. Utah beats better teams merely because they play tougher than them. CAL is well coached, but we need the toughness aspect that Utah has. Some of our players have it, but we need everyone on the field to play like Jackson Sirmon.

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Bummer, but more touches for Stredick fills me with happy.

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Had the privilege of having lunch with an NFL scout recently and asked his take on the abundance of players entering the transfer portal...here's what he said (para-phrasing here)..."Jr, Sr and Grads who transfer is acceptable. Freshman/Sophmore who transfer are graded down when evaluating"..." Understandable for players to transfer (coaching changes, better NIL) but more scouts are seeing these players as being afraid to compete, and "the pool is an easy way out". I wish Hayes the best but he now (possibly) has a black mark on his NFL scouting/evaluation if he decides to try to play at the next level.

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I hate to see him go as he was a solid RB but I understand his thinking when we added Byron Cardwell. To bad these kids aren't patient any more. The Portal is changing football.

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I think we can survive the loss of depth. That was a position with numerous guys who could play at the Pac-12 level but not necessarily as feature backs like Ott has become. Cardwell might have been the no. 2 back anyway as he was a highly regarded recruit, more so than our other backs. Stredick seems quick and maybe could see the field as a returner now or a back for specialized situations. Obviously QB is much more of a position to worry about.

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Gotcha

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Man I am really starting to hate the portal. Might be best for the players, but it sucks for the fans. Sort of reminds me of when free agency started in baseball and the composition of the teams became continuously in flux.

As far as Ashton goes, I am not all that surprised based on the frustrated message we got from his mother early in the season. Honestly wish the young man would have stuck around. Ott is talented, for sure, but he's not a complete running back. He's fast and slippery, but can't really power his way through tackles. I think there was room for others in the RB corps, but I understand that he was looking up at two guys and wanted an opportunity to be the #1 back somewhere. Just sad that we don't get to see these guys progress through their career.

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Faraudo tweeting J Mike could be in the portal that is the worst and totally expected outcome so far

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J. Michael in the transfer portal.

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Yes, one year with the El Cerrito Rockets and then I skipped a year when we moved to Oakland and then I played my last year with the Oakland Dynamites. Pop Warner is a great place for kids to get a head start.

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Question for all:

Provided the current system remains in place, will Cal appear on ANY College Football Playoffs rankings list put out by the CFP Committee in the next 10 years?

15? 20?

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