The top five Cal running backs are in the transfer portal. What is going on?

These departures are a baffling and saddening development for the Cal football program.

Credit: Rob Hwang

In a span of 72 hours, the California Golden Bears have seen their entire running back depth chart enter the transfer portal.

• There’s Cal fan favorite and star Jaydn Ott, who has already made the decision to go to Oklahoma to be coached by former NFL star Demarco Murray.

• After Ott left, there was likely starting Cal running back Jaivian Thomas, who shockingly entered the portal hours after almost certainly being assured of being the future starter for this program.

Prior to the top two leaving, there was also the departure of:

• Justin Williams-Thomas, who struggled with injuries and rarely saw the field. He has three years of eligibility remaining.

• Byron Cardwell, who also had trouble recovering from injuries and did not get much playing time.

• Kadarius Calloway, who had an unfortunate start to last season and could never really find his footing in 2024.

One of the deepest running back rooms in the nation is now an empty cupboard. The only returning production comes from Jamaal Wiley (six rushes, 18 carries, 1 touchdown).

Couple that with the now-confirmed departure of tight end Jack Endries, and what you have is a catastrophe. There will be money available to get new running backs, but you cannot replace 99% of running back production in four months and expect great results. Spring camp was essentially wasted for offensive installs in the run game. We’re starting from scratch.

So what happened? A few possibilities.

NIL is not the reason

Even though it feels like the most logical reason that Cal would not be able to have the money available, our NIL efforts have been frankly surprising. To my understanding, competitive offers were given to Ott to match Oklahoma, just as Fernando Mendoza previously was given before leaving to Indiana.

The Cal NIL collective has stepped up and done its part to make it clear they would be able to support them if needed. Other reasons were cited for the departure of these running backs.

The loss of Aristotle Thompson was deeply felt

Thompson’s departure to Northwestern feels like a huge part of this calculus. Thompson recruited all five of the above Cal running backs, and had very close relationships with all of them, even flying back to Berkeley for Pro Day. Thompson has been at Cal for a half-decade and was very well-liked in those Memorial Stadium halls. His loss in the locker room was something we should have thought of more deeply. You have to wonder if the decision by offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin not to do everything to keep Thompson was ringing in the heads of the players.

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Offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has his own process

Despite having historically good offensive chops, Harsin is notorious for having his own methods of coaching that were difficult to deal with. He is known for a “his way or the highway” approach, which can definitely lead to attrition. That has rankled players, staff and fans in the past at Auburn, Arkansas State and Boise State.

Still, even with a completely new offensive install, this level of player defection is unprecedented. You’d expect at least one of this starting five to return and compete. Was the Cal offense that tough to handle in the spring? It’s not like Cal had steady offensive coordinators prior to Harsin.

But the talent Harsin probably needs to succeed in his first year on the job is all gone. Cal’s top five running backs, five of its top seven wide receivers, and top tight end have all entered the transfer portal since winter. This unit is starting from scratch. His coaching acumen will have to be in peak form.

New running back coach Julian Griffin couldn’t build relationships in time

I don’t know Julian Griffin very well, and all his interviews seem to indicate a person who is hard-working, but it’s clear something has been lost in communication with this staff and their players. To have an entire running back room depart after spring football is essentially a vote of no-confidence in his coaching and leadership style. You’d expect at least one to stay and try and win the job. Ott and Thomas both being gone is a stunning failure.

Griffin will be hard-pressed to find replacements in this spring portal period. He will need to. This unit is now very green. Even with this schedule, it is not at all ready to perform.

The new look Cal offense is a work in progress

If you watched the spring game, there is a definite feel of “needs improvement”. The passing game was not really in sync and offenses struggled to win their matchups. None of the quarterbacks have really distinguished themselves up to this point.

That would mean the run game would likely be the focus of the offense, and a lot of pressure would be on this unit to produce points. I’m guessing a lot of these Bears would rather be in a more balanced situation.

Is Justin Wilcox trusted anymore?

All that leads to the million dollar ($13 million? The buyout sits at around that level right now) question. Do Cal’s best players believe that Justin Wilcox can set them up in a position to succeed?

• We have a Bears team that struggled to 6-7 despite a very winnable ACC slate that featured a host of close games that Cal could not finish.

• We had a starting quarterback that loved Cal and Berkeley by all accounts, but didn’t feel like he was respected enough by the coaches to warrant staying.

• We have a new look offensive staff that has seen its entire running back room essentially walk out after what it endured this spring.

• We have a coach in his ninth year on the verge of likely producing mediocre to bad offensive results for the eighth time, this time simply because all the talent has taken a look at the future and decided not to sign up, despite competitive NIL offers.

Ultimately, none of us control what happens with this coaching staff, but it all points to a pretty gloomy picture. This current group of offensive players lost trust in what was being built, and it has to be reconstructed from scratch.

There are just a lot of gaps to imagine Cal will have a good offense in 2025. Maybe the defense can carry us like it always has, but the loss of production on that side of the field also indicates that a rebuild might be in order.

So with the easiest schedule Cal has ever had, the Bears have a level of talent that currently, at best, could mean six or seven wins, and at worst could mean a bottoming out.

We are at a breaking point. I have received an alarming number of messages this week about Cal fans (even the diehards) hanging it up for the near future. We are no longer able to keep Cal stars who should have finished their career at home. There is utter exhaustion with the mediocre results of Justin Wilcox, and the likely continuation of that trend this year. And there is evident disgust that Jim Knowlton is still in charge, making any sort of decisions with the money they spend.

The vibes are all bad, at the worst possible time.