What do Cal fans have to look forward to the most in the 2023-24 season?

A look at ten things that should give California Golden Bears reason for excitement in the coming year.

A Berkeley summer afternoon (photo via Cal Athletics)

1. The Jaydn Ott breakout campaign. It has been a long time since the Bears have had the chance for a bona fide football superstar. If Cal can even put it together a little bit this could be a great year for Ott to turn heads and make everyone take notice of the talent package he provides.
   
   If the new Cal offensive coaching staff can find the right balance, a breakout Ott season could very well put the Bears in bowl contention again.
   

2. The return of watchable, competitive Cal men’s basketball. Mark Madsen did work in his first month on the job in Berkeley through a set of transfers (headlined by Texas Tech transfers Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq and Memphis wing Keonte Kennedy).
   
   With Devin Askew returning to full health and likely to contribute a lot more, Grant Newell and ND Okafor returning, and Devin Curtis and Rodney Brown Jr on the way in, the new Bears are brimming with potential.
   
   

   
   
   

3. Cal finally getting its NIL game together. After years of falling behind in the recruiting arena, it seems as if the Bears have put together a very solid funding strategy. After years of an athletic fund that dispersed itself throughout the entire department, the Bears have devoted NILs set up to help out their football and men’s basketball programs individually, earmarked to support athletes directly and meeting the necessary means for winning recruiting battles. This should hopefully fund both revenue programs more optimally and set up things more strategically for Cal to succeed.

4. The Cal transfer portal success potentially issuing a blueprint for future recruiting strategy. Cal men’s basketball put up one of the best transfer classes in the nation and have hatched an instant rebuild on the fly. Cal football didn’t quite reach that tier but their class of offensive and defensive playmakers should make the Bears a bit more talented and deeper than last year’s squad. With recruiting becoming more two-tiered than ever before, the Bears will and should prioritize the portal for instant impact players.
   
   
   

   
   

5. A very, very deep Cal football defense. After one of the most active transfer markets the Bears have ever experienced, this should be one of the deepest Cal defenses the Bears have ever had. Cal is running three deep at nearly every critical position, with only defensive line a little bit thin, but the Bears seem ready too lean heavily on their linebacker and secondary additions via the portal. If the Bears can stay healthy here (never a given after last year’s struggles), we could see a return to form of the heyday of the Justin Wilcox era from four years ago.

6. Could the Cal men waterbenders pull off the threepeat in three sports? With Destin Lasco, Gabriel Jett, Bjorn Seeliger, and Jack Alexy all returning, Dave Durden’s Cal men’s swimming are expected to yet again compete for another national title. Nearly the entire Cal men’s water polo team will be returning to try and take dead aim at a third title in a row. And Cal men’s rowing is expected to compete for their own back-to-back-to-back legacy as well.

7. Is this a breakout campaign for Jeremiah Hunter? Although Ott will be getting a lot of attention this season, this could be the year and the offense that gives Hunter a lot of opportunities and catches. As now the standout #1 wide receiver on the outside and with Ott likely to occupy a ton of attention, expect whoever Cal’s quarterback ends up being to be looking for Hunter to for the big plays in the pass attack and produce a ton of the scoring.

8. What will Cal NFL players accomplish this season? The glory days of the Tedford era are gone—there are several high-level Cal NFL contributors like Cameron Jordan, Bryan Anger and Marvin Jones, but most attention will center around quarterbacks Jared Goff with the Detroit Lions and Aaron Rodgers with the New York Jets. Both are threats to make the playoffs and will be worth watching all season. And don’t forget Takers like Cam Bynum, Jaylinn Hawkins and Ashtyn Davis, who are all expected to make noise this season as critical contributors.

9. Cal returning to Nike. Although the customization of the Under Armour era is done, every player and coach seems fairly excited seems fairly excited to have the more reliable swoosh backing them for apparel and quality of gear. Additionally, hopefully Cal alum will be able to buy the gear they need as well, after years of shortages of the necessary apparel.

10. We’ll always have Paris, Oski. Team USA should have a host of aquatic bears in the water in France for the 2024 Olympics next July. Ryan Murphy will be the headliner in men’s swimming in the backstroke, and Abbey Weitzel is the best shot for the Bears on the women’s side. Johnny Hooper, Luca Cupido, and Adrian Weinberg have been competing for Team USA in men’s water polo, and Kara Kohler will try and make her third Olympics in women’s rowing. And we haven’t even gotten to the potential international qualifiers too.
    
    Outside the pool, expect Jaylen Brown to compete hard to get onto the men’s basketball roster. Lily Zhang is a near lock to represent Team USA for her fourth straight Olympics in women’s table tennis.

Cal fans, what things are exciting you the most about the coming season?