Cal Football

Ott Sets up Official Visit to Cal

By Jim McGill

April 9, 2021

5,117

2022 4 star Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) running back Jaydn Ott‍ has been high on the Bears’ list of 2022 running back targets all spring and now the 5-11/195 RB has an official visit to Cal locked in on June 23-25 in what is shaping up to be a busy official visit month for Cal.

“It’s really a very good relationship with Cal,” said Ott. “I’ve built quite a bond with Coach AT, Coach Wilcox and CJ (Anderson). We’ve built quite a bond over the past few months.

Ott noted that his conversations with Cal running backs coach AT have often involved film breakdown and how his game would fit in at Cal.

Asked what the Thompson and the Cal staff liked about his game, Ott was at a loss to find an adequate explanation due to his aversion to recruiting pitches telling him how great a player he is.

“I don’t like coaches blowing my head up, to be honest,” said Ott. “I like how Coach Wilcox and the Cal coaches are just cool, laid back coaches. We’re setting up a time to sit down with him and my mom to talk on the phone soon.”

Former Cal and NFL star running back CJ Anderson has made a strong impression on Ott in his role as a volunteer offensive coaching assistant with his experience and knowledge of the game.

“Oh man, that’s my end goal, just to make it to the league,” said Ott of Anderson’s NFL success. “I remember playing on Madden and using CJ Anderson so when I was able to talk to him, I was like, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to pick his brain and see what kind of information he has to offer to help me up my game.’ So it’s cool talking to him.

An early commit to Oregon his freshman season, Ott decided to go a different direction last summer and open things up again with his recruitment. As he gets closer to deciding where his future home will be, he has a couple things in mind.

“I believe anywhere I can go, they’ll have state of the art equipment so I’m not too wowed on the superficial and materialistic things,” said Ott. “I just want to see the campus, how the players like playing under Coach Wilcox and the running backs like being under Coach AT and just build some more relationships and see what the vibe’s like out there.”

Ott noted UNLV, ASU, Arizona, Nebraska, Utah, UCLA and Yale have been some of the more active programs recruiting Ott of late.

“Cal’s my first official visit,” said Ott. “I don’t have plans for other official visits yet but I’m still open and trying to figure out what the vibes are like and where I’ll fit in.”

Ott will be running the 100, 200, 4x100 and occasionally the 400 along with the long jump in track this season.

Besides track, Ott’s done a bit of boxing and MMA. Having black and Samoan heritage, the talented RB cites UFC fighters Francis Ngannu (new heavyweight champ), Jon Jones and Polynesian fighter Mark Hunt as some of his favorites.

To date, Ott has offers from the above noted programs along with Georgia, Purdue, Oregon State, Washington State and more.