Cal Football

Bear Insider Video: Cal Redshirt Frosh RB Damien Moore

By Emielyn Das

August 23, 2021

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Running back Damien Moore has made quite the impression as true freshman and now redshirt freshman on the Cal football team. One of three true freshmen to play all four games last season, Damien has shown that he can handle adversity, playing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and has already made some incredible contributions to his team, rushing for 188 yards and 4.9 yards per carry on 38 rushes. Moore starred in the 2021 Big Game, rushing for 121 yards in Cal’s narrow loss to Stanford.

“I always believe in my abilities to do what I do best,” said Moore. “When my opportunity came, I took advantage of it.”

Damien came onto the team in the fall of 2020, playing behind Cal veterans Chris Brooks and Marcel Dancy. Damien describes their mentorship, “They’ve been really helpful. They took me in as a freshman, along with Ashton (Stredick) and (Chris) Street, and they just took us all in and told us to play our game, and contribute in any way that we can.”

Damien’s running style, with his wide base and vision has been compared to the likes of Cal legends, CJ Anderson and Marshawn Lynch. When asked about what he thinks of these comparisons, Damien says, “Coach AT (Aristotle Thompson) shows us a lot of tape on CJ Anderson, so I definitely see where that could be a comparison. That’s a great person to be compared to, so it’s an honor for sure.”

Damien goes on about Marshawn Lynch, “Definitely watched him growing up, [I’ve] seen his Super Bowls and things like that, so [it’s] definitely an honor to be mentioned.” When asked, Damien noted he has a little beast mode of his own inside him, one that we’ll hopefully get to witness as the season begins.

Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

As of now, the team has been through spring ball and finished their first few weeks of fall camp. Damien thinks this next season is full of promise, “Our goal is definitely to be PAC-12 Champions, so that’s what we’re working towards. I think we have the group to do it.”

With only one pandemic-filled year under his belt, Damien is already making moves towards becoming a star himself. Fans are excited about his potential, and we can’t wait to see him thrive this next season.