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Nov 30, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; California Golden Bears running back Jaydn Ott (1) in action during the game between the SMU Mustangs and the California Golden Bears at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

UCLA Rival Loses Star Running Back

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Brock Vierra | Last updated Apr 16, 2025 11:30 AM ET

When the transfer portal and NIL became legal, the lack of preparation for these two things, things that were clearly going to happen, has opened up college football to a lawless world where things that were once prohibited with fierce consequences have become mundane activities within the sport.

That may have happened this week to UCLA's rivals to the north, the California Golden Bears. Star running back Jaydn Ott has left Cal, transferring to the Oklahoma Sooners. This move gives the Sooners one of the most interesting quarterback-running back duos in college football after the school added former Washington State dual-threat gunslinger John Mateer earlier in the year.

However, it got worse as three other running backs joined Ott in the transfer portal on Tuesday. Byron Cardwell, Justin Williams-Thomas and Kadarius Calloway look to be on the way out of Berkeley.

Ott is the latest Golden Bear to leave the program after quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana. This is after reports of a potential power struggle occurring within the program.

According to Gabe Fernandez of SFGate.com, the Cal Golden Bears NIL collective is using its power to put new general manager and former NFL head coach Ron Rivera in charge of the entire football program.

"Two board members of California Legends Collective — the Golden Bears’ only third-party name, image and likeness collective — have announced that they will no longer personally donate to the organization they oversee until the school meets their singular demand: Put newly hired general manager, and former NFL head coach, Ron Rivera fully in charge of Cal football," Fernandez wrote.

"This drastic move comes at a rather interesting time in the program’s history. Over the past four years, the Golden Bears have been better on the gridiron than the Cardinal in almost every conceivable way.

"The four-year Cal graduates at spring commencement will be the first class since 2006 to experience a total sweep over Stanford in the Big Game. To top it all off, the school brought in Rivera on March 20 as its first football general manager.

“'We all have to acknowledge that we haven’t achieved everything we wanted to achieve,' Kevin Kennedy, president of California Legends Collective, told SFGATE. “'So the story is still being written. We’re still working to kind of create the most competitive team possible — and teams possible — and, honestly, have Cal’s athletic success match academic excellence.'”

Cal has to work through massive departures, power plays, and a program that has been in neutral for some time.

UCLA needs to see this as a warning. This is what happens to programs that are not at the top of financial earnings/ resources in the modern world.

Everyone is looking for their in. Their opportunity. It will be interesting to see how Cal adjusts, but to lose a player of Ott's talent is a massive blow for a team that was one quarter away against Miami from changing the entire trajectory of their program.

Another thing for UCLA to be wary of.

This article first appeared on UCLA Bruins on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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