Cal WR Dazmin James: One Great Bowl Performance Makes Him Intriguing

One game. One half. One 94-yard touchdown catch.

One word: Intriguing.

That's Cal wide receiver Dazmin James -- one 30-minute hint of possible greatness, but not enough information to declare anything definitively. At this point James is merely intriguing.

Practically no one had heard of this Arkansas wide receiver named Dazmin James before the 2024 Liberty Bowl. Why would they? He was a redshirt freshman who had played only on special teams that season and had not had a single reception in his college career.

But because Arkansas' leading receiver Andrew Armstrong had opted out of the Liberty Bowl and the Razorbacks No. 2 receiver Isaiah Sategna had entered the transfer portal, James figured he might play.

“I just knew I was going to score,” James said.

He was not a starter in that Friday, December 27, night game against Texas Tech, but he entered the game in the first quarter. On a third-and-8 play from the Arkansas 6-yard line with 2:43 left in the first quarter, James caught an 8-yard pass over the middle for the first reception of his college career. The intriguing part came after the catch as James then outran Texas Tech defenders to finish off a 94-yard touchdown catch.

House call! Dazmin James goes 94 yards for Arkansas TD https://t.co/uJ5NEZ9d8s
— California Golden Bears on SI (@jakecurtis53) April 7, 2025

Coaches watching on TV noticed that James looked pretty fast on the play, leading to research that showed James had been the North Carolina state champion in both the 100 meters (10.46 seconds) and 200 meters (21.06) while at Clayton High School even though he had not participated in track until his senior year.

He received track scholarship offers from several colleges, but, as James said, “I couldn’t let football go.”

So he chose Arkansas over some other offers, including North Carolina State, and sat out his first season before being a special-team player as a redshirt freshman throughout the 2024 regular season.

Then came that 94-yard reception in the Liberty Bowl.

James caught two more passes in the second quarter of the Liberty Bowl, sat out the second half because of an injury and finished with three receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown and was named the Offensive MVP of the Liberty Bowl.

Suddenly, this guy no one had heard of was in demand and decided to enter the transfer portal. James said Missouri, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State and Utah were among the schools that showed interest, but he opted to transfer to Cal.

“If I didn’t have the Liberty Bowl I’d still be at Arkansas probably,” he said.

The 12 seconds it took for him to complete the 94-yard touchdown reception altered his future.

“The Liberty Bowl changed my college career because of the performance,” he said.

With just three receptions on his college career resume, there’s still not much to go on, and with receivers like Tobias Merriweather, Trond Grizzell, Kyion Grayes, Jonathan Brady and UNLV transfer Jacob De Jesus on the Cal roster, it may be difficult for James to find playing time in 2025.

However, Cal receivers coach Kyle Cefalo said James had his best day in Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage and figures James might be able to work his way into the rotation.

“The athleticism is the first thing that you see.” Cefalo said. “He can really run. “He proved that in the last game he had.”

It should be noted that Texas Tech ended the 2024 season ranked 132nd of 133 FBS teams in pass defense, but fast is fast against any defense.

So you just wonder whether that Liberty Bowl performance was a fluke or an indication of impending stardom.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, and he knows it,” Cefalo said.

But a speedy third-year sophomore wide receiver coming off a big-time performance in a bowl games suggests one word:

Intriguing..

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