Cal Sports Report

Justin Wilcox, ESPN React to Daz James’ Amazing Body Transformation

SportsCenter devoted national TV air time to the dramatic change in Cal WR James; Wilcox had to ask whether the photos were legitimate
Jake Curtis|
Daz James
Daz James | Photo by Jake Curtis

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California Golden Bears

The before-and-after photos regarding the six-month body transformation of Cal wide receiver Daz James caught the attention of ESPN SportsCenter, which devoted a brief segment to it, and Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, who had to ask James whether the photos were legitimate.

Here is the twitter photo of James, a redshirt sophomore who transferred to Cal from Arkansas, that received the national attention:

The tweet went viral, eliciting a variety of responses and causing numerous media sources to refer to it.

The folks at ESPN saw it and decided to devote a few seconds to it on SportsCenter earlier this week:

Wilcox was also taken aback.

“I had to text Daz and ask him if that was A.I. or not,” Wilcox said Wednesday. “It was a legitimate question.

“He said ‘No, it’s legitimate.’ I was half-joking but when I saw it, I texted him, and said, ‘Is that real?’ half-joking assumed it was. He said, ‘Oh yeah.’ That’s an impressive transition.”

Wilcox credits Jason Novak, who was hired as Cal’s head athletic performance coach (strength coach) in January. The question is whether the physical changes will create better football players.

“Physically we’ve never been healthier or looked this good, and so that’s great,” Wilcox said. “It’s good for the players, it’s good for our team. Now we’ve got to have that translate to football. But really impressed with coach Novak and his staff. Players are believers, and they feel really good, they look really good, and now it’s about translating that to the football field.

“[James] wasn’t the only one. There was a number of guys whose bodies have changed a significant amount. Not just changed, but their conditioning, their power, their endurance, the strength levels. The power output and the weight, they track all that. There was significant gains made.”

Here is freshman inside linebacker Beckham Barney and the improvement he has made:

Redshirt freshman defensive back Khamani Hudson shows his transformation:

And redshirt sophomore tight end Mason Mimi, a transfer from Idaho, displays his six-month transformation.

It's unclear whether any of these four Cal players will get significant playing time in 2025. James was known a little-used freshman receiver with sprinter speed until he made an impression in the Liberty Bowl.

The physical improvements are important, but they don’t mean much if they don’t lead to better football players.  Football skills, fundamental excellence, knowledge of the scheme, and instincts still play major roles in football success. Those elements can’t be shown in photos, though. The physical improvements bring attention to the Cal football program, and positive publicity is never a bad thing.

Predicting how Cal will fare this season is difficult, because so much of the roster has changed from last season, and the starters at so many positions are unsettled. The Bears are picked to finish 15th in the 17-team ACC in a recent ACC media poll, so expectations are low that Cal will finish with a winning conference record for the first time since 2009.

However, this season Cal does not face the two teams picked to finish first and second in the conference (Clemson and Miami), and that provides some hope. So does improving players’ strength and self-image.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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