Running Back Adam Mohammed Writes Some History in Cal Debut

It turns out running back Adam Mohammed’s performance for Cal against UCLA was better than we realized, at least historically speaking.

In fact, it was the most prolific debut game by a Cal back in at least 50 years.

A junior transfer from Washington, Mohammed rushed for 120 yards in the Bears’ 45-24 loss to UCLA at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. That eclipsed the standard for the most rushing yards by a Cal player in his first game with the team since the mid-1970s.

The previous high-water mark was 111 yards by Lindsey Chapman vs. Pacific in the 1991 season opener.

Mohammed did his best work during Cal’s 14-play, 85-yard drive in the third quarter that tied the score at 24-all after he went into the end zone from the 1-yard line.

The 6-foot, 220-pound junior from Glendale, Ariz., carried the ball 10 times for 54 yards during the possession, with runs of 8,10 and 20 yards. He converted four first downs on the drive, including one on a 7-yard pass reception.

“He kept the chains moving. He was running hard for us,” quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele said in the video above. “I’m grateful to have him. I’m proud of him. I love the guy.”

Here are the only five Cal players to crack 100 rushing yards in their debut game over the past half-century with the Bears, plus three big names who didn't make the cut:

Adam Mohammed, 120 yards

Mohammed carried the ball 28 times to rack up 120 yards — both career-high totals. Previously, he had a pair of 100-yard efforts for Washington late last season, gaining 108 yards a touchdown in a 48-14 win at UCLA and 105 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-14 loss to Oregon.

Lindsey Chapman, 111 yards

Chapman was a freshman on the 1991 Cal team that went 10-2 and crushed Clemson in the Citrus Bowl. He made his debut on Sept. 7 of that season, gaining 111 yards on 16 attemps -- including a 35-yard dash on his first collegiate carry -- and as the Bears served notice with an 86-24 dismantling of Pacific in the opener on Sept. 7. Chapman scored two TDs in the victory.

He went on to rush for 675 yards that season as understudy to star back Russell White. Chapman played three seasons with the Bears, totaling 2,076 rushing yards, including 1,037 with 14 touchdowns in 1993.

Jaydn Ott, 104 yards

Ott made a splash in his first game as a freshman, rushing 17 times for 104 yards (6.1 per carry) while also catching an 8-yard TD pass from Jack Plummer in Cal’s 34-13 win over UC Davis on Sept. 3, 2022.

Ott gained national acclaim three weeks later, rushing for 274 yards and three touchdowns in in a 49-31 win over Arizona. He had six games of at least 150 yards on the way to rushing for 1,315 yards as a sophomore and he totaled 2,597 yards with 24 touchdowns before transferring to Oklahoma before the 2025 season.

Shane Vereen, 101 yards

Vereen cracked the 100-yard mark on just nine carries in Cal’s 38-31 win over Michigan State on Aug. 30, 2008. It was his only 100-yard game as a freshman while playing behind sophomore Jahvid Best, who rushed for 1,580 yards for coach Jeff Tedford’s 9-4 Bears.

Vereen went on to one of the most prolific college careers by a Cal back, totaling 2,834 yards and 29 TDs in three seasons, with 11 games of at least 100 yards. He was a second-round draft pick by the New England Patriots in 2011 and won a Super Bowl with the franchise after the 2014 season.

Chris Richards 101 yards

Richards transferred to Cal after one season at Oklahoma, where he saw no action as a freshman. He became eligible for the Bears’ fourth game in 1986, rushing for 101 yards in a 50-18 loss at Washington on Oct. 4.

That was his best performance on coach Joe Kapp’s final team but he became a staple in the backfield for new coach Bruce Snyder, rushing for 1,397 yards and 13 touchdowns the next two seasons.

Two other notable Cal running backs had solid debut games, but fell short of reaching 100 yards.

Marshawn Lynch rushed for 92 yards on just seven attempts (13.1 yards per carry) in the Bears’ 56-14 win over Air Force on Sept. 9, 2004. Lynch reached the century mark in back-to-back victories that season, going for 121 vs. Washington and 122 vs. Stanford. He finished his three-year Cal career with 3,230 rushing yards — second-most in program history — and 29 touchdowns.

Russell White gained 78 yards in a 28-12 win at Wisconsin on Sept. 8, 1990 in his college debut as a sophomore. White went on to assemble three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to accumulate a still-standing program record of 3,246 career rushing yards along with 39 total touchdowns.

And then there is Chuck Muncie, who left Cal as the school’s career rushing leader with 3,052 yards after finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting his senior season of 1975. Although he had 801 yards as a sophomore in 1973 after transferring from junior college, his game-by-game totals are unavailable and it seems unlikely he made a big splash in his debut.

The Bears opened the ’73 season on the road against coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's sixth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and lost 66-0.

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