Cal Sports Report

OLB Cameron Goode, DB Josh Drayden Will Return to Cal for 2021 Season

Five key senior Bears football players have announced that they will be back next season
Jake Curtis|
OLB Cameron Goode, DB Josh Drayden Will Return to Cal for 2021 Season
OLB Cameron Goode, DB Josh Drayden Will Return to Cal for 2021 Season

Cal received more good news on Monday as two more key players announced that they will return to Cal for the 2021 football season. 

Fifth-year senior defensive back Josh Drayden and fifth-year senior outside linebacker Cameron Goode both said via Twitter that they will be back in 2021 for a sixth year as a college athlete.

Both Drayden and Goode were starters last season, and join safety Elijah Hicks, center Michael Saffell and linebacker Kuony Deng as senior starters who have decided to return to Cal for another season. 

Seniors have the option to return for another season this year because the pandemic-plagued 2020 season did not count against a player's college eligibility.

Cornerback Camryn Bynum and offensive tackle Jake Curhan have opted not to return next season and will enter the 2021 NFL draft. But Cal now has a nucleus of talented players prepared to play the 2021 season. Whether Pac-12 teams will have a traditional 12-game regular season next season remains to be seen.

Drayden started all four of Cal's games in the shortened 2020 season, playing both cornerback and nickelback. He recorded 14 tackles, half a sack and one interception. Eight of his tackles came against Stanford.

Goode probably had the best season of any Cal player in 2020.  He started all four games and contributed 19 tackles, team highs of 8.0 tackles for loss (-23 yards) and 3.0 sacks (-12 yards), one fumble recovery, two quarterback hurries, one pass breakup and one pass defended.

He ranked second in the nation in tackles for loss per game (2.0), and was sixth in the Pac-12 in sacks (0.75 per game).

In 2019, Goode ranked second in the Pac-12 in tackles for loss with 14 and third in sacks with 9.5.

Goode's pro status is uncertain, however, becasue it is unclear what position he would play in the NFL.  He is not quite big enough to play defensive end, but may not be athletic enough to be a linebacker.  He fits perfectly in Cal's 3-4 scheme, however.

Cover photo of Cameron Goode by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport 

Published
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.

Home/Football