Enjoying The Best Of Both Worlds

It was January of 2016 when Josh Drayden and Cameron Goode visited Cal on a recruiting trip and met for the first time. Nearly six years later, the Texas natives will serve as game captains Saturday for the Golden Bears when Cal takes on TCU at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. 

It will be Cal’s first game in the state of Texas since defeating Air Force in the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl at the same venue. Drayden and Goode left their home state to join Cal the following year, and only an unique set of circumstances that included an extra season of eligibility granted due to COVID-19 will allow Drayden and Goode the opportunity to play in the Lone Star State for the first time since they moved west

A lot has transpired for the only two members of Cal’s 2016 recruiting class still on the roster.

Prior to arriving at Cal in the summer of 2016, Drayden, who grew up in DeSoto south of Dallas, started thinking about who he would want to live with in Berkeley. 

“I started looking through the people in our class and saw that he was from Texas,” Drayden remembered.

The two had hung out a bit during their recruiting visit, but the Texas connection was what drove Drayden to send Goode a direct message on Twitter to see if he was interested in being roommates in Berkeley. Goode, a native Spring in the Houston area, accepted the offer, and it worked out for both as they remain roommates today.

In addition to being teammates and roommates, Goode and Drayden have made the most of their time in California by making visits to West Coast destinations such as Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas, as well as Southern California beaches in Los Angeles and Orange County. The trips have included LA for New Year’s Eve and Newport Beach on the Fourth of July. 

“You almost never see one without the other,” fifth-year senior safety and Long Beach native Elijah Hicks told The Dallas Morning News in a feature published earlier this week. “They do everything together.”

Another thing they do often is represent their home state in verbal battles with many of the team’s Californians.

“They bring their Texas identity everywhere with them,” said Daniel Scott, a fifth-year safety from Pasadena who has roomed with Drayden and Goode the last two years. “It’s funny always debating which state is better between Texas and California.”

While they are not shy about extolling the virtues of Texas, both also show love for their adopted home state of California and the experiences they have had.

“It just really opened up my mind,” Goode said about Berkeley. “I’ve met people I otherwise wouldn’t have met, and I’ve seen things I never would have seen by just staying home.”

“It’s helped me build my confidence to be in a different state that’s not really like Texas and be with people I’ve never met before,” Drayden said. “Just to go out and be on my own but still keep the values that I learned growing up while also being able to adapt to different things and grow as a person - that’s something Cal has helped me with.”

Both are now also Cal graduates after earning their degrees last December.

“A Cal degree is like a banner in the rafters of an arena,” Drayden said. “It’s something that’s going to be there forever. When I have kids and grandkids, they’re going to be able to see that. To accomplish that will set me and my family up for a better place in the future. It’s a stepping stone to where I want be and a box checked on a long path to many more accomplishments.”

“We came to Cal for football and getting that degree, too,” Goode added. “That just gives us some reassurance that we’re smart and that we have a Cal network that we’ll have for the rest of our lives.”

Their tassels may have already flipped from right to left to signify their Cal degrees, but there’s still more for them to accomplish in Berkeley with nearly all of a promising 2021 football season ahead of them.

And just where they live the rest of their lives whenever their football playing careers end remains to be seen. 

“I could see myself being both places,” Goode said. “Maybe eventually I’ll go back to Texas to get a big house, but I do enjoy California while I’m younger.”

Drayden sees no reason to ever settle for one or the other.

“When I get older I want to live in both California and Texas,” Drayden said. “I want to have a boat in California so I can go in the ocean, but in Texas I want to have a lot of land, relax and just be able to run around, ride bikes and stuff.”

Before then, the remainder of the 2021 season starts with this Saturday’s game at TCU.

“It means a lot,” Goode said. “I’m going to have family and friends there who haven’t seen me play in person since high school. Knowing they are going to be there in the stands supporting me, that’s big for me. It’s pretty cool that it worked out for us to have this opportunity.”

“It’s exciting because, like Cam said, there’s going to be a lot of family and friends,” Drayden said. “It’s going to be crazy, like a graduation ceremony or something.”