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Julian Womack is a freshman defensive back on the football team at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology. A Berkeley native himself, as a 3-year varsity starter at St. Mary's High School, Julian played every position in high school and finished his athletic career with offers from Portland State, Navy, Colgate, Bucknell, and Lehigh. Today, he sat down with 2aDays to talk about recruiting, adjusting to life as a college athlete, and more.

Related: Rate the University of California-Berkeley

2aDays: How has life as a college athlete at UC Berkeley been so far?

JW: It has been a pretty big adjustment from high school balancing 13 units of coursework along with practice. I do not have a lot of downtime or personal time because I'm always on the go whether that be athletic or academic. Sometimes I even get envious of non-student athletes. I am really enjoying my time but it can be very tiring. That said,  I have actually enjoyed the monotony of my schedule though knowing when and where I have to be at places. 

2aDays: What has been the biggest adjustment from playing all the time in high school to not getting any in-game playing time in college? 

JW: I just had to check my ego at the door. At first, it felt weird to just watch practice and other people play football while I was on the bench. It was definitely a reality check but it gave me an opportunity to learn from the people ahead of me and understand where I can improve my game. I've learned from my older peers that watching films is integral. Understanding concepts helps the game slow down and it will get me onto the playing field faster. 

Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits

2aDays: What was it like getting recruited from a plethora of Patriot League schools so late in the recruiting process? 

JW: My recruiting process was messed up by COVID. I would make a choice about the college I would want to go to then there would be another variable. I had my Portland State and Navy offer then Colgate came calling and the rest of the Patriot League flooded in. Lehigh a month before they offered me said they would offer me a full scholarship. They took super long to officially offer me and then offered me a 50% scholarship for my first year and a full ride for the left which was different from their original offer. This was incredibly disheartening due to the fact that the other Patriot League schools offered me full-ride scholarships every year. 

2aDays: What was your deciding factor when taking a preferred walk-on offer from Cal instead of a scholarship from a Patriot league school? 

JW: Cal was on and off because they didn't know what position to recruit me at. They said I was not tall enough to be recruited to play outside linebacker and did not weigh enough to play inside linebacker. They had a scholarship and a preferred walk-on and after another recruit decided to go to Michigan I got the preferred walk-on. I even thought about going JUCO and was also recruited late by Nevada.

Related: Difference between a Full Scholarship, Partial Scholarship, and Walk-On

 I'd been hitting up coaches for months and months and months and now random schools were saying they want me to come to their school because they had one scholarship left. I know nothing about their program, you know nothing about me and it felt like I was the leftovers. My dad and I did the math and I bet on myself to go to Cal to try to earn a scholarship rather than go to Lehigh for the 50% for one year. The cost was going to be virtually the same because I am a California resident. Cal has a higher level of football and I have the skills to play here. 

2aDays: What is the best advice you can give athletes when getting recruited from a small school? How did you exercise patience in the recruiting process? 

JW: You gotta be proactive and reach out to coaches. The best advice I can give to high school athletes is to put themselves out there on bigger platforms, for example, 7 on 7 teams. That shows that you can compete and dominate at your level. I feel Like I was a little too patient in my recruiting process and even thought about transferring to De La Salle which would have changed my recruiting process. Remembering that it was not my turn yet when I saw other kids who I knew I was better than helped me not get dismayed during the process and I knew that if I kept putting in the work I would get my desired results. 

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Image Credit: UC Berkeley Athletics

* Originally published on December 8, 2022, by William Calhoun