{"id":462497,"date":"2026-09-13T11:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T11:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462497\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T11:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T11:46:13","slug":"caleb-womacks-stock-continues-meteoric-rise-for-sjsu-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462497\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Womack\u2019s stock continues meteoric rise for SJSU football"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Now you see it, now you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo receiver Tayvion McCoy was locked into quarterback Anthony Grigsby Jr.\u2019s hurried, arching spiral to the front, right corner of the end zone as he streaked down the sideline toward the goal line, leaving San Jose State safety Brian Dukes, Jr. eating his dust.<\/p>\n

However, Spartans cornerback Caleb Womack was at the 1-yard, waiting, licking his chops. He closed in, timed his jump, and sprung in front of McCoy to snatch the ball.<\/p>\n

When Womack landed on the ground, ball in hand, he was sans helmet. He twirled the ball to ground, making it spin like a top, and yelled in jubilation. His curly, brown locks bounced as he trotted back to the Spartans\u2019 sideline, where he received adulation from his teammates and coaches alike. Fans, too.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose State cornerback Caleb Womack intercepts a pass intended for Cal Poly-SLO receiver Tayvion McCoy during the fourth quarter at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose on Saturday. (Shae Hammond – Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou pull for guys like that because he\u2019s awesome,\u201d Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo said.<\/p>\n

The fourth-quarter turnover \u2014 Womack\u2019s first career interception \u2014 not only prevented a touchdown, it provided a spark for the Spartans\u2019 offense, which stormed downfield for an insurance touchdown in its 30-20 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great,\u201d said Womack, of celebrating with his teammates after the turnover. \u201cIt\u2019s a moment I\u2019m gonna remember for the rest of my life, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a redshirt senior, Womack is starting for the first time in his collegiate career. His immense impact has been surprising considering his only previous action in college came on special teams. He didn\u2019t see any game action either of his first two seasons with the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a long journey,\u201d Womack said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of ups and downs. It\u2019s just a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were some downs as recently as the first quarter. Womack, who is battling a cold, was sub-par on a few coverages and Grigsby did his best to challenge and exploit him.<\/p>\n

Womack rose to the occasion \u2014 quite literally \u2014 on his pick.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose State cornerback Caleb Womack, a Santa Cruz native, intercepts a pass intended for Cal Poly-SLO receiver Tayvion McCoy during the fourth quarter at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose on Saturday. (Shae Hammond – Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

He also finished with a team-high nine tackles to take over the team lead with 25 for the Spartans (2-1 overall). Moreover, he now leads the Mountain West Conference in tackles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mentality is he\u2019s a grinder,\u201d Niumatalolo said. \u201cHe\u2019s a kid that has a great process. He comes to work the same every day. That\u2019s what I love about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

A walk-on out of Santa Cruz High four years ago, Womack earned a scholarship ahead of this season, based on his special teams performance in 2025. He previous contributed in practice playing defense on the scout team.<\/p>\n

One doesn\u2019t earn a starting role without putting in the work, and\u00a0Womack is said to be one of the hardest workers on the team. The player who is first to practice and last to leave. The one spending extra hours in the weight room and film room.<\/p>\n

Womack seems dismissive of the \u201chardest working\u201d label he has earned, but that\u2019s only because he doesn\u2019t want to take anything from his teammates, whom he believes are equally dedicated.<\/p>\n

That said, he explained his approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mentality is, if you\u2019re going to do anything, you might as well do it to the best of your ability,\u201d said Womack, a four-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete. \u201cSo, when that comes to football or even academics, I just try to do it the best I can because, why not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coaching staff took notice, especially first-year cornerbacks coach Brian Norwood.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose State University senior cornerback Caleb Womack celebrates his first career interception in the fourth quarter on Saturday. His pick in the end zone helped the Spartans topple visiting Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo 30-20. (Aubrey Tibblis – San Jos\u00e9 State)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best human beings on our football team\u201d Niumatalolo said. \u201cHe comes to work every day. He was on the scout team last year. I think having a new coach come in here, Brian Norwood, who, I believe, is one of the best secondary coaches in the country, just was able to judge him for what he saw. He saw this kid can help us. But what a great testament to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Womack remains humble despite his early season successes. He attributes his high tackle total to the play of the defensive line.<\/p>\n

And he credited defensive coordinator Bojay Filimoeatu for being able to make the game-saving interception. Filimoeatu put Womack in the right place at the right time, the cornerback said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really just a great overall call by our coordinator,\u201d Womack said. \u201cHe got me to drop back to the deep half. We had the d-line pressuring the quarterback, made him throw the ball up. At that point, I just got back to the receiver days and had to just go up and get the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now you see it, now you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Now you see it, now you don\u2019t. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo receiver Tayvion McCoy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[182206,182205,61426,88,90,89,182204,61383],"class_list":["post-462497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-cal-poly-san-luis-obispo","tag-head-coach-ken-niumatalolo","tag-jim-seimas","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-university-senior-cornerback-caleb-womack-makes-first-career-interception","tag-santa-cruz-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}