Cal Football Countdown: 30 Days, Fall Camp Linebacker Preview

Previous Fall Camp Previews: QBs | Skill Positions | OL | DL

Today is going to be the easiest day of the position previews, and likely the most boring.

In short, should the back end of the defense play close to the level of expectation and remain healthy, they'll be one of the best overall units in school history. You know, like they were last year.

What makes them potentially -- potentially -- better than the 2018 team is the presence of something they've not had much of in the past decade: pass-rushers who can win one-on-one matchups.

This morning's article will focus on the linebackers, though, which we've projected as follows:

Everything looks somewhat the same as it did in the spring, because most of the top end talent returned, so we only have a couple of quick notes here:

First note: the changing weights of Evan Weaver -- who dropped 10 pounds in an effort to get even more effective in space -- and Kuony Deng, who lost the same amount of weight that I am guessing is to get him quicker too.

Goode moving up to 235 gives the staff of Cal Rivals great joy, because we figure that added bulk will protect him from injury and keep him more viable against the run.

After putting on weight to get up to 220, we're projecting true freshman Orin Patu to move up in the pecking order for snaps. Like with Goode -- a player he'll be compared to quite often over his career -- Patu's good enough to see pass rush situations now, but the weight helps him be more of a three down player.

The backups for Tevin Paul weigh 235 and 270 pounds respectively, which gives the staff some options for special packages. If they want more speed from their Big LB, then they can sub in Alftin. More athleticism? Chinedu. Because of the variety in body sizes and talents they have available to them, it would not surprise me to see far more exotic looks thrown around by Wilcox and DeRuyter this fall, which is also a luxury granted by the returning personnel. As a result, Trace and I have spent many a minute theorycrafting potential looks for the Bears, such as:

Speed 2-4-5:

DL: Bequette, Lone, Zeandae Johnson, Paul (pick two of four)

ILB: Evan Tattersall/Kuony Deng/Doughty, Evan Weaver (any on of three)

OLB: Kuony Deng/Deon White/Orin Patu, Cam Goode (pick your choice next to Cam)

Deon White is slotted for that LB/Nickel/S hybrid role Malik Psalms used to be at.

Young and Jernigan are likely to redshirt due to depth at the OLB position (plus, classmate Orin Patu was an early enrollee who has had some time to establish himself already), barring some immediate breakout.