Cal Football Countdown: 47 Days, Star Rating Lineup, Defense

This edition of the Cal Football Countdown is continuing to take a turn back to articles here late last year. In the space between Cal's final game of the regular season and the bowl game, I took a look at the weighted star averages of each position group.

READ: Weighted Star Averages, Cal's Defense, 2018

By that, I took the rep counts of everyone on offense, multiplied it by star rating, add those together, then divide by the total number of snaps.

Even with massive contributions from former two star recruits, like Luc Bequette, Tevin Paul, and Jordan Kunaszyk, along with a former walk-on in Ashtyn Davis, Cal's defense, on average, had about a half star advantage on the offense on a per-player basis.

Now, we're going to predict some of those averages, based on who's in the rotation at each spot this year.

Defensive Line

Projected Starters: Luc Bequette, Siu Fuimaono, Zeandae Johnson

Projected Weighted Star Average: 2.2

Star Average from 2018: 2.35

Bequette (a former two-star) and Fuimaono (who had no rating) make this average lower than the talent of those playing will suggest. The Bears will rotate a bit, bringing in three star reserves in Lone Toailoa and Aaron Maldonado, along with freshmen potentially getting time in Ben Coleman, JH Tevis, Braxten Croteau, and Brett Johnson (the sole four star among the group).

Bequette did play the most out of the group last year, as his versatility makes him an iron man.

Outside Linebackers

Projected Starters: Cam Goode, Tevin Paul

Projected Weighted Star Average: 2.3

Star Average from 2018: 2.86

Goode and Paul were both two stars coming out of high school, but like Bequette, have outplayed those numbers. They'll be backed up by the likes of Nick Alftin, Joey Ogunbanjo, Ben Moos, Orin Patu, Deon White and Ben Hawk Schriber (all three stars aside from White and Schriber, who is walking on after his grad transfer from UT-Chattanooga)

Inside Linebackers

Projected Starters: Evan Weaver, Kuony Deng

Projected Weighted Star Average: 3.4

Star Average from 2018: 2.5

Deng's going to be on the field a lot this year (four star out of Independence CC) along with Weaver, who played the second most reps out of anyone on defense a year ago. They'll be backed up by Evan Tattersall and Colt Doughty, with Blake Antzoulatos likely to fight his way in for some playing time (all three stars)

Cornerbacks

Projected Starters: Cam Bynum, Elijah Hicks, Traveon Beck (Nickel)

Projected Weighted Star Average: 3.3

Star Average from 2018: 3.3

With the same returners from a year ago likely to play similar rep counts, the projection shouldn't change much. Josh Drayden should get some run behind these three, along with Chigozie Anusiem.

Safeties

Projected Starters: Ashtyn Davis, Jaylinn Hawkins

Projected Weighted Star Average: 2.1

Star Average from 2018: 2.05

As with the corners, the same personnel are expected to make impacts, with Trey Turner still in as backup and Daniel Scott making more of an appearance in his third year. The wil card here is Penn State transfer Isaiah Humphries, who could be a strong reserve if he gets a waiver to play right away.