Cal Football Review and Preview: Inside Linebackers

In the wake of Cal's 7-6 season in 2018, we're taking a look at every position group, looking at how they're stocked for the future, how they performed for the season, and the expectation level for each group. Today, it's the inside linebacker group, one of the most productive duos in Cal history.

A group that had high hopes coming into the year, with a new position coach in former Tennessee Titan Peter Sirmon. Jordan Kunaszyk had started the final half of 2017 following Devante Downs' ACL tear, and Evan Weaver had traded reps with Gerran Brown after moving inside late in fall camp of 2017.

Brown then announced that he had to medically retire due to a bone infection, so it left the Bears with somewhat shallow depth, as Kunaszyk and Weaver had a couple backups in Colt Doughty and Evan Tattersall who hadn't played at the D1 level yet, and Evan Rambo, who flipped between ILB and OLB after coming down from the safety spot.

The one way to avoid issues is to just play the starters, which is what the Bears did, and Kunaszyk and Weaver remarkably managed to stay healthy all year while keeping their level of play high. They each played over 95% of the available reps on defense (888 for Kunaszyk, 881 for Weaver out of 921). They finished with 307 tackles, 20.5 TFLs, 8.5 sacks, 3 INTs, and 9 PBUs as both earned various all-conference and all-American honors. Both showed that they could tackle in space, cover zone, and rush the passer as they put out fires for the Cal defense.

Departing: Jordan Kunaszyk

Probably the emotional heart of the defense, Kunaszyk will be missed with the inside linebacker group, as the guy played the most reps and had some of the most disciplined routines as he kept himself healthy throughout the year. He did have a cast on his right hand leading up to the bowl game, but it was taken off once the team got to Phoenix.

Returning: Evan Weaver, Colt Doughty, Evan Tattersall, Evan Rambo (sort of), Louis Bickett, Zach Angelillo, Tommy Vanis, Nick Henderson, Sam Walker

(Note that the last four names on that list are walk-ons)

Weaver announcing his return was a massive boost for the defensive prospects for this team heading into 2019. He'll be the anchor of the defense, as Tattersall, Doughty, Bickett, possibly Rambo and the whole host on newcomers will fight to take the second spot. It's a position that now has a semblance of depth, an unheard of proposition three years ago

Incoming: Kuony Deng (JuCo), Blake Antzoulatos, Kyle Smith, Ryan Puskas

Deng has been taking time early at ILB, sticking to Kunaszyk when he got to practice with the team in the lead up to bowl prep. He may play more outside, but the Bears plan to use him in both. With the true freshmen, you could ostensibly see all three redshirting, but any one of them could add something on special teams.

Projected Starters: Evan Weaver, Evan Tattersall

Weaver's a lock, and Tattersall showed a lot during fall camp last year, with some speed that's uncommon in inside linebackers. Either way, it's more likely that the Bears rotate more, at least at one ILB spot, than they did in 2018.

Spring Storylines

The biggest thing is how does the defense change without Kunaszyk. There's intrinsic benefits that come from having an experienced player at each spot. That changes next year regardless of who starts next to Weaver. Deng, Tattersall, Doughty and Bickett will be competing for reps at the spot. It'll also be a time to see how much time Deng and Rambo spend with the position group, as both may be better OLBs than ILBs