Cal has one more day of practice before players head home for a brief Christmas break with their families. Some coaches may normally worry about the quick turnaround from the holiday getting back to practice, but defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter isn't worried about his group.

"It'd be different if we had a group that wasn't very mature," DeRuyter said, "but we've got a bunch of guys who have played a lot of football, and they realize the importance of winning an eighth game, winning a bowl game, the message that it sends, the momentum that'll go into next year with the guys that are returning, and it's just a great sendoff for our seniors."

One of those is Evan Weaver, who was named a consensus all-American this week, Cal's first since 2006.

"I can't say enough about what he's done," DeRuyter noted, "for Cal football, our defense in particular. I know he's made our whole unit better and he's well deserving of all those awards. Coach Sirmon's rightfully proud of him, he's done a great job of training Evan, but there was a lot of raw material there, Evan took advantage of that coaching and it has made him the player that he is."

In true Weaver fashion, he joked about the one outlet that didn't name him to the first-team (Sports Illustrated).

"There was one publication that messed it up," Weaver said, "not going to call it out or anything, but there's only one, it was a pretty cool honor though, I wouldn't be able to do it without my parents' support, my coaches and my teammates around me."

In addition to the 173 tackles, Weaver noted that his top accomplishment this year was leaning how to lead in more ways than just being vocal.

"This year especially I learned how to actually talk to people on the team," Weaver said, "not just in one leadership way, got to know everybody, figured out that different guys need to be led in different ways, just being able to grow in that aspect and grow as a person. In general, Berkeley makes you grow, you adapt here or you die, I'd say I adapted, because I made it four years here."

On Recruiting

Ten or eleven Bears were added to Cal's defense for next year (depending on which side of the ball Jaedon Roberts fits on), though DeRuyter noted that there may not be one individual in particular who makes an immediate impact.

"I don't know that you ever look at one individual," DeRuyter said, "we're real excited about the guys that we did sign. Obviously, our secondary the past couple of years has been very good, and we're losing a number there, having five defensive backs coming in, (three) of them coming in in January is going to be a big help for us. Up front, we got three really big guys that fit what we do that we're excited about. Then, signing two quality inside linebackers, we're gonna lose the secondary players, luckily we get Josh (Drayden) back, but we're not going to lose a ton of guys. We'll obviously miss Colt and miss Lone up front, but we've got a good nucleus coming back and these guys will certainly supplement all that."

That said, there's a belief around the Cal staff that Muelu Iosefa has a ton of potential for the Bears' defense.

"Mo's a big get for us. He's a guy that's a big inside linebacker," DeRuyter said, "he's physical, can run. He's a guy that was very highly recruited, that no matter the interest from other people, we weren't always sure until Wednesday, he stayed true to his word, to me that's really impressive...he was true to him and what was going to be the best choice for him, not just for the next four or five years, but the next 40 or 50 years. He's gonna be a Golden Bear."

On Bynum

Cal defensive back Cam Bynum has the opportunity to go to the NFL, but has the potential to stay another year, depending on how he schedules his final year of classes. It all depends on how he's viewed for the draft and whether the opportunity is right for him to make the leap.

"I think he's gonna spend some time with his family," DeRuyter said, "and the people advising him. It's a tough decision, he's got an opportunity to graduate this spring if he so chooses. There's obviously some opportunities for him, obviously coach Wilcox and all of us around him are going to give him some advice on what we're hearing from the NFL, but we're going to support him in any way that he decides."

The Bowl Game

The Redbox Bowl is eight days away, and there's a couple things worth paying attention to. The first is if Weaver can break the 193 tackle record, as he sits at 173 at the moment. He has a strategy for getting to that mark.

"We'll see, hopefully. I know what 's happening," Weaver joked, "I told the guys on defense, you've got to hold them up, but let them inch forward so they don't blow the whistle, so I'll get an assist on there."

That said, there's a healthy respect for Illinois' running game, as offensive coordinator Rod Smith brings some familiar schemes from what he ran at Arizona.

"Very similar, a lot of those themes. They're going to go tempo at times," DeRuyter said, "mix it up some. Lot of 11 personnel, lot of run and RPO game. A lot of things we saw in the Ole Miss game. A lot of things going back to two years ago with Arizona. They'll be both in 11 personnel and 12 personnel and 20. All those themes, they do a lot of things to stress a defense, so we've got to do a good job in the run game. That's probably the strength of their team, they're physical up front, and they do a good job in their run schemes. They have a couple backs who run real hard (Reggie Corbin and Dre Brown) and have about 1200 yards between them."

"They do a really good job of running the ball, they've got two really good running backs," Weaver added, "a pretty good line up-front, some playmakers on the outside, it'll be interesting on the line of scrimmage, because that's what's going to decide the game, who can get more push."

The line of scrimmage is an area where the Bears have had success defensively. While USC, Stanford, and UCLA weren't particularly great rushing teams coming into their contests with Cal, the Bears held them to 58.3 yards per game on the ground (2.03 yards per carry, 3.4 if you take out sacks). While he was jokingly reticent about giving the line credit, chiding Luc Bequette, Weaver was complimentary of the work the defensive line has done this year.

"Bequette's done a great job of holding it down at the nose position," Weaver noted, "especially earlier in the year when we were figuring everything out with Brett Johnson being young. Zeandae's just a super athlete, a super good guy, gets off blocks really well, and holds on double teams, and Brett Johnson's really come out of nowhere as a true freshman, he's brought his wrestling background into it, he's really been able to leverage blocks and dominate everybody he plays. He's strong, holds up gaps well, and he knows what he's doing."

Other Notes:

- Cal released a video about 'Moving the Program Forward,' which mentioned their 13 turnovers over a 12 game stretch being a regular season record for the program. The Bears only had 9 of their 13 turnovers against FCS competition, and 8 in Pac-12 play. This was after Cal had 31 turnovers over 13 games in 2018. They had 26 going into the bowl game a year ago.

- DeRuyter noted that they're pretty healthy on the defensive side of the ball right now, with Ashtyn Davis being the exception. Branden Smith and Evan Tattersall are both healthy on that side of the ball, while Kekoa Crawford and Jeremiah Hawkins are healthy again on offense.