Whether by design or circumstance, the past three years have seen inside linebackers take up a clear leadership role in Berkeley and put up huge numbers. In 2018, Jordan Kunaszyk led the defense by example, with discipline spreading across his film study, technique, and eating habits. In 2019, you had Evan Weaver, a man of fire, desire, trash-talk, and above all else, production.

2020 is the year where Kuony Deng has taken over the mantle of leadership on defense, and like Kunaszyk, Weaver, and even Devante Downs before him, he'll look to make his way to the NFL at season's end. Deng has a different approach to the leadership aspect of the job than some of his predecessors.

"Kuony's just super positive, he's a great role model," redshirt sophomore inside linebacker Evan Tattersall said, "and he does everything the right way in my eyes. The way he's handled himself as he came from junior college straight into playing, it's like he had been here for four years."

"My entire life, I've tried to be a leader to my peers and everyone around me." Deng said last Thursday. "Being an older guy, I definitely think there's a leadership role there. I think the way I execute that is through a genuine desire to see everybody do their best. I think when you care about people, it's easier to get the best out of them. I'm really kind of loving up on these guys, continuing to expect them to do their best, getting on them when there are things that are non-negotiables, things like loafs, not playing physical enough, those are things I get on people about. Besides that, I'm the type of guy that brings people up, loves them up, and brings energy."

During that media availability session, Deng 'loved up' his teammates for nearly eight minutes, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball (from 10:10 - 15:24, 15:34-18:05 in the video below for those curious). While the senior linebacker has talked the talk as far as that sort of leadership, he's walked a long walk in order to prepare for the 2020 season, starting last December.

"The strides he has made football-wise," defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said, "where he’s at in the locker room, is nothing but remarkable. His physical maturation as well."

That physical maturation started with a conversation between Sirmon and Deng last December. Deng played in 2019 at 225 pounds, and while he finished the year with 119 tackles, he often got pushed back at the point of attack. After a surgery post-bowl game, he changed his routine in order to start the development process toward a senior year.

"Going into the bowl game, right before the game started, coach Sirmon said 'treat this game like the first game of your senior year,'" Deng told GoldenBearReport back in July, "that's what I tried to do. Right after the game, I never left town, I stayed in Berkeley the entire time, got surgery three days later and really just doubled down on my diet. That's how it started, I wanted to heal as fast as possible. I got with the nutritionist, Liz McNear, and she told me if I get more more fruits and veggie into my body and hydrate more, I'll heal faster. I started taking that really seriously during the break. I had more energy, felt better, stayed consistent with the diet and the strength training, really taking the offseason with a specialized approach to all the things I wanted to work on. It started to pay dividends, and I was at 245, 250 pounds by the time spring ball started in March."

Now, Deng is at 250 lbs and it shows. Take the video below for instance. At around the minute mark, Deng is standing next to Collin Moore. Moore is listed at 6'4" and 245 lbs. Deng looks noticeably bigger.

"I've been able to feel it, taking on these blocks and getting after some of these guys in practice," Deng noted of the added size, "overall, physicality, durability, IQ, it's all dramatically improved. I feel like I've improved my game in every aspect. (My teammates) have been telling me after practice they feel it more."

The increased physicality has led to a bit more chatter from the senior linebacker in practice.

"Me and Kuony meet in the hole now and then when I pull," sophomore offensive lineman McKade Mettauer noted, "we do get after it sometimes. His arms are so long, sometimes I just let him have it, he’ll push me and I’ll just go back in the huddle."

The next step for Deng is production, showing that the increased weight can make him as productive as his predecessors. Deng may have a chance of getting drafted higher than Downs, Kunaszyk or Weaver thanks to his physical tools and ability to play multiple linebacker spots, but the prevailing thought with the Cal coaches is that he's a guy they wished they had for longer.

"It’s the same things we asked him to do," Sirmon noted of Deng's role in 2020, "we moved him around quite a bit on the field, the leadership and continued production is where he’s going to continue to develop. We just wish he would have developed with us a bit longer."