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Cal Twitter has had one long-term goal: Remove the tarps in the South End Zone that have been utilized to battle low attendance numbers.

Mission accomplished. Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi did it himself.

As you can see from the tweets in this video, the Calgorithm continues to find motion, three years after its public debut.

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In Episode 1, titled Relentless Effort, Tosh Lupoi emphasizes the hard work going into fall camp to get the Bears to top form by the season opener.

Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele gets the spotlight, as we see him in motion through practice running drills, scrambling, and talking with his coaches about how things are going and training to get better. There’s lots of good footage that goes in-between the lines.

Additional props go out from Sagapolutele to senior center Bastian Swinney, whom Sagapolutele highlights for his intelligence and leadership up front.

Freshman tight end Taimane Purcell gets a lot of early mentions from Sagapolutele for that Hawaii connection, and who he already projects as a potential NFL Draft talent.

Defensive lineman Jericho Johnson gets up close with Lupoi as he works through defensive drills and interacts with the players on that side.

Cal football assistant equipment manager and folk legend Trevor Skogerboe had some time talking with the players as well.

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Part 1: Finally Something New Under the Sun
Part 2: The Offense
Part 3: The Defense

First, a correction/addition from last week’s preview of the defense. I listed seven transfers on defense who are young, high end high school recruits looking to break through at Cal . . . and I missed one. Sophomore Kingston Lopa is a former 4 star entering his 3rd year of college after playing in 13 games as a back up last year, behind (among others) a safety drafted with the 25th overall pick. He’s absolutely a contender to break into the starting lineup even though Cal has solid returning talent at safety.

Now it’s time to talk about special teams, which are led by Zach Tinker. No, not the heartthrob from the Young and the Restless, I’m talking about the west coast CFB lifer who worked his way through Western Washington, Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, South Dakota Mines, and Central Washington. What can we expect from his units? That’s hard to say because much of his experience isn’t directly with special teams.

Here’s what we can say about Cal’s likely specialists:

Special Teams

Punting

Punter: Senior Angus Davies

Cal lost their punters from 2025 to the portal, with Michael Kern heading to New Mexico and Brook Honore off to South Dakota. To replace them, the Bears grabbed Angus Davies from Tulsa. Davies is an Aussie who was Tulsa’s starter for three years and has been a consistently average-to-slightly-above-average FBS punter in that stretch. He’s not likely to be a massive difference maker at the position, but the 41.5 net punting he put up last year was good for 30th nationally and if he brings that production to Berkeley then punting will be the least of Cal’s concerns.

Return units

Punt Returner: Senior Chase Hendricks

Kickoff Returner: Junior Adam Mohammed or Sophomore Carter Vargas

Chase Hendricks had an excellent year returning punts with Ohio last year, averaging 18 yards/return, and with the departure of Jacob DeJesus I would expect Cal’s new slot receiver to step into the role.

Similarly, Adam Mohammed was Washington’s primary kickoff returner last year and would be an obvious option for the role. If Cal doesn’t want to risk injury or tire out their starter, Carter Vargas returned 3 kickoffs last year for UC Davis and popped one for 52 yards.

Kickoffs/Field Goals

Placekicker: junior Chase Meyer, sophomore Towns McGough

This is going to be a camp battle, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the result is that Meyer is Cal’s short field goal specialist and McGough attempts longer kicks. That was the case for McGough at Auburn in 2024, although those long kicks didn’t go well as he missed all four of his 50+ yard kicks. FWIW, McGough was a top ranked prep kicker in the high school class of 2024, and he’s more likely to be on kickoffs with the bigger leg.

Meyer can generally be trusted inside 40 yards (21-22 for his career) but only 6-11 from 40-49 yards, and no attempts from 50+.

Frankly, with JKS behind center and no proven long range kickers, I will be HEAVILY on team go-for-it in plus territory, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

The Schedule

Each year, I start with Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings as a baseline to inform my thinking about Cal and Cal’s opponents. And this year, Bill gave Cal fans a free (terrifying) preview of the season:

Bill called this category his “Pepto-Bismol All-Stars” and when you look at Cal’s place within the ACC, it’s not hard to understand why:

If you add up win expectancy based on these lines, you get 6 wins, which is pretty close to the 6.5 projection you get from Vegas right now.

Now, I think you’re all asking similar forms of the same question: “13th place out of 17 teams in the ACC? Projected favorites in only 4 games out of 12? Why do the computers hate Cal?!?” I’m going to take a stab at explaining why:

1. Cal has been the ~60th best college football team for 15 years. These rating systems default to assuming that a team that has been consistently mediocre for more than a decade will continue to play at that level. We Cal fans are aware of the institutional investment made into the program, but until that investment translates into wins, the computers don’t really care.

2. A lot of the talent Tosh Lupoi brought into the program has no history of on-field production. As noted last week when talking about the defense, Cal’s two-deep is littered with guys who have an exciting high school recruiting profile but haven’t managed to translate that into bankable production and snaps. UCLA was a worse team than Cal last year, but SP+ likes the proven production of the portal adds Bob Chesney brought with him from JMU more than Cal’s bets on recruiting talent.

3. Cal is a rounding error away from being the 8th best ACC team in these rankings. The ACC rankings are sobering but it’s worth noting that the middle of the ACC is a crab bucket and if Cal exceeds their pre-season projections by a very tiny amount, they are a bang-on average ACC team. If they exceed their pre-season rating by even more, they could easily be the 5th best team in the ACC. If they exceed their pre-season ranking by as much as Virginia did last year, they will have an outside path to the ACC title game, because SP+ only sees one notably good team in the ACC this year and Cal doesn’t play Miami.

   
   Let’s not talk about what things look like if Cal plays worse than their computer projections.

So, let’s split the schedule into tiers:

1. Virtual guaranteed wins

Wagner. I wasn’t able to find a precise SP+ rating for Cal’s annual FCS opponent, but Bill C. has the Wagner as a clearly below average FCS program. That makes sense, as they’re coming off a 5-7 season in one of FCS’s weakest conferences, and that 5-7 mark actually stands as the best season Wagner has had in about a decade. There are scary FCS teams - this is not one of them.

2. Likely wins

Stanford. The Cardinal are starting Davis Warren, who put up the following stats while playing for MICHIGAN:

• 134-209, 5.7 yards/attempt, 7 TDs, 9 INTs, 17 carries for -22 yards

He’s a statue with accuracy and decision making issues, and those numbers were put up with a Michigan-level supporting caste rather than a rebuilding Stanford team.

This would be an emotional must-win even if it wasn’t our archrivals who humiliated us last year.

3. Coin flip range

This category includes (takes a deep breath) UCLA, Syracuse, UNLV, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, NC State, and Pitt. 7 out of 12 games! 7 out of 11 FBS vs. FBS games on the schedule!

SP+ (and Vegas, which increasingly matches SP+ in their projections) says that each of these games has a favorite that would win 50%-58% of the time.

All of these teams have intriguing plusses (Bob Chesney’s JMU transfers! Syracuse has their QB healthy! James Franklin! Wake Forest’s defense should be nasty [complimentary]! Pitt somehow retained Mason Heintschel!) and obvious minuses (UCLA, Syracuse and V. Tech were terrible last year and they probably haven’t patched every roster hole! Wake Forest’s offense should be nasty [derogatory]! Pitt has no NIL and their portal class ranked 90s!). It allows you to see what you want to see in almost every game. More than anything else, prepare for stress.

By the way, the reason you don’t schedule road games against non-power teams like UNLV is because you run the risk of visiting them when they’re on the upswing. When Cal announced the scheduling agreement in 2017 UNLV hadn’t made a bowl in a few years and hadn’t been a threat in the Mountain West in years. Now they’re the consensus pre-season favorite.

4. Likely losses

An important caveat here: Clemson and Virginia are both projected 7.5 point favorites over Cal in the pre-season, but teams favored by that much actually win games ~68% of the time. While Cal is a meaningful underdog in those two games and their road trip to ACC title contender SMU, Cal is more likely than not to upset at least one of these three teams. Projections are not destiny.

And we should know that from recent experience! Last year Cal was handed one of easiest slates of ACC games they could possibly receive. Did it matter? Hardly - Cal ended up losing to two of the four worst teams on their schedule (Virginia Tech and Stanford) and coming within inches of losing to the other two (BC and UNC). Meanwhile, Cal upset two of the best on the schedule (SMU and Louisville) and was within three points of ACC-title-game-participant Virginia deep into the 4th quarter.

We’ll be back next week with best case and worst case scenarios, and final predictions. Congrats on making it to college football season, and please enjoy a shockingly relevant Week Zero. If rubber-necking at Sonny Dykes and Bill Belichick going at it in Ireland wasn’t enough, we also get early looks at FOUR different future opponents. Check it out:

• NC State at Virginia, 12:30, ESPN

• Hawaii at Stanford, 4:00, ACC Network

• Memphis at UNLV, 7:00, Fox

Plop your rear on the couch, grab a drink, and ignore your responsibilities. Football is back!

Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

If I’m being honest, I just chose the first 4 off the top of my head.

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On Wednesday, as questions wrapped, it became apparent RB Coach Bhonapha wasn’t been exactly sure of what day it was. Today felt like that but two days further into the feeling. Things are even more routine than what’s been written here; the players don’t just form the same lines during stretches, but the same positions in the lines. A handful of players have come and gone; today Ricky Fletcher is once again leading stretches Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele and Adam Mohammed, on Wednesday he wore sneakers, today he’s wearing cleats again.

Special teams drills still come after stretching, then O-line and D-line break out, hitting sleds and pads. A period later, three distinct groups of offense and defense do the same drill at the same time, and you start to see what Rolovich described on Wednesday in action, with three quarterbacks getting simultaneous reps, 1s, 2s, and 3s all working.

It’s the first time I’ve happened to stand close enough to hear the refs talk amongst themselves. One will be at OSU at some point this year; another mentioned somewhere in Big 12 country. It’s their preseason too.

After practice we have time with the inside linebackers coach. Gregory is a familiar face to Cal fans, returning after coaching here last year, as well as serving as Defensive Coordinator for the Bears from 2002–2009; significantly, he coached Lupoi when he was a player under HC Jeff Tedford.

When asked about the progress of Tristan Jurnigan and A.J. Tuitele, he was affirmative but sure to mention the group: “We have a lot of calls on defense — I couldn’t be happier with where they’re at. It’s those two guys, it’s Aaron Hampton, it’s JD McKinley, it’s all those guys doing a nice job.” He praised Hampton’s increased confidence and fluidity in his play. Freshman JD McKinley has shown a certain kind of promise. “What’s remarkable about JD is that he’s a really smart player,” he continued, “seven months ago this kid was in high school. Really, really impressive.”

Coach Bryan Barraza was also made available for questions. Barraza is a first time position coach, coming with Tosh Lupoi from Oregon, his official title is “Edge Coach”. Barraza is a warm personality and smiles a lot. He seems really happy to be wherever he is, and is effusive about his players ability to learn. “Truly it’s been their level of growth…through spring ball, just their constant improvement …How much they’ve been able to retain and how much they’ve been able to grow.”

Barraza’s approach to the player-coach dynamic echoes the ways in which the position coaches over the course of the week have talked about their players like responsible humans; “All we can be for them at the end of the day, get em to know to know the playbook, they’re the ones that’ll execute it. So, me off the field is a lot different than me on the field, as far as, I want them to be able to have fun, I want them to be able to learn…from there I’m gonna have fun, tell jokes, and hold them to a high standard.”

The trust being extended to the players, as well as the standard they are held to, might have something to do with the close knit nature of this staff. Barraza lightsa up when asked; “Those guys are some of my best friends. Ed trained D2 (Derrion Daniels) when he was coming out of college, so Ed’s been in the game for a minute working with NFL Guys, me and (Derrion Daniels), we met up at Oregon, when we were with Tosh, so coming down here’s been like a family reunion.”

Today is the last day with periods of practice open to the media before the season opener. Sixteen more days until Cal football.

Cal football will revive the tradition of the Joe Roth Uniforms in the season opener against the UCLA Bruins. For most of the Justin Wilcox era, Cal has played in these uniforms against UCLA and USC, although the tradition stopped after the move to the ACC.

Tosh Lupoi is hoping to see a sellout vs. UCLA. Tickets are still available!

Also, a new tradition appears to be coming in focus for the Friday night ACC home opener against Clemson at the end of September. Cal fans will have light up “Fiat Lux” themed bracelets designed to turn Memorial Stadium gold.

Two weeks away.

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In a little over two weeks, a new era kicks off for Cal football. Under Justin Wilcox the Bears enjoyed years of stability, although that stability felt more like stagnation in the latter half of his tenure as the Bears consistently slogged their way just past the threshold for bowl eligibility. Our annual preseason predictions reflected this, as we seemed stuck around 7 wins for years. A new coaching staff rarely fixes all a team’s issues overnight, so predictions of an undefeated season will probably have to wait until next year. But for now, let’s calibrate our expectations for the first year under Tosh Lupoi.

Participation is simple: go to our form here and provide your predictions for how likely Cal is to defeat each opponent. Keep your predictions between 0 and 100, where 0 represents a 0% chance of winning, 100 represents a universe where there is no possible way Cal loses the game (don’t tempt fate like that…), and 50 represents a coin-flip game. Submit your prediction for each game and I’ll gather the results and share them ahead of the UCLA game. Thanks for participating and Go Bears!

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The fall camp routine is routine for everyone now. Ian Strong is back in the full swing of practice. Ricky Fletcher is leading stretches again and working back in. Scouts from the Steelers, Rams, and Jets talked amongst themselves and with personnel guys during independent drills.

Auburn transfer Towns McGough appears to be excelling in the battle to be Cal’s kicker on opening day. The Auburn transfer, who is also an Auburn native, could be seen sinking shots beyond the 40 yard dash this morning. Later, a special teams coach assures his room they’ll be getting in reps all over the field today. “We’re gonna be everywhere today, it’s like when you’re a dancer, use all the space.” He jokes. Three weeks in, one thing to be noted is that no player ever seems to be too far away from their next rep.

The offense works through some fun passing drills giving multiple quarterbacks chances at meaningful reps, something returning quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich touches on in his press availability later. The drill appears to be a layered option designed to make sure the back is finding their reads on top of the one-on-one battles corners and wideouts get to engage in.

On the other side of the field is Tosh back with his defense. A redshirt freshman from Houston, Khamani Hudson, is praised for reading out the situation correctly. I think back to yesterday’s coaches availability and their comments on freshmen lighting a fire under the vets and making their own push for the field now that the limitations on underclassmen are lessened. In another catching drill, inside linebacker Tristan Jernigan gives presumptive RB1 Adam Mohammed hell on a rep, and they praise each other afterwards, piling back in line to go again.

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich and running backs coach Keith Bhonapha are made available to speak with press after practice. Bhonapha is an Oakland native who also serves as recruiting coordinator. He is noticeably methodical in his coaching manner during independent drills, and is seldom heard yelling. He also has the full attention of his position group, who typically drill along the sideline nearest the goal zone, and are to be watched for by any bystanders with a sense of personal safety.

In addition to his main title, Bhonapha is also helping handle special teams, particularly returners. “The thing with the kick return responsibility is overall making sure we have the ball at the end of the play,” he says, hinting at a smile, “so really just getting these guys decisive, communicating out there.”

Bhonapha is happy to have a lot of different assets in the room, referring to the varying skill sets as a “gumbo” that comes together as a cohesive unit. He does point to Adam Mohammed and Carter Vargas as standouts not just in running, but in pass protection.

“Carter surprised me with how cerebral he is with the pass protection, understanding the checks, understanding what needs to happen, and he is physical in the pass game. Adam is just so stout, when it comes to getting up there, he’s just a bigger dude with really good technique, he can sit down there and really hold the point.” He notes that in pass pro an overlooked inflection point is the depth and width of the pocket depending on who’s blitzing, and those two have delivered thus far.

Nick Rolovich is presiding over an under-discussed but crucial aspect of this fall camp: the battle for QB2. Rolovich is quick to bring up the unusual wrinkles in practice structure and how they specifically help situations like this.

“The way that Coach Tosh has set up practice has been very effective when you’re talking about a battle like (the battle for QB2). The amount of reps every guy gets…you get a huge piece of work you’re able to make decisions off of, and I haven’t really been around that before.”

Continuing on about practice structure: “The way practice is organized it really leads to everyone feeling a part of it, everyone feeling like they have a chance, and it’s been really good for us to track numbers, decision making, you start seeing patterns, what is someone better at, what is someone maybe struggling with, you find things sooner I found…More banked reps in those types of situations that allows for a fair evaluation.”

With regards to JKS, Rolo stated that the “restart of sorts with the new offense was the new focus.” Referencing things they’ve been working with him on, running back screens, working on certain aspects of arm slot placement and sack avoidance were listed.

However, this hegemony of the 7 corporations means that if they are doing well on the stock market then the entire index flourishes, but if they are wobbly then the entire market feels it. I would say the same thing about the Cal newly rebuilt Front 7 and it’s likely impact on the entire team and especially the defense.

I am projecting Cal to run a 4-2-5 baseline formation with 2 notes:

1. DE/EDGE will generally be the larger of the two EDGE players, he will likely to the rushing strength of the offensive formation since he can anchor against run blocks while the lighter and quicker player can chase the backside of the play or drop into the flat in case the offensive playcall has a backside bubble RPO screen.

2. The STAR position, I have been fascinated with Cal being able to use this formation since the early Wilcox era with Trey Paster and Evan Rambo being pegged for that position. In this case the STAR player will let Cal play in a hybrid 4-2-5 and 4-3-4.

DE/EDGE

DE/EDGE1: Nate Burrell

DE/EDGE2: Justin Beadles

DE/EDGE3: Joshua Pierce

Burrell comes back to the fold after sitting out the 2025 season due to injury. He has been on “future stalwart” watch for a long time with his size and burst off the line. Question is if he can play more outside on the defensive line with more responsibilities in beating tackle type guys outside rather than just beating them in the interior of the OL.

Beadles comes in as the veteran who has a chance to make some noise after coming from Louisville. He comes in with 2 years of playing experience at Lousiville and New Mexico State being a late bloomer.

The UNT transfer Pierce comes in as a project type player who brings a whole lot of athleticism that needs more refining down the line despite being a RS Junior. His slow ascent up the college ranks from Campbell through UNT to Cal shows a player who can find a new ceiling to his talent.

DT/NG

DT/NG1: Jericho Johnson

DT/NG2: Stanley Saole-McKenzie

DT/NG3: Jayden Williams

He is an incredible athlete. Easily one of the most athletic players to play in a Cal jersey since the peak of BRETT JOHNSON mania (sidenote: BRETT was even wilder as an athlete since he was able to play all 9 gaps on the DL and played it at least HM Pac-12 level). When I reached out to the Berkeley Physics department about whether they have seen anything like this before, this is what I got in response:

He is the most important player for the Cal defense because he will have 2 gapping responsibilities in the run game. What does it mean? For example, using the chart below, if Johnson is aligned in 1 technique he will engage with the center and will have to make sure that neither A gaps on either side of the OL are open for the RB to run through.

The reason this is so important is because of the inexperience of the ILB protecting them in the run game to keep them clean. In the passing game being able to occupy 2 offensive linemen (pass protection is harder to do 1 on 1 against a dominant DL because he’s the one attacking you while in the run game as an OL you’re on the attack) letting the rest of the rushers have a 1 on 1.

“Big-Stan” provides much needed depth in the position, and with the chance to build an NFL/CFL level resume with his 6th year in the program. He provides a good 2nd string option for the defense since he provides a consistent baseline for the team to fall back on.

Rounding off the depth is another UNT transfer Jayden Williams who has notched snaps at the G6 level and thus can provide further depth on the line with the potential of coming back in the 2027 season with more experience under his belt.

DE

DE1: Derek Wilkins

DE2: Ashun Sheppard

DE3: Michael-Anthony Okwura

Derek Wilkins came into Cal as a highly coveted 4* DE but has yet to touch the tantalizing ceiling his high school tape promised. Then again development is not linear, sometimes it takes time for someone to touch their ceiling. I think this is time for Derek to touch it. If he can reach it we can see an incredible season from the interior defensive line, interior pressure on the QB is a much more consistent way of affecting the passing game than outside pressure. You can step up against EDGE pressure, you can’t out run someone hell bent on crushing you when they are in your grill.

We bring in a transfer who flashes size and speed at the position: Sheppard who had a cup of coffee in the SEC and we bring in RS sophomore from the fall of the Roman Republic era Texas Michael-Anthony Okwura who has the required size and already earned some snaps under the previous regime. Needless to say there is some potential and a little bit of a floor in the group but I hope neither will be tested.

EDGE

EDGE1: Jayden Wayne

EDGE2: Solomon Williams

EDGE3: Serigne Tounkara

EDGE4: Emmanuel Okoye

This is likely the deepest position on the front 7. The designated pass rush position in a a 4-2-5 is a curious thing. Sometimes the EDGE on the 4 could drop into coverage or peel off into the flats, however, in order to provide some passrush even in a drop 8 situation there is one of the 2 EDGEs always on the hunt. These 4 lads for Cal are the guys whose job is to hunt down the ball handler in the backfield.

This is where the money is made for the player and coaches. Thus I know that we’ll put our best defensive front 7 athletes in this spot. Jayden Wayne has the 5* pedigree he has yet to touch but very well can reach with current coaching. This is where Solomon Williams and Sergine Tounkara can leverage their SEC bonafides into focused assignments. And where Okoye who appeared on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List for 2026 can shine.

Go Hunting, Lands.

ILB

ILB1: Kamar Mothundi

ILB2: Tristan Jernigan

ILB

ILB1: AJ Tuitele

ILB2: Aaron Hampton

I hate uncertainty, which is the bane of my existence. Under Justin Wilcox and co. we knew that a certain standard would be maintained in the position. The lineage that traced itself to Evan Weaver continued with hard-nosed play by the players. However, with the departure of Cade Uluave to BYU and Luke Ferrelli to Clemson (wait, news tells me he is in 0-2 against Cal Ole Miss??).

Cal brings in a lot of question marks in the position groups with Mothundi and Tuilele both very “capital A” Athletic prospects who seek to prove that their play matches their potential. It would be unfair to expect them to play like Weaver/Kunaszyk era players but we need some level of competency to secure the A and B gaps.

Jernigan and Hampton are also interesting players, the former comes from Texas A&M with a strong high school pedigree but not a lot of college snaps, the latter is an unheralded prospect out of Alaska who has been able to get snaps for Cal over the last 2 years.

STAR

STAR1: Kington Lopa

STAR2: Cam Sidney

STAR3: Quimari Shemwell

This is an interesting position in the Cal defense. Even in the NFL these lads are rare: Kyle Hamilton, Nick Emmanwori, Derwin James, and Brian Branch. The players here need to embody the physicality of a linebacker, the coverage skills of a nickelback, and the ability to drop into deep zones of a safety. Justin Wilcox defenses also preferred to have a STAR player with guys like Trey Paster and Evan Rambo recruited to fill the role but ultimately the Wilcox era defenses were unable to find guys who can do it without being a liability in any of the phases of the game.

This player will allow us to play in a pseudo 4-2-5/4-3-4 look as long as the player’s talent and athleticism can keep up. And I do think that Lopa is physically capable to play the position at a high level and will likely be the linchpin on the defense allowing us to play both the pass and run well without having to change the personnel.

Sidney and Shemwell are picked as back ups here due to my bias for having a player who majors in pass defense and minoring in run defense. They still bring the required athleticism and with their experience can handle the mental load required of the position.

I feel, I think, I know

I want to end every segment of this series with some feelings, thoughts, and beliefs I have on the group of players discussed, based on the level of evidence and confidence.

I feel that…

• Cal defense will live by the health and development of Johnson and Lopa. There isn’t much debate about this, they are the most talented players in positions Cal has struggled to recruit and retain at during the Wilcox era.

I think that…

• We’re going to be an OK front 7 defense overall, with a slight strength in the pass coverage defense from the Front 7 and a slight weakness in the run defense. This is driven by my belief that the athleticism of the ILB + STAR position groups will carry them in space but their relative lack of experience can give them fits when trying to fit the run gaps. Throw in the perceived lack of depth in the front 4 late in games, I can see us fading as a game goes by. The balance of pros and cons will move the needle of the defensive performance across the season.

I know that…

• Whomever will play at ILB for Cal will have some impressive TFLs and sacks. DC Hutchins comes from the Brian Flores tree and what that tree loves to do is to have their ILBs go hunting through the A gap. As mentioned before we have some question marks at the EDGE position when it comes to pass rush productivity, lots of “I think he can” rather than “I know he can” in the room. I can see DC Hutchins trying to supplement the pass-rush by using the Flores playbook.

Period 1 stretching gives way to period 2 drills. On the southern end of the field, Carson Perry-Smith, Anthony League, Trevor Rogers and others field flies and grounders for special teams before horns whistles and every other manner of alert goes off at once, and Tosh’s voice cuts above the field, it’s time to drop everything and hit 11 on 11 short yardage and 2 point drills.

“Gold O Gold D how fast can we get it in short yardage, game on the line.” is repeated over and over as players rush into position. Crowd noise suddenly floods the stadium at top volume. Oregon transfer Cooper Perry makes a leaping end zone catch, bringing down a high ball from a Jackson Brousseau rep. Immediately it’s on to the 2 point conversion. Wideout Meyer Swinney pulls in a quick crosser to convert then they reset at the 10. Returning TE Mason Mini grabs that dart in the back of the endzone, and just like that’s it’s back to Independent drills. Tosh is back on the PA. “Toro toro toro ..why are we celebrating… toro toro toro.”

Coach Lupoi turns his attention to the defensive line, who are drilling near the end zone from the break out short yardage plays a second beforehand. Redshirt sophomore Legend Journey attacks the drill with extreme violence that is contagious. BJ Canady follows him directly in the drill and brings similar intensity. Lupoi does not supplant the position coach, but his presence enhances the drill. He is specific regarding technique and body angle, but insistent on violence.

After practice, both line coaches have media availability. Both Darrion Daniels and Famika Anae reference the young players helping set a standard and vice versa. The new five year eligibility rule means they don’t have to be shy about adding freshman into the rotation, and could eye young guys taking the field at game 10, 11, 12. Both line coaches view this with excitement.

Defensive Line/Pass Rush Specialist Darrion Daniels is a former player who played back at Oklahoma State and Nebraska before joining Oregon’s staff, leading up to his role at Cal. Daniels had words of praise for the play of Solomon Williams and Ashun Sheppard. Derek Wilkins also received praise; “Even though his plays aren’t the flashiest he’s probably one of our most reliable players.”

On the O line things are coming along for second-year coach Famikae Anae. He was particularly pleased to share Bastian Sweeney’s progress. “Can’t say enough about that kid. When we started our journey together last year, things were not going his way. But I think he’s found a new love for football because of how his mind has persevered, i think it’s unlocked a new level to him, and what he’s been doing for our unit and our team, has been really rewarding to watch.”

It’s almost all football at CMS, but it’s back to school for students of all ages. Anae and the rest of the staff were encouraged to make room for that, and got to meet those mile markers with their families. “I appreciate the head coach being mindful of his guys. It wasn’t mandated but (Tosh Lupoi) made it very clear, take your kids to school. For me that’s extremely meaningful…to have a head coach treat his staff that way is invigorating.”

Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

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Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

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Part 1: Finally Something New Under the Sun
Part 2: The Offense

In however many years I’ve been writing up season previews, this might be the most challenging article I’ve written. Here is a list of players who received starts on defense for the Bears last year who are still on the 2026 roster:

• Aiden Manutai (11 starts)

• Jayden Wayne (9 starts)

• Cam Sidney (8 starts)

• Jasiah Wagoner (4 starts)

• Isaiah Crosby (4 starts)

• Derek Wilkins (2 starts)

• Aaron Hampton (1 start)

That’s just 39 combined starts returning, mostly from players who were getting rotational snaps and won’t enter this season with a starting position locked down. The two players with the most returning starts from 2025 did not begin the year in the starting lineup, but were thrust into roles after injury.

To be fair, that doesn’t include the return of Nate Burrell, who missed all of 2025 with an injury, nor fully count the return of Crosby, who would have started every game last year if his season hadn’t ended after 4 games from injury as well.

Still: Cal lost 9 of their top 12 tacklers from the 2025 defense. It wouldn’t surprise me if the defense trots out onto the field against UCLA with just three starters who were on the roster last year. That level of turnover isn’t entirely unusual in this era, but when you throw in a coaching regime change on top it means that this defense will look radically different than last year.

I’m going to make a bunch of guesses at starters below, before fall camp ends, and they will probably look pretty dense if you re-read this in November.

2025 Defense, revisited

2025 Defense in review

The primary strength of Cal’s defense last year, their cover cornerbacks, are both in the NFL and must be replaced. Cal’s primary weakness, a complete lack of disruption from their defensive line and outside linebackers, might not mean much because there’s a decent chance that Cal’s starting linemen and linebackers will entirely turn over from 2026.

So sure, you can go back and read what I wrote about the 2025 defense, but it’s not going to tell you much about 2026.

Unit Summaries

1st year transfer portal additions noted by their former school. All classes/eligibility based on the current Calbears.com roster.

Defensive Line

Projected starters:

DE: Senior Nate Burrell
DE: Sophomore Jericho Johnson (Oregon)

Depth: Senior Ashun Shepphard (Mississippi St.), Senior Derek Wilkins, Senior Stanley Saole-McKenzie, Junior Jayden Williams (North Texas)

When Cal announces their depth chart before the season opener, there’s a decent chance that it lists three starters on the defensive line. But Oregon ran a 2-4-5 last year (or, alternatively, a 4-2-5) and I’m expecting that to be Cal’s base defense as well.

Why Burrell and Jericho Johnson as predicted starters? It’s a balance of experience and raw talent. Burrell is (if he’s fully recovered from the injury that kept him out in 2025) the most talented returning lineman on the roster. Johnson, a former 4 star top 100 recruit who was good enough to get rotational snaps for Oregon last year despite playing behind a ton of elite talent

IF Burrell is healthy and IF Johnson realizes his talent, this could be a pretty intriguing duo up front. You don’t want to go into the season with big IFs from your starters, but then again that was pretty inevitable after so much roster churn.

Derek Wilkins and Stanley Saole-McKenzie were both in the d line rotation last year and will likely get rotational snaps again, and they’ll be competing with transfers Jayden Williams and Ashun Shepphard for those snaps. None of those four have been major impact players yet across multi-year college careers, which is partly why I’m expecting a Burrell/Johnson starting unit and a 2-4-5 formation on defense.

Rush Linebackers

Projected starters:

OLB: Sophomore Solomon Williams (Texas A&M)
OLB: Senior Justin Beadles (Louisville)

Depth: Senior Jayden Wayne, Junior Joshua Pierce (North Texas), Sophomore Emmanuel Okoye (Tennessee)

This is probably the least settled position group on the entire team. Similar to the logic at defensive line, I’m guessing that Cal starts veteran Justin Beadles in his seventh season of college football alongside Solomon Williams, a former 4 star recruit entering his 3rd season after getting rotational snaps at A&M last year.

But would I be surprised if Jayden Wayne held onto his starting spot from last year? Would I be surprised if Joshua Pierce took another step forward in his climb up the college football ladder? Would I be surprised if Emmanuel Okoye turns his raw physical skill set into on-field production and gets the nod over the course of the season? No.

Would I be surprised if nobody separates themselves and you see a ton of rotation at this position? Also no.

Inside Linebackers

Projected starters:

ILB: Sophomore Tristan Jernigan (Texas A&M)
ILB: Sophomore Kamar Mothudi (Oregon)

Depth: Junior Aaron Hampton, Freshman AJ Tuitele (USC)

Three transfers in, all with a very similar profile: high end recruiting pedigree, minimal immediate on-field impact. Are you sensing a theme?

To be clear, that’s not a major knock on Jernigan, Mothudi, or Tuitele. The first two took redshirt years, then picked up rotational snaps as redshirt freshmen for national title contenders. The latter redshirted for USC. Teams like Texas A&M, Oregon, and USC aren’t typically going to play 1st or 2nd year players unless they’re undeniable talents because there are going to be performing veterans ahead of them.

But it’s still another risk for Cal, without any proven production at this position. Aaron Hampton is back and will compete as well after getting snaps as a back-up last year, and I’d expect the former walk-on to occupy a similar role this year.

Defensive Backs

Projected starters:

Cornerback: Senior Ricky Fletcher (Ole Miss)
Safety: Senior Isaiah Crosby
Safety: Sophomore Aiden Manutai
Cornerback: Senior Daniel Harris (Georgia)
Nickelback: Senior Cam Sidney

Depth: Junior Josiah Wagoner, Freshman Jae’on Young, Senior Marquis Groves-Killebrew (Arizona), Sophomore Kingston Lopa (Oregon), Junior Quimari Shemwell

Cal has four returners with heavy experience at safety/nickelback, so while I’ve listed Josiah Wagoner as ‘depth,’ I basically view him as another starter who will get significant snaps in rotation with Crosby, Manutai, and Sidney. Cal should be very sound on the back end of the secondary.

It’s on the edges where there is uncertainty . . . though not much. Ricky Fletcher and Daniel Harris were both rotational players on CFB playoff participants and are very likely the starters. Maybe Jae’on Young wows after a redshirt season, maybe transfer Marquis Groves-Killebrew forces his way into the conversation, but I think Fletcher and Harris are safe bets.

Defining Questions

Can Tosh Lupoi and Cal’s coaches unlock unproven talent?

By my count, Cal brought in seven transfers on defense who general share the same three attributes:

1. 4 star high school recruiting rankings, give or take some outlier scouting from different recruiting services.

2. Youth - most are in their 3rd year of college football after a redshirt season.

3. Minimal on-field production as back-ups.

Jericho Johnson, Solomon Williams, Emmanuel Oyoke, Tristan Jernigan, AJ Tuitele, Kamar Mothudi, and Daniel Harris collectively represent an on paper level of talent Cal hasn’t had on defense in at least 15 years. For that reason, the ceiling on this defense is tantalizingly high.

On the other hand, in the transfer portal era, high school recruiting stars mean less and less the further you actually get from a player’s high school production. There’s a ton of risk when the bulk of the defense is made up of guys who have never been go-to starters in their college careers. It means that the floor for this defense is terrifyingly low.

What does a Tosh Lupoi/Michael Hutchings defense look like?

If you’re a glass-half-full fan, you look at Tosh Lupoi’s curriculum vitae and you see a coach who has almost uniformly been a coordinator over elite defenses. Two years at Alabama when the Crimson Tide went a collective 27-2. Four years at Oregon when the Ducks went a collective 48-8. All six seasons those teams had elite defenses.

If you’re a negative Nancy, you’ll note that Nick Saban and Dan Lanning may have had a little bit of something to do with the defenses at Alabama and Oregon, respectively.

Meanwhile, new DC Michael Hutchings has been with the Minnesota Vikings for the last three years as a defensive backs/safeties coach, and that’s a good sign because Minnesota’s defense generally and passing defense specifically have been very good. But he’s never been a DC before so it’s not clear what ideas he’ll be bringing to the table. So while I thing it makes all kinds of sense for a guy like Lupoi with a defensive line background to bring in a DC with a background in the secondary, there’s not a ton of track record to go by.

Will Lupoi’s defense try to mimic what he did at Oregon? Is he itching to try different things now that he’s fully in charge? What ideas will Hutchings bring to the table, to say nothing of Cal’s suddenly massive stable of assistants and analysts? Nobody outside the program really knows!

Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

Write For California is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

Write For California is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now