Cal Football 2025 Preview: Outside Linebackers
The 2024 California Golden Bears defense allowed 3.3 yards/run, good for 15th in the nation and 3rd in the ACC. The front seven only allowed seven runs of 20+ yards and only two runs of 30+ yards. At the same time, the Bears were prone to giving up easy yards in the redzone, resulting in opponents scoring touchdowns. There is a lot of unproven talent among the OLBs, and Cal’s ability to hold opposing offenses to field goals by controlling traffic at the edge will be key to improving upon their performance in 2025 against a lighter schedule.
Three of Cal’s five-man rotation from last year have gone (Xavier Carlton, Cheikh Fall, and David Reese), leaving Ryan McCulloch and Serigne Tounkara as the returners at OLB.
Ryan McCulloch proved himself last year as a pass rushing linebacker. Much of the defense’s success this year will depend on him avoiding injury. Tounkara is the other returner from 2024, playing in 12 games for the Golden Bears, recording 5 tackles, and 1.5 sacks. The redshirt sophomore will be looking to take a leap from his situational role in the 2024 season.
While McCulloch is a sure bet to start, we could (and likely will) see any one of Tounkara, or transfers TJ Bush Jr. (Liberty), Chris Victor (Chattanooga), or Jayden Wayne (Washington) rotating in between snaps.
TJ Bush is intriguing as a potential complement to McCulloch coming off a 90 tackle, 16 TFL, and 7.5 sack season — with the asterisk that Liberty is known to play against a weaker schedule than most teams in the country. At Chattanooga, Chris Victor started all 12 games, recording 4.5 sacks and one forced fumble in 2024. The question for Bush and Victor is whether either (or both) of them can translate their production from last year to the level required in the ACC.
Jayden Wayne comes to us from Washington where he played 11 games as a backup after a previous stop at Miami. On both teams, he found himself competing for a starting spot on some deep rosters, but his experience in power conference play will be key. Rounding out the transfers is Odera Okaka (College of San Mateo), who was a highly sought after juco transfer. Like with Bush and Victor, we will need to see if his prior experience can translate to ACC play. At the very least we can expect to see Okaka come in as a pass rusher.
McCulloch is going to be a beast. Will miss Carlton, who was so steady the past couple years.
Very important position as it has to supply outside contain and dominate pass rush. This position has got be a person with very good decision making on the fly. Here's hoping these guys can do it!