Cal Safeties Coach Connor Boyd Discusses Group Growth of Defensive Backs
The first time assistant coach has settled in quickly — and it starts with a relationship years in the making.
Cal safeties coach Connor Boyd kept his early-spring evaluation measured, emphasizing collective progress over individual standouts as the group works through a heavy defensive install.
“I’m seeing steady growth. That’s the whole point. We put a lot on these guys from an install standpoint and they’ve really handled it well. Every day is a constant improvement to what we’re doing. I’m really satisfied with how our progress is right now.”
Asked to single out names, Boyd deflected in favor of the room as a whole.
“It’s a group effort, man. Each one of them is attacking today and there’s no one standing out because they’re all improving each day with a growth mindset.”
With Cal’s defensive backfield having been a consistent program strength for the better part of a decade, Boyd acknowledged the expectation that comes with the unit, even amid significant roster turnover.
“We come to work every day to get one percent better and to live up to a tradition that’s here. We’re just focused on every day and every rep, attack it like it’s a mind of its own, and then we take that next step and we keep growing as a whole group.”
Boyd’s path to Berkeley is rooted in a long-running relationship with head coach Tosh Lupoi, one that began as far back as 2015.
“It’s been like a full circle moment. I was a student assistant at Alabama in 2015, that’s where we first started our connection, our relationship. Then we met back up at Oregon in 2022 and were there for four years together. For it all to come full circle back here in the Bay at his alma mater, coaching here is really special to me.”
When Lupoi came calling, there was no deliberation.
“It was yes, I’ll come, done. Nothing to be sold about. He told me what Berkeley has to offer — living in the Bay, the program and tradition here. There was no selling. It was just yes, let’s go to work and let’s keep building this relationship and growing.”
Boyd’s journey to this point is one he couldn’t have scripted, having arrived at Alabama as a junior college transfer with no coaching experience.
“I couldn’t, and that’s what’s special about the game of football. It just lets you build these everlasting relationships and they take you all over the place. I’m from a three-red-light town in Alabama and now I’m out here coaching ball in the Bay, loving every day. It’s kind of unimaginable, but it’s a great opportunity.”
As for Lupoi himself, Boyd says the head coach is the same driven figure he’s always known.
“Relentless in all that he does, organized, ready to attack. That’s what I got so much from him, his work ethic. He’s always prepared for anything that’s going to come about. At Oregon as an analyst, I just observed that and took it into my career and my path.”
Boyd describes his own approach as straightforward: relationship-first, everything else follows.
“I just am who I am. I build a relationship with the guys first, have a good connection with them, and that’s where I’ll advise from. You coach them hard, you love them up, and we finish throughout the day like that. That’s how my style is, I guess.”
And off the field, the DBs have already found time to bond over a proper meal.
“We had a good little steak dinner — Brazilian steakhouse. Man, it was a lovely day. Good dinner with the DBs — corners, safeties, everybody. It was a good little get-together.”
I like it. Focus on the unit. Let the bonds form. Brand new energy and purpose. Haven’t seen this in a long while.
Good start for a unit that has a strong tradition at Cal. Proof will be in the actual play starting with UCLA followed by the challenge of keeping the team together in this new era of journeyman football players who move through the portal to get more money and more minutes on the field, all in pursuit of a golden ticket to the instant riches promised by an NFL contract. There’s no longer much truth in the student athlete label which used to mean multiple years representing the institution that recruited you, but now is all too frequently just a way station and a self centered means to the ultimate prize of playing in the NFL. NIL money has ruined college sports combined with the ease of portal movement, so Cal is now in a big money contest with all the other Power 4-5 teams to see if it can put together a championship team made up of players from all corners of the portal recruiting world. No matter what happens, it will not be the same as having high school recruits representing Cal on the football field for all four years of their undergraduate education but rather paid employees who are here today but easily gone tomorrow for more money and more exposure.