UC Davis Football Defensive Preview

More familiar faces on defense

UC Davis DB Mario Minor breaking up a pass. Credit @ucdfootball on twitter

Tim Plough, former Cal tight ends coach and the debuting UC Davis head coach had every chance to shake up the system after Dan Hawkins departure. On the defensive side of the ball, he decided to keep a lot of the status quo with defensive coordinator Matt Coombs returning. The Aggies run a mix of 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 in their looks, and have a lot of returning experience. In this era of college football, FCS rosters are even harder to project with all of the moving parts but lets see the nucleus that Cal will face this Saturday.

2023 Defense in Review

• led by DC Matt Coombs

• mix of 3-3-5 and 4-2-5

• The Aggies gave up 24.5 points per game last year

• 2nd in the Big Sky in rushing defense, giving up 108.6 rush yards per game

• 8th in the Big Sky in passing defense, giving up 231.1 pass yards per game

• former UC Davis ILB Teddye Buchanan is now with Cal

Provisional Starters

DE Zach Kennedy, DT Evan Bearden, DT Princeton Toki

ILB Porter Connors, ILB David Meyer, ILB Nick Afato

CB Markeece Alexander, S Lamont Shamburger, S Rex Connors, Nickel Semaj Verner, CB Blake Cotton with CB Kavir Bains rotating

Players/Personnel to Watch

The UC Davis defense was solid last year at the FCS level thanks to the play of defensive end Zach Kennedy. Kennedy, the 6’6 senior, is a two time all Big Sky conference first team defender and is coming off a season where he posted 8 TFL’s and 4 sacks. Complementing Kennedy is Princeton Toki, who takes up a mass amount of space on the interior at his 5’11 375 lbs frame. These two can cause problems in the defensive line in holding up assignments and allowing for their linebackers to crash.

In the seconday, Markeece Alexander mans the ship. Alexander totaled 10 PBU’s, two forced fumbles, and one interception during the 2023 season. Lamont Shamburger and Semaj Verner also have netted a lot of snaps for the Aggies but Alexander will lead the way against the best Cal receivers.

There’s also a few Cal connections on the UC Davis defense. Former Bears Tyson McWilliams and Blake Antzoulatos transferred in, and Coach Austin Taylor made the move with Tim Plough and now mans the linebacker room.

Here are highlights from last years game against Sacramento State, your main watches will be #6 Alexander, #23 Bains, #75 Toki, #26 Shamburger, #86 Bearden, and #95 Kennedy

Why Cal will win this game

Simply put there is too much talent out there for UC Davis to overcome. Cal make take some time putting themselves into a rhythm on offense with all of the new faces in the fold, allowing the Aggies defense to stay on schedule for some of the first half. Once those kinks iron out I expect the Bears to go about their business and put up over 30 points en route to a victory.