Cal's 2022 Defense: The Great Unknown

The loss of Brett Johnson for the season reinforced the opinion of defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon that Cal’s 2022 defense is an “unknown.”

“We don’t have some of the Cam Goodes and Kuony Dengs. These guys were very influential in terms of veteran leadership,” Sirmon said Friday, one day after Johnson sustained his season-ending injury. “We’re probably still kind of an unknown. Composure and these types of attributes are built in game situations. I think we will see our true character as we get out and play.”

Only three defensive players on the Cal roster were regular starters for the Golden Bears last season, and only one (safety Daniel Scott) started more than eight games. The addition of inside linebacker Jackson Sirmon, a preseason all-conference player who transferred from Washington, helps stabilize that critical position, and defensive backs Lu-Magia Hearns and Collin Gamble started eight games apiece last season. But that’s about it as far as returning starters.

And then came the loss of Johnson, a starter in 2019 and 2020, who was expected to be one of the best defensive linemen in the Pac-12. Suddenly the anchor of Cal’s defensive front three is gone, leaving a rather large void that no one on the current roster seems capable of filling at the moment.

The Cal secondary should be among the best in the Pac-12 again this season with Hearns and Isaiah Young at the cornerback spots, Gamble at nickelback and Scott and either Miles Williams or Craig Woodson at safety with considerable talent behind them.

And Cal should see improvement at inside linebacker with Sirmon and talented sophomore Femi Oladejo as the starters with talent behind them, but there are questions at outside linebacker, the position occupied by Goode and Deng when the 2021 season began.

And now there are major questions regarding the defensive front. Johnson’s strength and athleticism enabled him to play all three defensive-line spots, and he was expected to be a major factor against the run and the pass as well as just occupying more than one blocker on every play. When Cal goes to its nickel defense with five defensive backs – which it does on more than half the plays – only two defensive linemen are on the field, and one of them would have been Johnson.

Both starting defensive ends from last year – Luc Bequette and JH Tevis -- are gone, and Stanley McKenzie, who might have been a starting nose tackle, is not on the roster this fall but is expected to return in the spring.

Ever since Justin Wilcox became Cal’s head coach in 2017, the Bears have relied on their defense to win games. Whether Cal’s defense can take on that responsibility in 2022 remains to be seen. 

Defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon points out a situation in which Cal's defense needs to improve: third-and-more-than-7