Cal Football: Golden Bears could have mixed results again in 2018

Defense

Justin Wilcox made his bones as a defensive coach, building formidable units as a coordinator at Wisconsin, USC, Washington, Tennessee, and Boise State over the past decade. Wilcox brought in Tim DeRuyter as his defensive coordinator. He is building an improved unit in his second season in Berkeley.

In the spring, California’s defense showed strong improvement. Though they lost a pair of defensive starters in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Golden Bears that remain showed improvement. Cal has to replace defensive end James Loomis and linebacker Devante Downs. But they will still have a veteran front seven that looks ready to emerge as a top-40 unit against the run in 2018.

The group did a solid job of getting pressure on quarterbacks. That should be the case once again in 2018 thanks to an experienced defensive line and linebacking corps heavily stocked with upperclassmen. Redshirt senior defensive end Rusty Becker looks poised to step up as a force in 2018 after a strong spring game.

Focusing on the California secondary

Redshirt sophomore Camryn Bynum is on track to emerge as a shutdown presence in the defensive backfield in his second year as a full-time starter at cornerback. His stats might drop from 2017, but don’t let it fool you. That will be the result of quarterbacks avoiding his side of the field altogether than any regression on his part.

The rest of the unit will need to improve as well. Last year, the Golden Bears ranked 112th nationally in passing defense. California gave up more than 265 yards per game through the air. More importantly, they ranked 91st in terms of passing efficiency defense as teams carved the Cal secondary up through the air.

All the offensive improvement in the world won’t make a difference if California can’t shore up its defense. The key to locking things down when they don’t have the ball, ultimately, falls to shutting down the passing attacks of the Pac-12.