Cal Freshman Wins ACC Defensive Rookie Award

Cal redshirt freshman inside linebacker Luke Ferrelli was one of the surprises for the Bears’ 2025 season, and on Wednesday he was named the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Ferrelli was selected based of voting from a panel of media members and the conference’s head coaches.

Ferrelli is the second Cal player in the past three years to win conference Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. In 2023, Bears linebacker Cade Uluave was named the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.

This season Ferrelli played alongside Uluave as the Bears’ two starting inside linebackers.

After losing inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan, who was taken in the 2025 NFL draft and became a starter for the Baltimore Ravens this season as a rookie, the Bears looked for a replacement for Buchanan through the transfer portal. The Bears brought in Harrison Taggart from BYU and Buom Jock from Colorado State to compete for that vacancy.

However, Ferrelli made significant improvement from his true freshman season and won the starting spot over the two transfers.

Ferrelli started all 12 games for the Golden Bears, and his 87 tackles and 36 solo tackles this season are the most by any ACC freshman. He is tied for eighth in the conference in total tackles among all ACC players.

Ferrelli twice had 11 tackles in a game – against Texas Southern and Minnesota – and had 10 tackles against Stanford.

His biggest play of the season came in the closing seconds of the win against Boston College.

In that game Cal led 28-24, but Boston College had the ball with a second-and-goal from the Cal 5-yard line with 19 seconds remaining. But Ferrelli picked off a Dylan Lonergan pass in the end zone, preserving the victory for the Bears.

Ferrelli is expected to be in Cal’s starting lineup for the Bears’ bowl game, although Cal does not yet know which bowl that will be or which team will be the Bears’ opponent. The Hawaii Bowl seems like Cal's most likely postseason destination, and if the Bears play in that game the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors likely would be their opponent.

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