Cal Sports Report

Cal's Aidan Keanaaina Gets a Top-Five Grade Among ACC Defensive Tackles

Pro Football Focus' rating of Keanaaina suggests he is one of the best interior defensive linemen in the conference even if few can pronounce his name
Jake Curtis|
Aidan Keanaaina
Aidan Keanaaina | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Perhaps the most underrated player on Cal’s 2025 football roster is defensive tackle Aidan Keanaaina. He may also be the most important player on Cal’s defense this season, even if people have trouble pronouncing his name.

Pro Football Focus, which uses analytics based on a number of criteria to grade the performance of every college football player, recently provided its ratings of returning defensive tackles in the ACC. Keanaaina received a grade of 79.0, which is the fourth-best rating of all returning defensive tackles in the conference.

Keanaaina, who will be a fifth-year senior this season, also received preseason honors from several preseason college football magazines and websites, and there is a reason Keanaaina is one of four Cal players who will be at ACC football media day on Tuesday.

The defensive line may be the key to Cal’s success in 2025.  The Bears typically play just two down defensive lineman and they are responsible for controlling the line of scrimmage and occupying offensive linemen while still making plays. The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Keanaaina has shown an ability to move the line of scrimmage in Cal’s favor.

The 2024 season was Keanaaina’s first season at Cal after transferring from Notre Dame. He played in just six games for the Irish in 2023 and had only seven tackles and one forced fumble.

However, he became a standout defensive lineman for Cal in 2024.  Keanaaina played in all 13 games and recorded 45 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and one quarterback hurry.  Those may not seem like impressive statistics, but interior defensive linemen seldom produce eye-popping numbers, and 45 tackles is pretty good for a defensive tackle in Cal’s scheme.

His primary job is to control the line of scrimmage to allow linebackers to make the tackles.

Defensive tackles don't usually get much publicity, but if Keanaaina has a big season, Cal’s defense should be stingy again.

.When people learn how to pronounce his name, you will know he has arrived as a star.

He gives a lesson on pronouncing his name in the video below:

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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