TJ Bush Jr.: From Liberty to a Starting Spot at Cal

TJ Bush Jr. was a star at Liberty in his first two college seasons, and there are hints that he might be a standout at Cal this season as a junior.

The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Bush is a good bet to be a starting outside linebacker for the Golden Bears in their opener at Oregon State on Saturday night, and Cal is counting on him to make an impact as a pass-rusher.

Bush had nine tackles for loss, including 5.5 sacks, last season as a sophomore at Liberty, when he was a second-team all-Conference USA selection. He started all 14 games as a true freshman in 2023, when he has seven tackles for loss and two sacks.

So why would a guy who grew up in Virginia (Woodbridge) and went to college in Virginia (Liberty is in Lynchburg, Va.), come across the country to transfer to Cal?

“This was my visit out of the portal,” he said. “Just talking to [outside linebackers] Coach [Vic] So’oto and [assistant outside linebackers] Coach Sione [Ta’ufo’ou], it just felt like home. Me being from the East Coast, it definitely was a big jump, and that’s something me and my family were big on, feeling that home environment. Came here, it was super welcoming, the coaches were accepting of me, and made me feel like it was a second home.”

He figures to be standing up at his outside linebacker position a little more in Cal’s defensive structure than he did at Liberty, when he was more of a standard defensive end and often had his hand on the ground. However, the difference is becoming less noticeable these days as outside linebackers and defensive ends are both being labeled as edge rushers.

Bush does not see a huge adjustment for himself, with only minor differences.

“I just feel it’s real technical,” Bush said of the Cal approach, “especially in a lot of the [individual] drills, we’re really breaking it down and going through stuff. My other school, it was great, we did a lot of good stuff, but I feel here we’re really fine-tuning, going through our [individua] stuff, and working on triple extension and explosion out of the hips, so we’re really getting into it.”

The level of competition will be higher in the ACC than it was in Conference-USA. Liberty went 8-4 last season, but the Flames did not face any team from a Power Four conference. In Bush’s freshman season in 2023, Liberty went 13-0 in the regular season, winning the Conference-USA title and earning a No. 23 ranking in the final regular-season AP poll. But the Flames’ only game against a Power Four conference opponent came in the Fiesta Bowl, when Oregon crushed Liberty 45-6. Bush had two tackles and pass breakup in that contest.

Cal went 6-7 in 2023 and had a similar experience with Oregon, losing to the Ducks 63-19.

Unlike most players who transfer, Bush did not have an agent to negotiate for him, so he handled discussions with possible transfer destinations himself.

“I can’t speak for every school,” he said. “You kind of speak to certain people within the system, and they, I guess, kind of tell you what they see you as. That’s kind of how it goes.”.

Money from revenue-sharing or NIL deals was not a factor in Bush’s decision to transfer to Cal.

“I try not to look at that,” he said. “When I came into college as a freshman NIL wasn’t even a thing, so I just try to keep [football] as my central focus point. I didn’t come to college hoping to make X amount of money. I came to college because I love football.”

He hopes the NFL is in his future; that’s where the money is.

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