Cal Football: Can Cal Call Itself Defensive Line U.? Bears Have Sent Several to NFL

Cal has not had as many of its defensive lineman go on to perform in the NFL as, say, Alabama, but a number of former Bears have made a mark in the NFL along the defensive front in recent years.

Sports Illustrated crunched the numbers regarding the colleges that produced the most successful NFL defensive linemen over the past 10 years, and, alas, Cal did not make the top 10.

When you see the list of players from the top two schools to produce NFL defensive linemen -- Alabama and Clemson -- you can see why the Bears lag behind. (The lists are provided below.)

The SI scoring system basically consisted of three components: draft staus, NFL stars, and NFL honors.. They are detailed below. Sports Illustrated grouped edge defenders with interior defensive linemen in this category.

Here are the 10 that came out on top:

1. Alabama, 85 points.

2. Clemson, 73

3. Georgia, 65

4. Ohio State, 62

5. LSU, 51

6 (tie). Florida, 49

6 (tie). Wisconsin, 49

8. USC, 44

9. (tie). Mississippi State, 42.

9 (tie). Pittsburgh, 42.

Interior D-Line U.: Alabama, 73; Clemson, 40; Pittsburgh, 34; Nebraska, 33; Ohio State, 32.

Edge U.: Wisconsin, 46; Georgia, 37; Missouri, 34; Clemson, 33; Texas A&M, 32.

Let's take a look at NFL defensive linemen Cal has produced in the past 10 years:

Cameron Jordan (2011 24th overall draft pick, 143 starts, 2017 All-Pro)

Tyson Alualu (2010 10th overall pick, 100 starts)

Trevor Guyton (2017 third round)

James Looney (2018 seventh round)

Several ex-Cal defensive linemen played in the NFL the past 10 years but were drafted before that, so they were not included in the Sports Illustrated data:

Andre Carter (2001 7th overall draft pick, 147 starts, played through 2013)

Brandon Mebane (2007 third round, 176 starts, still playing in 2019)

Lorenzo Alexander (2007 free agent, 58 starts, played through 2019. he is also listed as a linebacker on NFL rosters.)

Four other former Cal defensive linemen signed free agent contracts in the past 10 years, but never started an NFL game:

Deandre Coleman (2014 free agent, got into 16 NFL games, but no starts)

Ernest Owusu (2012 free agent)

Kyle Kragen (2016 free agent)

Keith Browner (2012 free agent)

Defensive end Luc Bequette will return to Cal for a sixth year in 2020, assuming there is college football in 2020. He has an outside shot of playing professionally, and in this video he talks about preparing for Illinois in the Redbox Bowl:

Cal's representation of defensive linemen in the NFL seems laudable -- until you take a look at what Alabama and Clemson have produced the past 10 years.

ALABAMA

Marcell Dareus (2011 3rd overall, 107 starts, All-Pro)

Jonathan Allen (2017 first round, 36 starts)

Da'Ron Payne (2018 first round, 25 starts)

Courtney Upshaw (2012 second round, 56 starts)

Quinnen Williams (2019 3rd overall, 9 starts)

Terrence Cody (2010 second round, 21 starts)

Jarran Reed (2016 second round, 47 starts)

A'Shawn Robinson (2016 second round, 37 starts)

Dalvin Tomlinson (2017 second round, 48 starts)

Brandon Deaderick (2010 seventh round, 17 starts)

Quinton Dial (2013 fifth round, 34 starts)

Ryan Anderson (2017 second round, 4 starts)

Josh Chapman (2012 fifth round, 15 starts)

Da'Shawn Hand (2018 fourth round, 10 starts)

Damion Square (2013 undrafted, 23 starts)

Ed Stinson (2014 fifth round, 5 starts)

Tim Williams (2017 third round)

Isaiah Buggs (2019 sixth round)

Joshua Frazier (2018 seventh round)

Christian Miller (2019 fourth round)

Jeoffrey Pagan (2014 sixth round)

Jesse Williams (2013 fifth round)

CLEMSON

Vic Beasley Jr. (2015 8th overall, 60 starts, All-Pro)

Clelin Ferrell (2019 4th overall, 15 starts)

Jarvis Jenkins (2011 second round, 50 starts)

Shaq Lawson (2016 first round, 17 starts)

Andre Branch (2012 second round, 38 starts)

Grady Jarrett (2015 fifth round, 62 starts)

Dexter Lawrence II (2019 first round, 16 starts)

D.J. Reader (2016 fifth round, 52 starts)

Christian Wilkins (2019 first round, 14 starts)

Da'Quan Bowers (2011 second round, 10 starts)

Brandon Thompson (2012 third round, 7 starts)

Kevin Dodd (2016 second round, 1 start)

Malliciah Goodman (2013 fourth round, 11 starts)

Carlos Watkins (2017 fourth round, 7 starts)

Austin Bryant (2019 fourth round)

Ricky Sapp (2010 fifth round)

Kevin Alexander (2010 undrafted)

Tavaris Barnes (2015 undrafted)

Kourtnei Brown (2012 undrafted)

Albert Huggins (2019 undrafted)

DeShawn Williams (2015 undrafted)

SI Scoring System

DRAFT POSITION

Top 10: 4 points

Round 1 (non-top 10): 3 points

Rounds 2-3: 2 points

Rounds 4-7: 1 point

Undrafted: 0 points

NFL GAMES STARTED

80-plus: 5 points

48 to 79: 4 points

16 to 47: 3 points

5 to 15: 2 points

1 to 4: 1 point

NFL AWARDS

Defensive Player of the Year: 4 points

First-Team All-Pro: 3 points

Defensive Rookie of the Year: 2 points