Is Kuony Deng Cal's Next Great Linebacker?
Cal’s lineage of outstanding linebackers may have a new member this season, because Kuony Deng appears ready to emerge in a big way.
The Golden Bears’ parade of elite linebackers began with Les Richter, a two-time All-American and member of the College Hall of Fame as well as the valedictorian of his 1952 class at Cal.
It continues through College Football Hall of Famer Matt Hazeltine, consensus 1983 All-American Ron Rivera, Cal’s all-time leading tackler David Ortega, four-time All-Pro Hardy Nickerson, two-time first-team all-conference selection Jerrott Willard, two-time Pac-10 tackle leader Desmond Bishop, 2011 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Mychal Kendricks, 2018 first-team All-Pac-12 pick Jordan Kunaszyk, and, of course, 2019 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-American Evan Weaver.
So how can we suggest that Deng belongs on that august list if he was neither a first-team nor a second-team all-Pac-12 selection in 2019?
One word: Trajectory.
Coming out of high school in Aldie, Va., Deng got no football scholarship offers from FBS schools. Why should he? He was rated a zero-star recruit by 247Sports. That’s right. Zero.
He was the Class 4 state basketball player of the year and cleared 6-10 in the high jump at John Champe High School, and he began his college career at Virginia Military Institute, starring on the basketball court but playing sparingly as a freshman in football, though it was only the FCS level.
He showed considerable improvement toward the end of that first football season, and transferred to Independence Junior College in rural Kansas the next year. He developed by leaps and bounds, earning offers from Oregon, Auburn and LSU before choosing Cal.
As a junior at Cal, Deng was overshadowed somewhat by the presence of Weaver last season, but he still wound up as the Pac-12’s fourth-leading tackler.
And the improvement was noticeable.
It has earned Deng a spot on this season’s watch lists for the Bednarik and Butkus Awards, and SportsPac12 named him the preseason defensive player of the year among the four California Pac-12 schools. Pac-12 football analyst Yogi Roth suggested Deng could be the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.
Expectations for him are high, but Deng does not see it as pressure.
“I personally think I’m the best anyway,” he said in the video above.
And there is reason to believe Deng’s climb up the status ladder will continue in 2020, assuming there is a season in 2020.
“First thing is I put on probably 25 pounds since we played last season, so I’m a little over 250 pounds right now,” he said, “moving around better than I probably every have.”
Plus, Deng figures a second year in the Cal defensive system will pay dividends.
“Me and JK (Jordan Kunaszyk) were just talking the other day," Deng said, "and he told me he felt like a completely different player with a completely different level of confidence his senior year, which was his second year in the system. And I think I feel the same way. My confidence is just sky high. My command is sky high.”
Kunaszyk actually played three years at Cal after transferring from junior college, but you get the point.
The trajectory suggests Deng will be even better at the next level. You only need to watch Deng run sprints to see his pro potential and wonder what the ceiling is for this 6-foot-6, 250-pound specimen who adds the intellect, work ethic, intuition and drive needed to be something special.
I would bet my bottom dollar that Deng will be a star in the NFL.
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Cover photo by Justin Ford - USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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