Kingston Lopa’s breakout season has pushed him onto one of college football’s most recognizable defensive honor lists.
The California safety was named a semifinalist for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Association, placing him among 15 players nationwide still in the hunt for the prize given annually to the country’s top defensive back.
The award, established in 1986 and part of the National College Football Awards Association, measures players on performance, athletic ability and character. Finalists will be announced November 24 during a special ESPN presentation.
Lopa’s case is built on production that has jumped off the page. He has led the nation in interceptions for seven straight weeks and has five picks this season. Three of those came in Cal’s win over Syracuse, making him the first Bear to record three interceptions in a game since Jaylinn Hawkins did it against TCU in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl.
His impact has gone beyond takeaways, too. Lopa has 104 interception return yards this season, including a 24-yard return for a go-ahead touchdown at Syracuse. It was the first pick-six of his career and the first by a Bear since Williams' 40-yard interception return for a score against Miami on October 5, 2025.
He has also piled up 37 tackles, with 29 of them solo stops. And in an unusual wrinkle this past weekend at SMU, Lopa even lined up at wide receiver and caught the first pass of his college career, an 11-yard reception against the Mustangs.
The semifinalist nod puts Lopa in rare company at Cal. He is just the third Golden Bear ever to reach this stage for the Thorpe Award, joining 2024 Consensus All-American Nohl Williams and 2006 Lott IMPACT Trophy winner, Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and consensus First-Team All-American Daymeion Hughes.
A Sacramento native who attended Grant High School, Lopa arrived at Cal this season after two years at Oregon. In the 2026 transfer portal, 247Sports ranked him as the nation’s No. 8 safety and No. 145 player overall.
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