Cal’s early-season numbers are starting to tell a pretty clear story, and Pro Football Focus has two Bears sitting right at the center of it.
Safety Kingston Lopa has been one of the nation’s top performers through two games, while quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele turned in a much stronger outing in Cal’s 21-18 win over Syracuse than the raw passing total suggested. PFF’s play-by-play grading also put a spotlight on several other Bears, including cornerback Daniel Harris, offensive tackle Michael Klisiewicz, cornerback Ricky Fletcher, safety Isaiah Crosby and tight end Dorian Thomas.
Lopa’s impact has been impossible to miss. His three interceptions against Syracuse helped Cal escape with the 21-18 win, and his four picks on the season lead the nation.
He also tops the Bears with 11 tackles. On PFF’s two-game chart, Lopa owns an 86.2 overall grade, good for fifth among safeties nationally, and his 90.1 coverage grade is tied for the best in the country.
Both marks are the best among ACC safeties with enough snaps to qualify.
Against Syracuse, though, Lopa was not even Cal’s highest-graded defensive back. His 86.4 overall grade for the game was edged by Isaiah Crosby, who posted an 86.5 overall grade.
Lopa still came out slightly ahead in coverage. More broadly, four of Cal’s seven best grades from the Syracuse game belonged to defensive backs, a reminder that the secondary has been a strength for the Bears for years.
The highest Cal grade of the week went to Sagapolutele. His 182 passing yards were the fewest he has had in a Cal game, but PFF still gave him an overall grade of 91.1 and a passing grade of 90.7.
Those numbers ranked fourth among ACC quarterbacks for the weekend. The three quarterbacks ahead of him - Miami’s Darian Mensah, North Carolina State’s CJ Bailey and SMU’s Kevin Jennings - all played home games against FCS opponents, while Cal went on the road against a Power Four conference foe.
Harris has also been making a strong early impression. Through two games, his 76.6 overall grade leads all ACC cornerbacks, and his 74.0 coverage grade ranks third among league corners.
He has 10 tackles, second on the team, and has been a factor as a blitzer off the edge. Harris leads Cal with two sacks and has added two pass breakups while playing 108 defensive snaps.
The offensive line picture is a little murkier. Starting tackle Jimothy Lewis played only 18 snaps on Saturday, which made it look like an injury issue.
Instead, PFF showed a rough day in pass protection, where Lewis was graded at 23.8, and that may have been part of why he was taken out. Redshirt freshman Michael Klisiewicz replaced him and was on the field for 46 offensive snaps, earning an excellent 85.9 pass-blocking grade.
His run blocking, however, did not match Lewis, whose run-blocking has been much better than his pass-blocking so far for Cal.
That leaves some questions heading into the Wagner game. Cal has not released a depth chart for the first two games and will not issue an injury report for the upcoming nonconference matchup, so the starting tackle situation will be worth watching.
There are similar questions at tight end and cornerback. Dorian Thomas, a first-team all-Mountain West selection last year at New Mexico, missed the UCLA game because of a preseason injury and played only two offensive snaps against Syracuse. Mason Mini and freshman Taimane Purcell handled the tight end work instead.
Fletcher’s role was also limited. Considered Cal’s best cornerback when the season began, he was on the field for just 15 defensive snaps against Syracuse. Injury may have been the reason for the small workload, though his 48.7 grade in the game was not strong while he was out there.
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