Kingston Lopa’s Week 2 performance gave Cal football a little bit of everything: takeaways, points and a fresh national honor.
The Walter Camp Foundation named the California defensive back its Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week after his outing in the Bears’ 21-18 win over Syracuse. It’s the third weekly award already for Lopa, who also picked up ACC Defensive Back of the Week and Bednarik Award Player of the Week recognition.
Lopa’s night against the Orange was the kind that jumps off the stat sheet immediately. He piled up a career-high three interceptions, becoming the first Bear to do that in a game since Jaylinn Hawkins picked off three passes against TCU in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl. One of those turnovers turned into seven points, as Lopa brought back an interception 24 yards for a go-ahead touchdown - the first pick-six of his career.
He wasn’t done there. Lopa’s first interception of the game came on a career-long 53-yard return, and two of his three picks came in the fourth quarter. He also finished with five tackles, including four solo stops and one assisted.
The production has Lopa sitting atop the national leaderboard in interceptions with four, along with a 2.0 per-game average. He also had an interception in Week 1 against UCLA. The last Cal player to lead the nation in interceptions was Nohl Williams, who finished the 2024 season with seven and was later selected in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Walter Camp honor also puts Lopa in some pretty notable company in Cal history. He became the sixth Golden Bear to earn a national weekly award from the foundation, and the first Cal defensive back to do it. Previous Cal honorees include DeSean Jackson in 2007, Shane Vereen in 2009, Jared Goff in 2014, Jordan Kunaszyk in 2017 and Evan Weaver in 2019.
Lopa, a Sacramento native who attended Grant High School, arrived at Cal this season after two years at Oregon. 247Sports rated him as the nation’s No. 8 safety and No. 145 player overall in the 2026 transfer portal.
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