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Cal Football

Jordan Kunaszyk Named Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week

October 15, 2017
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BERKELEY – Jordan Kunaszyk became the first Cal player to earn Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week honors when he was selected for the prestigious award Sunday while joining three other Cal players that previously earned the offensive version of the honor in DeSean Jackson (9/30/07), Shane Vereen (11/22/09) and Jared Goff (9/28/14).

Kunaszyk led Cal's defensive performance in a 37-3 victory over previously unbeaten No. 8/9 Washington State on Friday to give the Golden Bears their first victory over a top-10 team since a 34-31 triple overtime victory over USC in 2003. Kunaszyk established or equaled career highs with 11 tackles, 2.5 sacks (-31 yards), 2.5 tackles for loss (-31 yards), one forced fumble, one interception and one quarterback hurry. Cal forced seven Washington State turnovers and had 9.0 sacks as a team with the sacks tied for the second-most by an FBS squad in 2017 and the most by a Cal team since a 2005 contest at Stanford.

Kunaszyk was also named the College Sports Madness Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Sunday and has been nominated for the same honor awarded by the league to be announced Monday.

Kunaszyk has all 23 of his tackles for the 2017 season over the last three games after previously playing only in Cal's season-opener at North Carolina before missing the next three contests due to injury. He also had an interception in his first game back in action at Oregon that he returned for 23 yards and has two picks on the season to co-lead the team. His 2.5 sacks are second on the team behind only Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year candidate Devante Downs while his -31 yards for his sack and tackle for loss yardage totals lead the Golden Bears.

Cal (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) will host Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) at California Memorial Stadium for Homecoming this Saturday, Oct. 21 (5 pm PDT, Pac-12 Networks).

Radio broadcasts of all Cal football games can be heard live on KGO 810 AM, the Cal Bears Sports Network powered by Learfield, SiriusXM satellite radio and CalBears.com via TuneIn. The Toyota Tailgate pregame show starts one hour before kickoff.

Individual tickets are currently on sale for the remainder of the 2017 Cal Football season. For more information, visit CalBears.com/tickets or call (800) GO BEARS (462-3277).
 
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Jordan Kunaszyk Named Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week

8,849 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by FuzzyWuzzy
TheSouseFamily
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2:53p, 10/15/17
Wow. Impressive honor. Just the notion of a Cal defender being in the mix for a National POW award shows how far the defense has improved in the new regime. It's remarkable.
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FuzzyWuzzy
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In reply to TheSouseFamily • 2:55p, 10/15/17
TheSouseFamily said:
Wow. Impressive honor. Just the notion of a Cal defender being in the mix for a National POW award shows how far the defense has improved in the new regime. It's remarkable.
Remarkable is right. Plus DD has won the conference POW twice already. Our linebackers as a unit must be near the top of the country in sacks and interceptions.
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moonpod
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2:57p, 10/15/17
It's awesome to see. When is the last time Cal had a defensive player of the week nationally? Goff got it in 2014.
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burritos
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In reply to FuzzyWuzzy • 3:03p, 10/15/17
FuzzyWuzzy said:
TheSouseFamily said:
Wow. Impressive honor. Just the notion of a Cal defender being in the mix for a National POW award shows how far the defense has improved in the new regime. It's remarkable.
Remarkable is right. Plus DD has won the conference POW twice already. Our linebackers as a unit must be near the top of the country in sacks and interceptions.
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Big C
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In reply to TheSouseFamily • 3:46p, 10/15/17
That is awesome! JK makes plays. You could see that even early last year. Congrats, Jordan!
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Bobodeluxe
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In reply to Big C • 4:56p, 10/15/17
Big C said:
That is awesome! JK makes plays. You could see that even early last year. Congrats, Jordan!
He was, hands down, the most impactful player as the season wore on last year, and when healthy, this year too. He blows up the offense regularly. Open field tackling is really his only weakness.
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Sebastabear
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4:57p, 10/15/17
So fantastic. Congrats to him!! Well deserved.
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pappysghost
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5:36p, 10/15/17
JK is a beast!!
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PtownBear1
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6:37p, 10/15/17
Wow. Our line backing corps has been stellar this season
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Rxrg09b
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7:15a, 10/16/17
Are sacks included in tackles for loss stats? assuming so given "2.5 sacks (-31 yards), 2.5 tackles for loss (-31 yards)" - appreciate the confirm.
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FuzzyWuzzy
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In reply to Rxrg09b • 9:28a, 10/16/17
Rxrg09b said:
Are sacks included in tackles for loss stats? assuming so given "2.5 sacks (-31 yards), 2.5 tackles for loss (-31 yards)" - appreciate the confirm.
I don't know but it sure looks that way in college based on the stats you cite. It would be a really weird coincidence to have the exact same numbers. Plus, it would mean that Jordan was in on three tackles on running plays with losses averaging over 10 yards per play - I don't remember any such thing happening in the game.

Interestingly, I took a quick look on the internet and it would appear that in the NFL they give a player either a TFL or a sack but not both, depending on whether they think the original play call was a pass or a designed QB run. So, if a QB gets stuffed for a 1 yard loss on a QB sneak, the defensive player is credited with a TFL but not a sack. I think I like this method better.
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SFCityBear
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11:12a, 10/16/17
I hope that the outstanding play of Jordan Kunaszyk will lead to more big, strong, tough Central Valley boys to stay home and come to play for Cal.

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bross
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In reply to Rxrg09b • 3:10p, 10/16/17
Rxrg09b said:
Are sacks included in tackles for loss stats? assuming so given "2.5 sacks (-31 yards), 2.5 tackles for loss (-31 yards)" - appreciate the confirm.
Yes, they are.
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/benrosssports
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FuzzyWuzzy
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2:49p, 10/17/17
As expected, Kunaszyk also named the P12 DPOTW.
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