Evan Weaver Selected Pac-12 Defensive Player Of The Year

SAN FRANCISCO – Cal senior inside linebacker Evan Weaver was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in a vote of the league's coaches the Pac-12 Conference announced Tuesday. Weaver becomes the eighth Cal player to earn a Player of the Year or Co-Player of the Year honor from the conference and the fifth on the defensive side of the ball joining Chuck Muncie (1975), Ron Rivera (1983, Co-Defensive), Mike Pawlawski (1991, Co-Offensive), Deltha O'Neal (1999, Defensive), Daymeion Hughes (2006, Defensive), Marshawn Lynch (2006, Offensive) and Mychal Kendricks (2011, Defensive).

"This award means a lot to me," Weaver said. "It's really special when the coaches of the teams you play against recognize what you are doing on the football field."

"Evan loves football as much or more than anyone I've ever coached," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. "We are so proud of him for earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors and joining an elite group of players in our program's history. He has had a truly remarkable season and it is satisfying that the coaches in our conference have recognized that."

Weaver was Cal's lone first-team selection while Camryn Bynum (Jr., CB) and Ashtyn Davis (Sr., S) were second-team picks. Jake Curhan (Jr., OL), Kuony Deng (Jr., ILB), Cameron Goode (Jr., OLB), Jaylinn Hawkins (Sr., S) and Zeandae Johnson (Sr., DE/DT) picked up honorable mention selections.

Weaver earned his second All-Pac-12 honors after being a second-team selection in 2018. Bynum and Davis were both honorable mention picks last season, while Curhan, Deng, Goode, Hawkins and Johnson were honored for the first time in their careers.

Below are notes from the 2019 season on Cal's All-Pac-12 honorees with extended bios that also include career information available by clicking on each of their names.

Defensive Player Of The Year/First Team

Evan Weaver, ILB, 6-3, 245, Sr., 3L, Spokane, WA (Gonzaga Prep)
• Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
• A national honors candidate who is a finalist for the Butkus Award®, Lott IMPACT Trophy and Senior CLASS Award, as well as a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award
• A nearly unanimous first-team midseason All-American (Associated Press, Athlon Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN, The Athletic, USA Today) and named the midseason's leading candidate for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors and a first-team All-Pac-12 selection by the Bay Area News Group
• Has accepted an invitation to play in the 2020 Senior Bowl
• Serving as one of three team season captains
• Leads the nation in total tackles (school-record and career-high 173), total tackles per game (14.4), solo tackles (95) and solo tackles per game (7.9)
• Has 26 more total tackles (second, Dele Harding of Illinois, 147) and 12 more solo tackles (second, Nate Landman, Colorado, 83) than anyone else in the FBS
• Within 20 tackles of the all-time NCAA single-season tackle record of 193 set in 14 games by Lawrence Flugence of Texas Tech in 2002
• Has his first three career forced fumbles and ranks tied for second in the Pac-12 and tied for 20th nationally with an average of 0.25 per game while adding a career-high 10.0 tackles for loss (-36 yards), 2.5 sacks (-19 yards), three pass breakups and a career-high five quarterback hurries
• Has combined with Kuony Deng (111 tackles) to form the nation's leading FBS duo with 284 tackles that is within 23 tackles of Cal's current school record of 307 by Weaver (159) and Jordan Kunaszyk (148) in 2018
• Has twice equaled Kunaszyk for the most tackles in a single game in Cal's recorded history when he had a career-high-tying 22 at Ole Miss and Utah, adding 0.5 tackles for loss (-2 yards), 0.5 sacks (-2 yards) and a career-high two quarterback hurries against the Rebels while he also had 1.0 tackle for loss (-2 yards) and a career-high-tying one forced fumble against the Utes
• Has twice helped secure victories by making stops on the opponents' final offensive play, stuffing Ole Miss' John Rhys Plumlee on a QB sneak from the Cal 1-yard line as time expired to preserve the first Pac-12 victory on the road at an SEC school since 2010 and then combining with Cameron Goode to stop Stanford's Cameron Scarlett on fourth down and one from its' own 34-yard line to lift Cal to its first Big Game victory since 2009

Second Team 

Ashtyn Davis, S, 6-1, 200, RSr., 3L, Santa Cruz, CA (Santa Cruz HS)
• One of three finalists for the Burlsworth Trophy given annually to the nation's top player who began his collegiate career as a walk-on
• Second-team All-Pac-12
• Earned second-team midseason All-American honors from both Athlon Sports and The Athletic, while he was also a first-team All-Pac-12 selection of the Bay Area News Group and second-team choice of SB Nation
• Has accepted an invitation to play in the 2020 Senior Bowl
• Started all 11 games he played in including each of the first 10 before missing the Big Game at Stanford due to injury but returning to start the season finale at UCLA 
• Has recorded a career-high 57 tackles to rank fourth on the team, two interceptions that he returned a team-high 31 yards, four pass breakups, six passes defended, a team-high two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles
• Fourth in the Pac-12 in per-game fumble recoveries (0.18) while he is tied for eighth in forced fumbles per game (0.18)
• Leads the team with seven kick returns for 149 yards and has also seen the first action of his five-year career as a punt returner with two punt returns for 33 yards to total 213 all-purpose yards
 
Camryn Bynum, CB, 6-0, 195, RJr., 2L, Corona, CA (Centennial HS)
• Serving as one of three season captains voted on by his teammates along with Jake Curhan and Evan Weaver
• Second-team All-Pac-12
• A first-team midseason All-Pac-12 selection of SB Nation and a second-team pick of the Bay Area News Group
• One of eight players and five on the defensive side of the ball to have started all 12 games
• Third on the team with a career-high 59 tackles, while also picking up a career-high 3.0 tackles for loss (career-high-tying -5 yards), one interception, seven pass breakups and a team-high-tying eight passes defended