From Physicality to Bagels: Meet Cal's inside linebacker room

BERKELEY — Cal, as with most of its position rooms, enters the 2026 season with completely new faces at inside linebacker.

Bob Gregory, who returned to Berkeley as a senior defensive assistant for the 2025 season, is serving as inside linebackers coach after replacing Mike Bruno, who is now the defensive coordinator at Presbyterian.

And several newbies — JD McKinley (true freshman from Corona Centennial), Kamar Mothudi (redshirt sophomore from Oregon), AJ Tuitele (redshirt freshman from USC) and Tristan Jernigan (redshirt sophomore from Texas A&M) — join lone rotational piece and Alaskan icon Aaron Hampton on the roster after the Bears saw Cade Uluave and Luke Ferrelli leave in the transfer portal.

Gregory, who claims Cal will run “a little bit of everything” with 3-4 and 4-2-5 concepts, shared optimism about his youthful bunch with the media after practice on Wednesday.

“Well, we’ve only been at it for three practices,” Gregory said. “I like our guys. They play with a tremendous amount of effort. I think they're smart players, and we'll just keep growing as spring goes on.”

“I certainly hope that we're a very tough and physical, smart team,” he added. “If you play hard, you play smart, you have fun, you got a chance on Saturday afternoons.”

Growing is all the Bears can do while sporting several high-ceiling players who yearn for more experience. 

McKinley is playing middle linebacker after being an edge rusher for the majority of his prep career, and the trio of Mothudi, Tuitele and Jernigan has combined to make just 19 career tackles over five total combined seasons at the Division-1 level.

Jernigan spoke for the room when saying he’s excited to showcase his talent.

“I would say my time is now, you know what I'm saying?” Jernigan said. “So, I'm looking forward to having success now, because I've been working so hard these past few years to be able to come up … and I feel like now is that time, and I'm ready to see how it's about to go.”

Each linebacker describes their game a bit differently. 

Jernigan says his energy and speed stand out; Tuitele also mentioned speed, with an emphasis on pass coverage; Mothudi said he plays “exciting” football and has big hands; McKinley cited his intelligence on the field and the ability to pick apart offenses.

All four, however, were united on physicality and aggressiveness — in other words, they love to bring the boom.

“I love attacking (and) will be at the point of attack, striking players,” Mothudi said bluntly.

The quartet also expressed excitement for playing under head coach Tosh Lupoi — in addition to Gregory and defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings, of course.

“He be getting active,” Tuitele said of Lupoi. “He matches energy. He's not scared to get too turnt, too hyped. The players just match his energy. It’s a big deal for us.”

“He's very charismatic,” McKinley added. “He's someone that you could talk to for pretty much anything … He's been in this game for a really long time … I pretty much trust him with anything … He's definitely one of the biggest people in my life right now, in terms of support.”

Jernigan and especially Mothudi — who spent two years under Lupoi with the Ducks — added that Lupoi’s presence was a big selling point on their decisions to become Bears.

Mothudi even went a step further and said that the biggest thing he took away from his Oregon tenure, with Lupoi, was the “qualities” it takes to be a serious contender; he said Cal “100 percent” has those qualities with the potential to do something “special” this season.

Nonetheless, Cal’s new middle linebackers are all simply trying to make it, while helping the Blue and Gold return to glory. In the spirit of the program’s pillars under Lupoi, such as the “power of unit,” the new heavy hitters expressed gratitude for their quickly formed brotherhood.

“I haven't been here for long, but I have a pretty close relationship with my linebackers as a whole,” McKinley said. “We’ve already done some ‘power of unit’ like going to have dinner or something like that. I’d definitely say I'm pretty good friends with all the backers … They're basically like my new friends out here, and it's a pretty tight brotherhood, I’d say.”

“Knowing their different cultures, where they came from, I love it,” Tuitele added. “From down south, from the West Coast, East Coast. I just love it. From Alaska. Different cultures, I get to learn.”

Jernigan, a Mississippi native, said that he had never had a bagel before his move to Berkeley — he loves them now, when his diet allows. And Tuitele, a Las Vegas native, mentioned never having tried deer before joining Cal.

Do with that information what you will.

Under Gregory, a “great” and “informative” coach per Tuitele, the Bears will look vastly different between the hashes during the upcoming season.

Time will tell whether the new guys will thrive. But regardless, Cal, Gregory and the inside linebacker room are all giving each other a shot, in the collective Fight for California.

“I come from a place that doesn't get many opportunities,” Jernigan said. “And Cal is giving me that.”