Cal OLB Xavier Carlton Looking Forward to the Miami Challenge

Carlton has been a major factor in the Bears’ defensive improvement after last year’s struggles on that side of the ball

Xavier Carlton / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal outside linebacker Xavier Carlton is proud of what the Bears’ defense has accomplished early in the season, but he knows the challenge will be considerably greater when Cal hosts No. 7 Miami on Saturday, October 5 in Berkeley.

The Bears (3-1) have not allowed more than 14 points in any of their four games this season, and their 12.75 points allowed per game ranks third-best in the 17-team ACC. And the Bears won't give up any points this weekend because they have a bye.

“Honestly, we’ve been playing a lot of great football,” Carlton said of the defense in the video atop this story. “Before fall camp started the defense got together and wanted to come up with a plan but also a goal, and that goal was to make sure we’re the best defense in the entire nation.”

Carlton is one of the prime reasons for Cal’s defensive success so far.  He 3.5 sacks lead the team and rank sixth in the ACC, and all of his 4.5 tackles for loss have come in the past two games, when he has stepped up his game.

It has helped Cal’s defense show remarkable improvement over last year’s defense, which ranked 114th of 133 FBS schools in scoring defense, allowing 32.8 points per game in 2023.

That helped spur this year’s defense to do better, says Carlton.

“Backlash we’ve been getting from last year, saying, ‘Oh, Cal moving into the ACC; it’s going to be a heavy pass-type of a league, I don’t think Cal is going to survive,’ and we took that as an offense.”

Cal leads the ACC and is 11h nationally in passer rating defense, at 90.25, and the Bears lead the nation in interceptions with 10..

“Now teams are noticing Cal is no joke,” Carlton said.

But can Cal’s defense hold up against an offense as powerful as Miami’s?

The Hurricanes are fourth in the nation in scoring at 52.2 points per game, and they are second in the country in total offense, averaging 605 yards per contest. Plus Miami quarterback Cam Ward leads the nation in passing touchdowns and is fifth in passer rating.

Carlton faced Ward last year when Ward played for Washington State in the Cougars’ 42-39 loss the Bears in Berkeley, and Carlton will take another look at Ward in Miami’s game against Virginia Tech on Friday night.

“Most definitely watching Friday’s game,” said Carlton, who talked about his respect for Miami’s offense in the video below.

This presumably will be Carlton’s final season of college football.  He graduated from Cal in the spring and is pursuing a certificate course this fall. 

Carlton, a fifth-year player, and several other Cal defensive veterans, such as seventh-year outside linebacker David Reese and sixth-year safety Craig Woodson, had to decide whether to come back for Cal’s 2024 season.

They were not satisfied with the way things turned out in 2023, when Cal finished 6-7, so they wanted another shot.

“This train don’t stop until we say it stops,” Carlton said.

When he’s not at Cal, the 23-year-old Carlton enjoys coaching youth football, just as his father did.  And Carlton talks about the influence his father has had on him and his younger brother in the video below.

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