BERKELEY – Three Cal players – Devante Downs, Patrick Laird and James Looney – were selected to the 2017 Phil Steele All-Pac-12 Team announced Wednesday. Downs was a second-team choice while Laird and Looney were third-team picks.

All three along with Patrick Mekari were previously named honorable mention All-Pac-12 by the league's coaches announced last Tuesday.

Below are notes from the 2017 season on each of Cal's three Phil Steele All-Pac-12 Team honorees with full bios available by clicking on each players' name.
 
Devante Downs, ILB, 6-3, 245, Sr., 3L, Mountlake Terrace, WA (Mountlake Terrace HS)
• Earned second-team Phil Steele All-Pac-12 and honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors
• Named Cal's Bear Backers Defensive Team MVP while also winning the Ken Cotton Award as Cal's Most Courageous Player
• Was making a strong case for National and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors through the first half of his 2017 senior campaign before suffering an injury against Washington State in the seventh contest of the season that ended his collegiate career
• Was on watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Lott IMPACT Trophy both honoring the nation's top defensive player as well as The Butkus Award given annually to the nation's best linebacker. 
• Named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week twice in his first three games after victories over North Carolina and Ole Miss to give the Golden Bears their first two-time winner of the award since Mike Mohamed in 2010
• Despite missing five-plus games finished his senior campaign second on the team with 65 tackles while adding a career-high 5.5 tackles for loss (career-high -29 yards), career-high-tying 3.0 sacks (career-high-tying -14 yards), a career-high-tying and team-high-tying two interceptions that he returned for a career-high 39 yards, a career-high and team-high four quarterback hurries, a career-high and team-high-tying two fumble recoveries that he returned for a career-high four yards and a career-high and team-high-tying two forced fumbles.
• Finished the regular season ranked tied for 23th nationally with two fumble recoveries
 
Patrick Laird, RB, 6-0, 200, Jr., 1L, Arroyo Grande, CA (Mission Prep HS)
Team Awards: Bear Backers MVP Award (Most Valuable Offensive Player), Berkeley Breakfast Club Award (Outstanding Player in the Big Game), Stub Allison Award (Outstanding Strength and Conditioning)
• Earned third-team Phil Steele All-Pac-12, honorable mention All-Pac-12, CoSIDA Academic All-District®, first-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors
• On the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors to be announced December 14
• One of 10 national semifinalists for the Burlsworth Trophy awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding football player who began his career as a walk-on
• Named Cal's Bear Backers Offensive Team MVP honors as well as the Berkeley Breakfast Club Award as the Golden Bears' outstanding player in the Big Game and the Stub Allison Award for outstanding strength and conditioning
• Played in 11 games with eight starts and set all of his offensive career highs while leading Cal with 191 carries for 1127 yards rushing and eight touchdowns on the ground with averages of 102.5 rushing yards per game and 5.9 yards per rush that rank sixth and seventh among Pac-12 leaders while his yards per game were 28th nationally at the end of the regular season
• Became the 16th Cal player to rush for 1,000 yards or more and the first since Daniel Lasco in 2014 while recording the 19th 1,000-yard rushing season in school history with Russell White (3) and Marshawn Lynch (2) the only Cal player to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season on multiple occasions
• Also had more receptions than any Cal running back since 1988 with career bests of 45 receptions, 322 yards receiving and one touchdown catch as well as a career-best and team-high 1449 all-purpose yards
• Had a team-high-tying 13 explosive plays of 20 or more yards from the line of scrimmage to tie for the team lead including a team-high three plays over 50 yards
• Had five 100-yard rushing games including four in his last five contests when he rushed for 727 yards and four scores during the stretch including 545 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in his final three contests
 
James Looney, DE, 6-3, 280, Sr., 2L, Lake Worth, FL (Wake Forest/Lake Worth HS)
Team Award: Co-Brick Muller Award (Most Valuable Lineman)
• Earned third-team Phil Steele All-Pac-12 and honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors
• Picked up a share of Cal's Brick Muller Award as the team's co-Most Valuable Lineman
• Started all 12 games for the second consecutive season and contributed 41 tackles as well as a career-high 9.5 tackles for loss (career-high -42 yards), a career-high-tying 3.5 sacks (career-high-tying -22 yards), a career high three quarterback hurries, a career-high-tying one forced fumble and a career-high two fumble recoveries
• One of only five players on the team and three on defense to start all 12 contests
• Had at least 1.0 tackle for loss in six of his final seven games
 
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