BERKELEY – The Cal football team features one of the nation's most prolific tacklers, a physical and driven athlete who has multiple games this season with double-digit tackles.

Evan Weaver is having a pretty good season as well.

With all the much-deserved attention Weaver is receiving this season as one of college football's top defensive players, his teammate Kuony Deng seems to be doing OK for himself as well. The much-traveled junior appears to have found a home in Berkeley, and his impact on the field is being felt more and more each week.

"Over the last three or four weeks, I've really seen the steep incline of him playing with confidence and playing more physical," Cal linebackers coach and associate head coach Peter Sirmon said. "He's got more than enough ability to go out and make a lot of plays."

Kuony (pronounced "Coin") enters Saturday's home game against Washington State tied for 13^th nationally in tackles per game (10.0). He has three games with at least 12 tackles and six with at least eight.

With Weaver leading the country in tackles and seemingly in on every play, it wouldn't seem as though there were many tackles left for anyone else. But Deng has found them.

"Every week is a progression," Deng said. "The confidence is building and the trust in the staff is building."

Not surprisingly, Deng and Weaver are the No. 1 tackling duo in the country at 25.9 tackles per game, and it's not even close. The pair has combined for 207 tackles and is on pace to break the school record for combined tackles of 307 set by Weaver and current Carolina Panther Jordan Kunaszyk last year.

Deng, who originally played football and basketball at Virginia Military Institute before playing football at Independence Community College (KS) last season, has slid into Kunaszyk's role from last year and given the Bears another fierce tandem that keeps opposing offensive coordinators up at night. Deng joined the program last year in time to participate in the practices leading up to the Cheez-It Bowl then really caught the eyes of the coaching staff during spring practice.

"He's good in the meeting room and he pays attention," Sirmon said. "His character is helping him get better because he takes coaching, he watches film, and then doesn't make the same mistake."

Deng formed an instant connection with Weaver when he visited campus on his recruiting trip last November. The duo spent much of the weekend together and Weaver implored his future teammate to choose Cal. Turns out Weaver was on to something.

"He just kept saying that I had to come here, that we were going to be so great together," Deng said. "He just kept pressing me. My first impression of him was, 'Man, who is this guy?' But he's quickly become one of my best friends. I think our chemistry on the field has just turned into a friendship off the field."

Deng and Weaver spend much of their time off the field together. They will talk schemes and game preparation – and trash.

"He likes to think he's taking tackles away from me, but I just like to spread the love every once in a while," Weaver said.

"He's one of my best friends in the world and knows how I'm wired, so he'll kind of poke at me and I'll poke at him," Deng said. "I haven't out-tackles him very often this year, but I'm getting there. One of these games."

Deng's unorthodox path to Berkeley began much earlier when his parents came to America during the civil war in Sudan. After his father returned to Sudan, Deng and his five siblings were raised by his mother, Nyarok Chan.

His family's story is never far from Deng's mind.

"I'm glad I didn't take a traditional path. I think it's made me the man I am today," Deng said. "It's given me a lot of perspective outside the game of football. I'm really just thankful to be a student here. I think about where my family has come from - all the things my parents went through to get me to this point – and it gets me pretty emotional."