Darius allensworth – Syndication Server

Former Cal Golden Bear offers a simple reminder to anxious USC football fans

While most #USC fans focused on the defense’s collapse vs Cal, a former Golden Bear reminded @DonJamesSports that Caleb Williams is awesome.

It always helps to have a little perspective.

Yes, USC’s defense was terrible against Cal. However, the Trojans still won. Winning is the bottom line, after all. It’s why we play games. It’s why people care about the outcome.

Winning is the goal, more than style points or anything else.

USC won. Why did it win? Caleb Williams — that’s why.

Caleb Williams passed for 360 yards, rushed for a touchdown and threw two of his four scoring passes to Michael Jackson III, leading USC to a 41-35 victory over California.

We spoke with former Cal cornerback Darius Allensworth about the game Saturday night.

Trojans Wire: What did you think of the outcome Saturday night, with the USC win over Cal?

Allensworth: I think Jack Plummer and Cal fought hard and made a great run at the end but it was a little too late. Caleb Williams is explosive on offensive and they have so much depth on that side of the ball it’s damn near impossible to contain them.

We then asked Allensworth about a few other topics:

Trojans Wire: Who was your favorite player growing up?

Allensworth: “Beast Mode” Marshawn Lynch

Trojans Wire: What was your favorite play you made as a Cal Golden Bear?

Allensworth: It’s tied! A diving pick against Arizona State in 2016 versus my guy Manny Wilkins and a forced fumble against Washington in 2015.

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Former Cal cornerback describes what it was like to face Jared Goff in practice

Sonny Dykes is 8-0 at TCU. Jared Goff is in the NFL. Former Cal cornerback Darius Allensworth talked about both men with @DonJamesSports.

Darius Allensworth currently works for Summit Sports and Entertainment, which represents athletes and influencers who are trying to achieve explosive career growth and build their personal brands, taking their public profiles to a higher level.

Clients for Summit include Quenton Nelson, Dezmon Patton, Jaquan Hardy, and UFC fighter Randy Costa, to name a few.

In part three of our Q&A series, I got to speak to Darius about his thoughts on former Cal coach Sonny Dykes and what it was like playing alongside Jared Goff, the quarterback for the Golden Bears under Dykes before Dykes went to SMU and later TCU. The TCU Horned Frogs, coached by Dykes, are currently unbeaten. Garrett Riley, the younger brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley, is TCU’s offensive coordinator under Dykes.

Darius Allensworth from CAL CB Free Agent pic.twitter.com/J74FnwYpRy

— NFL Draft Diamonds (@DraftDiamonds) May 2, 2018

Trojans Wire: What do you make of your former coach Sonny Dykes, who recruited you to Cal and is having success at TCU? He has them currently sitting at 8-0 and making a CFB Playoff run.

Allensworth: I’m super happy for him! They are in the hunt to play for a championship in his first season, that’s special.

Trojans Wire: What was it like playing with former Cal Bear star and current Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff?

Allensworth: Playing with Jared was a challenge because every day I knew I would be challenged in practice. It was purely fun, though, because I’m a competitor, so being challenged to your best abilties is fun to me.

Trojans Wire: Who was the toughest player you went up against at Cal?

Allensworth: The 2014 reicever core we had as a whole was insane, but I’d have to give it to Chris Harper, who played in the NFL from 2015-18 for the Patriots, 49ers and Jets. Harper is currently with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL.

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Former Cal cornerback sizes up the Golden Bears’ titanic challenge vs USC

‘I expect Cal to run the ball and try and control the clock.’ – Former #Cal CB Darius Allensworth to @DonJamesSports on the Bears’ plan vs #USC

Darius Allensworth, who played in Cal’s secondary several years ago, is a former four-star recruit as measured by PrepStar and Rivals. The 247Sports Composite, 247Sports, ESPN and Scout gave him three stars each

He was ranked as the No. 24 cornerback in the nation by PrepStar and Rivals, while the 247Sports Composite (No. 40), Scout (No. 70) and 247Sports (No. 79) also had him on their lists of the nation’s top players at the position. He was ranked No. 81 nationally as an athlete (i.e., a non-position-specific prospect) by ESPN.

Allensworth joined us to discuss the Trojans’ outlook for the remainder of the season, the Cal game plan versus USC this Saturday night, and the crisis connected to the Golden Bears’ sputtering offense.

Tweets by _MoneyDA

Trojans Wire: Currently ranked No. 9 in the polls, do you think Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans can crack the College Football Playoffs in Year 1?

Allensworth: Anything is possible, especially with the talent and staff they have.

Trojans Wire: What does Cal need to do Saturday to slow down the USC explosive offense?

Allensworth: Believe it or not, I believe Cal’s ability to control the tempo and keep USC’s offense off the field is the way to slow them down. I expect Cal to run the ball and try and control the clock.

Trojans Wire: Cal has improved in some areas but is sitting at 3-5 for the season, and Justin Wilcox finds himself on the hot seat again. What can he do to overcome a losing record this season?

Allensworth: The offense has underachieved since he’s been the head coach. I don’t really think there’s anything he can do.

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Former Cal Golden Bear Darius Allensworth reveals that he considered going to USC

There’s a reason Lane Kiffin couldn’t offer a #USC scholarship to Darius Allensworth. Find out in this @DonJamesSports Q and A.

Darius Allensworth played in 43 games with 22 starts from 2013-2017 at Cal Berkeley. He contributed 109 tackles along with 6.5 tackles for loss (-41 yards), 2.0 sacks (-10 yards) and three interceptions. He also had one fumble recovery which he returned 37 yards for his lone career touchdown as a 2017 senior.

More Allensworth stats: three forced fumbles, 26 passes defended, and 23 pass breakups over his last four seasons with the Cal program after redshirting as a true freshman in 2013.

Allensworth put up most of his top career numbers as a 2015 sophomore, when he started all 13 games and had several career highs, including a team-high 12 passes defended and 11 pass breakups. He produced a team-high-tying two forced fumbles, 41 tackles, and his first career interception.

Cal takes on USC this week, so we sat down with the former Cal Golden Bear to talk about growing up in Southern California and more.

Trojans Wire: What did growing up in Southern California mean to you during the USC “golden years” of Carroll, Bush and Leinart?

Allensworth: That era made me love football! It looked like they were having so much fun playing under a coach that was one of the first of his kind.

I say that because Pete Carroll was a player’s coach before it was cool to be one in that era.

Trojans Wire: What was your favorite moment in the Cal vs USC series as a player?

Allensworth: I honestly don’t have one, but playing in the Coliseum was cool.

Trojans Wire: Did you ever consider going to USC to be a Trojan?

Allensworth: I did, but Lane Kiffin and his staff couldn’t offer me after I tore my ACL. They only had 13 scholarship offers because of the Reggie Bush rule situation.

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