The Pac-12 canceled fall sports on Aug. 11, but that didn’t stop Cal defensive end Luc Bequette from finding a place to play in September. The 6-foot-2, 290-pound D-Lineman is reportedly transferring to Boston College, according to Sports Illustrated’s Jeff Faraudo.
“Just letting people know that I will always love Cal!” Bequette told Sports Illustrated, as reported Monday night. “I chose Boston College today. In the process of doing my application now.”
As a graduate transfer, Bequette will be immediately eligible. He’s the second grad transfer to join the program this offseason—the other being Buffalo defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka.
Bequette could very well compete with defensive ends Brandon Barlow, Marcus Valdez, and Shittah Sillah for starting snaps off the edge. That said, first-year Eagles head coach Jeff Hafley and his staff could move Bequette inside, considering that he spent time at defensive end, defensive tackle, and nose tackle last year.
Not only is the Little Rock, Ark. native versatile, but he’s also quite experienced.
Dating back to the 2017 campaign, Bequette has started 38 straight games. In fact, he was tied with two other Golden Bears for the program’s active career lead in consecutive starts. The 2020 season will be Bequette’s final year in a college uniform. He was recently granted a sixth year of eligibility for his redshirt freshman year (2016), after he only played four games before suffering a season-ending lower body injury before Cal’s matchup against Utah that season.
Once healthy, Bequette emerged as a key member of the Golden Bears’ defensive front. He started all 12 games in 2017 and logged 27 tackles, 2.0 sacks, and the only fumble recovery of his career. The next two years, Bequette took his play up a notch.
In 2018, he piled up 49 total tackles, 6.5 TFLs, and 5.0 sacks (tied for the team high), along with two forced fumbles and a blocked extra point attempt. The high point of his season occurred on Nov. 10. Bequette led an inspired defensive effort in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, recording nine total tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and 2.0 sacks, in addition to a critical forced fumble deep in Cal territory before intermission. He earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance, and Cal snapped its 14-game losing streak to USC with a gritty 15-14 win.
Last year, Bequette had another nine-tackle game on the road—this time against Oregon. He finished the 2019 season with a career-high 52 total tackles, 4.0 TFLs, and 3.0 sacks, as well as two pass breakups. Moving across the D-Line throughout the season, he earned Cal’s Brick Muller Award, which is given annually to the program’s Most Valuable Lineman.
He’ll add depth to an Eagles defensive line that struggled mightily in 2019. BC notched the second-fewest sacks (19) of any ACC team last year and allowed 193.2 rushing yards per game, ranking a lowly 100th in the run-stopping department.
Bequette will be playing catch-up at BC. After missing most of Eagles training camp, he’ll have to learn a new system, mesh with another batch of teammates, and adjust to a different campus amid a pandemic. Luckily for him, it seems as if BC will start its season one week later than most ACC teams, with a Sept. 19 road game at Duke.
