With Kennedy, 2024 defense will have a two 6 year and a 5 year player as returning starters on the line. Toki started three games,.That is probably the most veteran defensive line in school history.
All the starting linebackers graduated, Eaton, Tattersall, Buchanan, and frequently used Frazier and Mouiset. That is a lot to lose at one level of the defense. They return Cloyd and Porter Connors.
The defensive secondary starters all return.
They will need some contributors from the new recruits, particularly at linebacker.
They are going to be a smaller defense.

Very shifty though. His twitter page says
“ 208LB 4.5 (40) going to shock lots of people this year !”

. Apparently.

The Davis Enterprise described Carter Vargas’s weight at 160, which is 40lbs under his weight on recruiting sites, or his signing day weight on UCD. While he is definitely elusive he isn’t small.

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/offense-is-the-aggie-football-theme-on-nli-day/article_f6aa4eba-c62b-11ee-8f3e-fbcdb4087c1b.html

Ask about the QB coach too, whether Plough plans to coach the QBs.
Just seems like being a position coach as well as OC and HC is too much.

Eight guys had FBS offers, and according to CA Forevers list, we lost very few to FCS teams, only two to league rivals. A very successful recruiting effort. Nicely spread over all positions except tight end.

I think Jalen Harris will be more of a CJ Hutton role. If you look down the road a year we lose Larison, Tompkins, and Hutton. Even Perez is listed as a junior in 2023 but thats is not his eligibility status.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2024/2/7/uc-davis-football-welcomes-six-newcomers-on-national-signing-day.aspx

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown Previous School / High School
Stacy Dobbins WR 5-8 155 Temecula, CA St. John Bosco HS
Jalen Harris RB 6-0 170 Berkeley, CA Berkeley HS
Tyson McWilliams CB 6-2 190 San Diego, CA St. Augustine HS / Cal
Caden Pinnick QB 6-0 180 Loomis, CA Del Oro HS
David Porotesano OL 6-5 280 Oceanside, CA Oceanside HS
Carter Vargas RB 6-0 200 Santa Maria, CA St. Joseph HS

Former players are invited. The board lists players that apparently have no remaining eligibility. Like Amone, Verner and Povey. If they come back somehow that would be great.
What happened to Noa Matsui? he seems to have been injured for 2 years.

We will see. Plough was clear in the interview that he had someone lined up.
The associate head coach moved on, they let the QB coach go, they have a bunch of young QBs to develop, and they have new young coaches to get oriented. Seems they at least need a QB coach if not an offensive coordinator. On the other hand, they do have guys on staff coaching other positions who’ve coached QBs elsewhere. When is Spring practice?

Plough doing offensive coordinator, QB coach and head coach seems a little too much for a first year HC.

During Plough’s local TV interview on the day of his introductory press conference he said they had an offensive coordinator “in place” that he couldn’t name who had aggie ties. Now this article says the staff is complete.

Not to mention Nick Eaton and a couple of frequently played reserves.

Tevis Bartlett was a defensive assistant who worked with outside linebackers and edge rushers last year.
He is now with the Nevada Wolfpack.

I can see the point that athletes who’s name or likeness have a significant value should get some compensation for the use in marketing. But these collectives are just slush funds used to hire athletes, irrespective of marketability. Take the guys who transfer from Big Sky schools to major FBS teams for a year. They aren’t going to sell a lot of shirts and stuff because they have little name recognition with the fans of their new school.

That is the running backs who have used up their college eligibility.

I assume preferred walk-ons get assistance with admission. Might be able to get into school without meeting application deadlines etc.

This past season we got two transfers who started for Davis and their was never any announcement of them joining the team.
Lamont Shamburger was still being recruited by D2 schools in June, he didn’t even tweet that he had an offer from Davis, so perhaps he walked on, but he started the first game for Davis in August.

The COVID extra year has had the unexpected result of making upper class transfers more viable.. Without that extra year I think most players stay put. Sarale is the recruiting class of 2018 which means he’s been here six years already, and he thinks he might have two years eligibility left.

I think they knew what they had with Larison. I recall the coach who recruited him predicted we’d win a championship with him. 2023 was his fourth year with the team, so they knew.
I think Hastings inconsistent play was unexpected. They had changed the environment for Hastings when his position coach and offensive coordinator left. They brought in a qb coach from the North Texas who had previously worked under an offensive coordinator / offensive line coach. That offensive coordinator is now the offensive coordinator at Cal.