Taking It To The Next Level

Teddye Buchanan will make his FBS debut for Cal on Saturday against his former UC Davis squad.

FB8/30/2024 5:44 PM | By: By Kyle McRae

Cal’s Senior Inside Linebacker Teddy Buchanan Took The Long Route To Berkeley

Teddye Buchanan always knew he could play college football at the highest level. On Saturday, he will get his first opportunity to do so at California Memorial Stadium, and it will come as a Golden Bears’ starting linebacker against his former team UC Davis.

Buchanan took the long route from his high school football days across the Bay at St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco to Berkeley. It’s just over 20 miles between the two places but Buchanan didn’t take a straight line, spending four years playing FCS football another 60 miles east of Berkeley at UC Davis.

Buchanan started his prep career as a quarterback, and the primary reason he tried his hand on defense was because he broke his thumb in high school but still wanted to find a way to play and taking snaps at linebacker was the solution. Eventually, he would become a two-way player as a prep, and although he had success was lightly recruited by FBS schools.

He ended up starting his collegiate career at UC Davis with the Aggies and his first season scheduled for 2020 was delayed and shortened by COVID-19 to a five-game campaign played in the spring of 2021. He participated in all five games as a reserve linebacker before blossoming in his first full collegiate season that fall when he led the team with 74 tackles and earned the team’s Most Outstanding Freshman honors for an Aggies’ squad that reached its first FCS playoffs in three seasons.

“One of the cool things about going to UC Davis was that I got to play pretty early on,” Buchanan said. “That was a really good experience that I might not have had at a bigger school.”

Buchanan was named a team captain as a 2022 sophomore but suffered an injury that limited him to seven games as the squad failed to return to the postseason. He did play in the Aggies’ season opener at Cal though and led UC Davis with a game-high-tying eight tackles. He also had eight stops in a 2021 win at Tulsa. Those two games gave him a taste of college football at the FBS level and the confidence that he could compete.

Although Buchanan knew he could play at the next…