Alex Funches: OLB · California · #36.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Alex Funches
Ranges from hash to hash and finishes the tackle. Two seasons in the California linebacker corps to date. On tape: 5 tackles against UCLA, Week 7, 2018.
Play style
Ranges from hash to hash and makes his own tackles.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
29 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 4.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Sports Illustrated Oct 29Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | California | 29 | 20 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
| 2017 | California | 35 | 25 | 9.5 | 4.0 |
| Career | 64 | 45 | 14.0 | 7.0 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2018 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-17vs North Carolina | 3 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 21-18@ BYU | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 45-23vs Idaho State | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 24-42vs No. 19 Oregon | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 17-24@ Arizona | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 7-37vs UCLA | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 49-7@ Oregon State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 12-10vs No. 15 Washington | 4 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 13-19@ No. 10 Washington State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 15-14@ USC | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 7-10vs TCU | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 29 | 20 | 4.5 | 3.0 | — | 0 |
Week 9 · 2018
W 12-10
vs Washington
1 sack · 2 tackles for loss · 4 tackles
A close one, won by 2 at home.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
29tackles this seasonTFL rate
16%4 TFLSack rate
10%3 sacksPD rate
0%0 pass breakups29 tackles · 4.5 for loss · 3 sacks.
2 seasons under Justin Wilcox — 12-13 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2018 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 3.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Justin Wilcox
Pass share
46.4%
412 pass / 475 run
Plays / game
68.2
13 games
Team sack rate
7.1%
453 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2018
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at California, 64 tackles — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2015–2018
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Sonny Dykes → Justin Wilcox. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
