Jacob De Jesus has a lot going on in his life.

On the football field, he is a starting wide receiver for the Golden Bears, the team's top kick and punt returner, and a developing team leader.

Off the field, he is a father, son, brother, fiancé, and graduate student – and the team's self-proclaimed ping-pong king.

De Jesus learned ping-pong from his late father, Rick, who passed away from cancer last year. One day, Rick brought home a table and would spend hours playing the game with his son at their Manteca home. These days, if De Jesus is not tending to one of his many responsibilities in life, you will likely find him dispatching of yet another teammate at the ping-pong table in the football program's dining room.

"He's an extremely competitive guy," Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox said. "He tries to win in everything. I love that about him."

De Jesus won 20 games in two campaigns at UNLV for a program that had gone nine seasons without going to a bowl game prior to his arrival. In last year's LA Bowl, ironically against his future Cal team, De Jesus had a game-high 142 all-purpose yards in a 24-13 win to give the Rebels a school-record-tying 11 victories. As a sophomore in 2022, he helped Modesto Junior College to a share of a league title, and as a prep his Manteca Buffalos were two-time section champions.

And since his arrival in Berkeley, he has been working hard to bring his winning ways to a Cal team in which he is one of 56 new players on the 2025 roster.

De Jesus knows he has the capability to help a talented group produce victories and be a leader but wants to make sure his leadership is an inclusive process.

"When I arrived in January, I didn't want to step in and start giving orders," De Jesus said. "I wanted to work with guys who had already earned the right to lead."

Fellow wide receivers Jordan King and Mark Hamper caught on quickly to De Jesus' leadership style.

"He pushes everybody he's around – not through his words but through his actions and hard work," King said. "He is full throttle and if anyone is not doing that it makes them think that they need to match his energy, work ethic and intensity."

"When I think of Jacob, I think of a leader of wolves," added Hamper, who credits De Jesus for helping him earn a spot alongside De Jesus in the starting lineup. "A leader of wolves leads from behind, and that's kind of what Jacob does. He's going to make sure everybody is in the right spots, everybody is doing what they need to do, and guys are tagging along for extra work. Jacob is phenomenal and elevates this group to another level. He gives 100 percent, 100 percent of the time."

"He's what you consider an alpha," Wilcox said. "The term gets thrown around a lot, but he fits that."

This alpha is also a 23-year-old family man who is motivated to provide for his fiancé, Kirstien Lopez, and their 5-year-old kindergarten daughter, Amelia "Mimi" De Jesus. He wants to both provide for and spend as much time as possible with his family, often by including Amelia in the time he spends with teammates and getting to her school when he can for pick-up duty.

"Having a kid is not an easy task, but it motivates you to become something in life," De Jesus said. "You want to be successful so she can have a really good life. My parents gave me a great life and one thing they always said was that as parents you want your kids to have a better life than you, and I want to do that for my daughter."

"Jacob has worked hard to get to where he's at today," his mother, Monica, said. "To go through what he has, not only with football but in life – losing his father and becoming a dad himself – a lot of people look up to him because he's getting it done. I'm very proud of him."

Monica believes that Jacob's experiences and the lessons he has learned can help her son inspire and guide his teammates to also win on and off the field.

"He can tell them to never give up on their dreams no matter what anyone says," she said. "There will always be challenges and people who doubt you but just keep pushing forward, work hard and stay humble."