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Cal sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele acknowledged on Friday that his situation heading into the 2026 season is much different than it was last year.
I know I was here last year, Sagapolutele said during the ACC Kickoff media event in Charlotte, North Carolina, but I was in a little bit of a situation battling for the quarterback spot.
Now being here being allowed to be the quarterback for the team, its so fun, its such a blessing.
On July 17, 2025, Sagapolutele was an incoming freshman competing with Oho State transfer Devin Brown for the starting quarterback position.
And the general feeling was that Brown, a fourth-year junior, was the favorite to win the job.
Sagapolutele surprisingly was named the starter a week before the 2025 opener, faced moderate expectations, never showed the shortcomings typical of a true freshman starting quarterback and had an outstanding season.
Now, one year later, he is the face of the Cal football program, the person on whom the high expectations for the Bears' 2026 season are placed.
Some preseason projections have even made him a preseason Heisman candidate, although members of the ACC panel questioning Sagapolutele suggested Cal is unlikely to get the 10 or 11 wins needed to make him a Heisman contender.
Sagapolutele has a different role with different expectations and a different kind of pressure.
Sagapolutele noted two differences from last seasons 7-6 Cal team: The Bears' offensive style and the addition of talented running backs.
Sagapolutele admitted the pro-style offense being installed by new offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville should help him when he heads to the NFL, probably after the 2027 season.
Weve had some carryover from last year but a lot of NFL integration into it, Sagapolutele said, and I think its very important for me to learn this now than later.
Especially if I want to go on to the next level, Im going to have to learn to play under center, play action, just learn all the intricacies of being in a pro-style offense, and Im just blessed that we get to add that in as well.
Indeed taking some snaps from under center and relying heavily on play-action are two of the key elements of a pro-style offense.
It also places a lot of responsibility on the quarterback to make presnap run checks, pass checks and protection checks.
Sagapolutele says that is indeed part of his responsibility and seems comfortable with in.
When asked why Cal could make the jump from a seven-win team in 2025 to one that could win nine or 10 games this season, Sagapolutele focused on the running game improvement.
If you see the talent acquisitions we got in the portal, if you look at our running backs, theyre crazy, he said.
We got [Washington transfer] Adam Mohammed, [UC Davis] Carter Vargas, [UTEP transfer] Ashten Emory.
Even the guys we kept from last year.
Weve got such great running backs at our helm.
Our tight ends and O-line, theyre been putting in the work this offseason day in and day out just to open up those holes and I see it at practice.
And its going to be great for us, Running the ball is also going to open up the pass game for sure.
Everything Sagapolutele said on the subjext revolved around improvement in the running game, and its easy to see why.
Cal finished 133rd of 134 FBS team in rushing offense last season, ahead of only New Mexico State and behind the likes of Massachusetts, Kent State and Stanford.
More than 77 percent of Cals 2025 offensive yardage came through the passing game, and that kind of imbalance makes it difficult for the Bears offensive in general and Sagapolutele in particular.
Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup.
He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.