The generational quarterbacks who played for Cal in the past quarter century followed disparate paths to Berkeley. Aaron Rodgers was discovered by accident while the coaching staff scouted his junior college teammate. Jared Goff seemed destined for Cal all along as the son of a former Bears baseball player.
Now here comes Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele, a blue-chip quarterback whose journey is a perfect mix of those taken by Rodgers and Goff.
He seemed destined for Cal and came out of nowhere.
Whether Sagapolutele extends the Bears’ legacy of elite quarterback play won’t be known for several years. But the accolades accompanying him to Berkeley are clear and present.
Sagapolutele is a four-star prospect and the eighth-ranked quarterback in the high school senior class, a 6-foot-2 lefthander with “a very high ceiling and NFL potential if he continues to develop at his current rate,” according to the 247Sports recruiting website.
He’s inarguably the solution to the void created last month when starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza entered the transfer portal.
He’s potentially the propellant needed after the Bears were frustratingly close to a breakthrough season. (They finished with a 6-7 record but lost four games by a combined nine points.)
And he might be the trajectory-changer the program needs as it seeks success in the ACC and a position of relevance across the sport.
“It took until the eighth year of Justin Wilcox’s time in Berkeley to land easily his most significant recruit,” 247Sports recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman told the Hotline (via email).
“And he’s arguably the most important recruit Cal has landed since Sonny Dykes convinced Goff to stick with the Bears after Jeff Tedford was fired,”
Technically, Sagapolutele isn’t a recruit. He’s a transfer with a journey that would have been unfathomable a few years ago.
And for the record, he didn’t come from nowhere. He came from Eugene.
The transfer portal has changed everything, including the options for a player who was in high school last month, enrolled at Oregon, attended the Rose Bowl with the Ducks, realized his mistake and transferred to Cal one week before the start of the spring semester.
Everything happened in a blink, except for Cal’s relationship with Sagapolutele. That began years ago, when running backs coach Aristotle Thompson attended a 7-on-7 tournament in Las Vegas, spotted a young quarterback with a big arm and passed along the information to Marshall Cherrington, Cal’s director of player personnel.
The Bears kept tabs on Sagapolutele, whose prep career began at Saint Louis, the famed Honolulu prep powerhouse that produced Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and Alabama star Tua Tagovailoa.
Had Sagapolutele remained at Saint Louis, his career would have unfolded in the spotlight for recruiters across the country to see. But he transferred to Campbell High School, a somewhat obscure program in Ewa Beach. And from there, Sagapolutele’s career played out away from the watchful eyes of most major college programs.
The Bears were impressed with Sagapolutele’s development, but not to the exclusion of all other quarterbacks in the high school class of 2025. They pursued Robert McDaniel, a four-star prospect from Central California, as well. When McDaniel committed to Arizona in late May — he has since signed with UCLA — the Bears turned their full attention to Sagapolutele.
On June 2, they offered him a scholarship.
On June 20, he visited campus.
On July 8, he committed.
All was well through the summer, then trouble surfaced for the Bears in the form of Sagapolutele’s senior season. He was too good for Cal’s own good, and the heavyweights took notice.
Utah offered a scholarship.
So did Oregon.
And Georgia.
The Bears hung on through the fall. But when the early-signing window opened the first week of December, Sagapolutele picked Oregon.
Sources familiar with Sagapolutele’s recruitment cited several reasons for the decision, but two of them were Mariota, the Hawaii legend and former Oregon star, and Dillon Gabriel, who started for the Ducks in 2024 and, like Sagapolutele, is a lefty from Hawaii.
The pressure to follow them to Eugene was immense, a source said.
(Also, the financial resources available through Oregon’s name, image and likeness program could not be ignored, either by Sagapolutele or his representatives.)
But after one week with the Ducks, Sagapolutele realized it was all wrong — that he didn’t connect with the Ducks the way he did with the Bears, who had devoted so much time and energy to building a relationship with Sagapolutele and his family.
He entered the transfer portal on Saturday, taking advantage of the open window available to players on teams playing postseason games.
A day later, he officially signed with Cal.
“I just felt that there was another school in particular that was right for me,” Sagapolutele told ESPN. “I’m excited to be a priority over there and to get to work.”
The opportunity to play immediately was critical to Sagapolutele. In Berkeley, he has the chance. With Mendoza moving on (to Indiana), the Bears need both a starter for 2025 and a transformational player to attract additional talent.
It’s entirely possible that Sagapolutele is Berkeley-ese for Pied Piper.
Days after Sagapolutele’s initial commitment to Cal last summer, Aiden Manutai, a safety from Oahu with scholarship offers from Miami, Penn State and Tennessee, picked the Bears.
“Sagapolutele’s impact will be huge in subsequent classes,” said Huffman, the 247Sports analyst.
“For a school that has struggled to recruit offensive weapons, he will have significant positive ramifications in both high school recruiting and in the portal.”
That is, after all, what blue-chip talents are supposed to do.
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