Cal offense brought in a bevvy of new faces via the portal to supplement a lackluster offense that had to rely on a generational—literally—true freshman quarterback to will the team to a bowl game.
In this article, I will do a positional review of the changes and what I think their respective impact will be. I will also touch on the coaches and what I think the impact will be. But as Gregory Oski of Tours said in the “History of the Franks”
Thus a great many things have happened to our roster, some good, some bad. -
GregoryOski of Tours
Here is a quick breakdown of the depth chart by position and alignment in the way I am reading the tea leaves. The names in yellow depict the portal additions in Year 1 of the Lupoi regime.
As you can see, we have revamped the offensive depth but surprisingly retained much of the projected starting line-up, with 6 of the 11 players coming back.
Overall, the quality of players in the portal (per 247Sports) was quite good, but the production was wanting:
With only Jimothy Lewis, Chase Hendricks, Adam Mohammed, Ian Strong, and Dorian Thomas coming in with significant production at a P4 level, or high G5 level in the case of Hendricks. We have a lot of floor-raising talent, which if correctly deployed, can ruin the days of opposing fans.
However, we are also introducing some unknowns with the depth of the positions, with two G5 starters and five potential rotational players on top of that.
I will dig a little deeper into each position, and how I see them falling into place.
Quarterback
QB1:
Jaron
Keawe
Sagapolutele
Ladies, gentlemen, and all the folks on the technicolor spectrum: JKS.
Next!
I kid, I kid. Let’s talk about the current and future King of Cal football: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. What we saw wearing the Cal #3 hasn’t been seen since the reign of Jared Goff in the early 2010s. The poise in the pocket, ability to make defenses defend every blade of grass with his arm talent, the feel for where the routes are going, and the ability to make the improvisational play. All of this is extremely impressive for someone who is just a year removed from HS football.
What can he work on?
Every player has things he can work on. It’s no different with Jaron, who has certain nits. He should continue working on gaining more muscle mass to absorb hits which should help him have more confidence in the scrambling department instead of taking too much time to take a sack and ironically being susceptible to more injuries.
There is also a small case of layering throws over the middle when the pocket is muddier; it could be a function of his throwing motion - nothing major; this isn’t something most QBs master in college.
Otherwise, I expect Jaron to challenge or outright seize the crown as the ACC’s top QB (and possibly, likely, getting some Heisman buzz).
QB2: Jackson Brousseau
QB3: E.J. Caminong
Brousseau was added as a veteran back-up, starting nine games for the Colorado State Rams. He was workmanlike as a starter for the Rams, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt and about 150 yards per game through the air. He isn’t a rushing threat with only 15 yards netted throughout the season.
Getting experienced depth is a luxury in this CFB era with a lot of teams consistently losing quality depth in these position. It reminds me of the issue in the top five leagues in professional soccer, you want a back up that is at least a net neutral when replacing the starter but if he’s that good then he’d be starting somewhere else. It’s good to have him around
EJ is a one-time Gronk’s LA Bowl (RIP, pour out a Four Loko in its name) starter who enters his 3rd year at Cal as the presumptive third-string QB. He has a live arm and some mobility to his game. He likely needs some more development to get into the speed of the college football game.
Running Back
RB1: Adam Mohammed
RB2: Carter Vargas
RB3: Ashten Emory
Mohammed, with the ball in his hands, is the embodiment of F = m * a (force equals mass times acceleration). He’s a powerful runner we have not had in the Cal blue and gold since… I won’t say Marshawn Lynch, because he’s one of one, but there are flashes of Beast Mode or of Daniel Lasco when he is able to take a step into space and taking the 5 yard gain into a 10 yard gain by sliding out of a tackle with lateral agility. He will likely be the bellcow back for Cal, and will be key in keeping the offense on schedule by setting up the offense in 2nd and 5s and 3rd and 2s when called on to do his duty.
Vargas is a different type of player: agile, fast, and while Mohammed relishes the runs between the tackles, Vargas prefers to get in space and make guys miss. Running around a tackler rather than through a guy. Both of them present a great punch and counter punch for the offense, if we can provide a viable—if not really good—running game, it should open up the passing game even further by forcing teams to be more predictable in coverage, since late or post-snap rotations tend to back-fire in defending the run.
Emory will likely be third in terms of snaps taken in meaningful situations, but will provide incredible amounts of toughness to the room, considering he still suited up and played with a broken left hand in a cast. There is a chance he will take more snaps if Cal decide to really wear down games with physicality.
Outside of Mohammed watch the RBs to see how we’re going to approach a play since Vargas and Emory have defined strengths and preferences as to how they like to run the ball.
X-WR
X-WR1: Ian Strong
X-WR2: Mark Hamper
X-WR3: Trevor Rogers
Here we come to the 2nd most important offensive addition to the roster: instead of having a hampered Hamper take snaps in ACC games Cal slots in a potential NFL level WR who was scouted by some to be worthy of a 4th round pick. Ian Strong’s game is a case of nominative determinism: he’s strong at the point of attack and in boxing out the defender. Though his release and route running need some more work you can coach that but not the size and strength Strong has in spades.
Behind him we look to have a combination of Hamper who hopefully can regain his composure when going for a catch after a shaky 2025 season, Hamper is an interesting prospect who has shown a consistent ability to get open and if he can reign in some of the drops he may live up to the potential he has.
Trevor Rogers provides an intriguing combination of speed and height. He is undeniably one of the highest ceiling athletes on the roster with NCAA track and field bonafides.
After some time on the bench over the last couple of years he could get in on the field due to the sheer gravity of his long speed and burst athleticism. Otherwise he remains a relative unknown football wise, not much is known about his ability to run routes or catch the ball, but some folks think he has made the step up.
Z-WR
Z-WR1: Chase Hendricks
Z-WR2: Cooper Perry
Z-WR3: Kyion Grayes
On the other side of the formation we have a whole new duo of off the LOS receivers. Headlined by my favorite skill player add of the portal Mr. Hendricks Gin himself. The reason I like him is because he wins in highly replicable ways: with his release, technique and understanding of leverage against man and zone. He was extremely consistent with his production with a fantastic 2.73 Yards per Route Run (for comparison Jeremiah Smith posted a 3.43 Y/RR and JdJ a 2.09 Y/RR).
One worry is that he has had the bulk of his production in the slot for Ohio University, will he move outside to try out being an Z? Or will we swap in Perry who also projects to the a slot.
Grayes is the “Megumi Fushiguro” of the group: a lot of untapped potential. The highest prep-rated WR of the room he has yet to live up to the billing at Ohio State and at Cal. He will have to take an extra step in his game when the pads are on and lights a little brighter to fight off challengers for the WR3 slot as fall camp nears.
Slot-WR
Slot-WR1: Cooper Perry
Slot-WR2: Quarion Adams
Slot-WR3: Cole Boscia
Playing between the two veteran transfers comes with the most intriguing ceiling: Cooper Perry. Perry was a 4* recruit who made his way on to the field for brief stints on the Oregon offense. He presents a great combination of size and agility in the slot, and considering the level of production JdJ was able to elicit out of the position Perry is in line for a leap in production.
Quarion Adams will likely gain some snaps as a gadget player with his speed and agility making up for his small frame expect him to line up all over the LOS and take gadget plays and jet sweeps. When he’s on the field look to see where the direction of the initial play goes and where he goes, there is a very high chance it is a play designed to get the ball into Adams’ hands in space.
Cole Boscia showed some flashes of being a pair of reliable hands who can fight through contact and could get looks in the red-zone if he can show credible physicality in the run game where his 6’3” 215 frame comes into play as the biggest of the Slot WRs.
Of those two I think that neither will take as many snaps in the slot as Hendricks will especially if Cal opts to run a 2 tight end set up with both Strong and Hendricks lineup on the same part of the field.
TE
TE1: Dorian Thomas
TE2: Mason Mini
TE3: Taimaine Purcell
This is my favorite position in football because is crucial in all phases of offensive football. Either they have to block or they go into routes and they often are in the thick of it trying to navigate the triangle between the EDGE, ILB, Safety, and Nickelback. Cal already had a solid TE in Mason Mini who has shown to be good enough of a Jack Endries replacement to where the drop down was noticeable but not too painful.
Now Cal adds Dorian Thomas, a highly productive TE out of New Mexico who started his career at Arizona and found his footing with Jason Eck’s squad. He was a very productive pass catching threat for the Lobos and comes into Cal as the presumptive TE1, however, this doesn’t mean Mini will be sidelined. It is my firm belief that Cal will run a lot of 2 TE sets with Mini and Thomas being viable receiving options forcing other teams to really commit to a base formation and I will pick Mini or Thomas on a LB or SS. Plus if the opposing team tries to get cute by going nickel… well to quote the Berkeley Poetry Laureate.
The thing is… there is a non-zero chance that the TE with the highest ceiling is Taimaine Purcell. He has the combination of size, speed, and body control where he can make an instant impact early on and really develop as a potential All-American TE.
I feel, I think, I know
I want to end every segment of this series with some feelings, thoughts, and beliefs I have on the group of players discussed. The difference with each is the level of evidence and confidence.
I feel that…
Week 1-3 will have some baffling moments where the skill players will look incompetent in some drives and look fantastic in others. This will be due to the fact that a) OC Sommerville will need time adjust from the NFL to college and b) team chemistry issues where players are still too focused on doing their jobs they are not thinking what they need to do in the offense as a whole.
I think that…
Adam Mohammed’s early down play will dictate how our offense performs on a drive by drive basis. His play will stabilize the low end of the outcomes for the offense and on the top end really unlock JKS who will be able to play against stacked boxes allowing the passing game to flourish on 2nd and 3rd downs.
I know that…
This is the most talented set of skill players since the Treggs-Lawler-Anderson-Lasco Goffense. There is a good argument that the only 4 players cracking the 2 deep on this roster from the Wilcox era are:
J.Michael Sturdivant as X-WR2
Jaydn Ott RB1a/b
Patrick Laird as a 3rd Down Back
Jack Endries TE1.
There are entire offenses of the Wilcox era where none of the players in any spot would crack the 2 deep. What compounds this knowledge is that outside of Perry none of the guys are projections, each has either produced in P4 against good competition or were top of their position group in the G6.
Next up: the offensive line!
Excellent.. the tonic of analysis we need here in the summer doldrums. I lie… 2027 recruiting has me jacked as well. A year without doldrums! Go Bears forever!
I really appreciate your sobriety and the feel, think, know approach. On a pure talent basis, we are better off, no doubt. But you are right to point out that neither coordinator has done their jobs before, and the whole group will take some time to gel.