Cal Football 2026 Season Preview Part 2: The Offense
Cal provided their star quarterback with more weapons. Can they protect him?
Part 1: Finally Something New Under the Sun
The University of California has, relative to their on-field success, a remarkable history of quarterback play. 13 different Cal signal callers have been drafted, six in the first round. I have only been a dedicated Cal football fan since the mid-90s, and I’ve still seen FOUR different quarterbacks play in Memorial Stadium who were later drafted in the first round.
I think it is less a subjective opinion, and closer to an objective truth that Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is the best true freshman quarterback I have ever seen play for Cal.
It is my subjective opinion that Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has more arm talent than every quarterback I’ve seen play at Cal, with only one possible exception. Click on this link, watch highlights of Aaron Rodgers at Cal, look at the potato quality footage and ponder the terrifying passage of time if you were old enough to watch Rodgers play at the time. Then ask yourself: did you see throws that JKS can’t make? You probably watched Rodgers make a bunch of beautiful throws that were generally less difficult than the throws JKS had to make last year, because Rodgers played in a juggernaut offense that got guys open way more often.
Yeah, I think JKS as a freshman was about as talented as a guy who has since authored a career that makes him an inner circle Hall of Famer and probably a top 5 all time quarterback. I don’t think that’s hyperbolic or being prisoner of the moment.
Everybody at all involved in Cal football, from the smallest donor to the friggin’ chancellor of the university has recognized the moral imperative to not waste a generational talent like this.
2025 Offense, revisited
In many ways it probably doesn’t make sense to dwell on 2025, considering Cal’s coaching changeover. On the other hand, it wouldn’t surprise me if Cal’s first offensive snap of the 2026 season featured as many as 6 players who were on the roster in 2025.
The short story: Cal’s 2025 offense was two distinct things. The Bears were a constantly dangerous offense because they had a prodigiously talented quarterback. The Bears were a sputtering unit because they were unable to consistently block in either the run game or the passing game.
Will Cal’s many transfer additions allow Cal to maximize that first part, and fix (or at least hide) that 2nd part?
Unit Summaries
1st year transfer portal additions noted by their former school. All classes/eligibility based on the current Calbears.com roster.
Quarterback
Projected starter: Sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Depth: Junior Jackson Brousseau (Colorado St.), Sophomore EJ Caminong
To the extent that there is any depth chart intrigue at the QB position, it’s a battle for 2nd string behind JKS between returner EJ Caminong and transfer addition Jackson Brousseau.
Brousseau was a decent (if conservative) Mountain West QB who got most of the playing time last year, and that proven on-field production probably makes him the favorite, but I think we all understand that if Cal is spending significant portions of this season without JKS in the backfield, this season preview isn’t going to mean much anyway.
Offensive Line
Projected starters:
LT: Junior Frederick Williams
LG: Junior Tyson Ruffins
C: Senior Bastian Swinney
RG: Senior Sioape Vatikani
RT: Sophomore Jimothy Lewis (Mississippi St.)
Depth: Sophomore Jacob Arop (South Dakota), Junior Mykeal Rabess (FIU), Junior Kahlee Tafai (Minnesota), Senior Lamar Robinson,
Cal’s interior linemen are all returners and it’s assumed that Ruffins, Swinney, and Vatikani will all start if healthy. It’s the tackle spots that demand your attention.
Cal added Jimothy Lewis, Jacob Arop, and Mykeal Rabess from the portal to compete with returner Frederick Williams, who was in and out of the lineup last year as Cal searched for answers at tackle. Lewis is almost certainly going to be protecting JKS’s blindside on the right, but left tackle may be an open camp battle between the other three tackles.
Running Back
Projected starter: Junior Adam Mohammed (Washington)
Depth: Sophomore Carter Vargas (UC Davis), Sophomore Ashten Emory (UTEP), Freshman Anthony League
Adam Mohammed is the presumed starter after an impressive season as UW’s 1B running back option, with a battle between Vargas and Emory behind him. My money is on Vargas to be Cal’s 2nd option after an impressive debut season at Davis.
Tight End
Projected starters: Junior Dorian Thomas (New Mexico)
Depth: Junior Mason Mini, Senior Rico Walker (Purdue), Freshman John Tofi
Over the last few years, I bemoaned how often Cal would run multiple tight end sets when they didn’t have two tight ends who were credible pass catching options. Well, that ends now, because last year Mason Mini was Cal’s 2nd best target when healthy, and he’s now the 2nd best tight end on the roster.
And lest you think that Thomas (56 catches, 560 yards) racked up his stats against low end MWC teams, please note his 10 catches for 71 yards and 2 TDs against Michigan. Dude’s legit.
Wide Receiver
Projected starters: Senior Ian Strong (Rutgers), Senior Chase Hendricks (Ohio), Sophomore Cooper Perry (Oregon)
Depth: Senior Jordan King, Junior Mark Hamper, Senior Quaron Adams, Sophomore Trevor Rogers, Junior Kyion Grayes, Senior Cole Boscia
Strong and Hendricks, who combined for 123 receptions last year, are mortal locks to start and be the default options when Cal is in a 2 WR set. Strong was a contested catches machine in the Big-10, and Hendricks was maybe the best small conference slot receiver in the nation last year. The camp battle will be at WR 3 and 4, and rotational snaps behind them. I’d tip Cooper Perry to grab the WR3 spot, because anybody talented enough to even get on the field as a true freshman at Oregon is a safe bet to produce on the field, but Cal has a bunch of returners who could get looks if they either take developmental steps forward (Rogers) or demonstrate better hands (Hamper, Grayes).
Defining Questions
How much better will Cal’s offensive line be?
Cal brought in five offensive linemen in the transfer portal, but most of those additions were at the tackle spot. The presumption, solidified by chatter in spring camp and into fall camp, is that Cal’s returning interior offensive linemen are likely to retain their starting spots.
Jimothy Lewis is the only transfer portal addition who is close to locked in along the starting line. That means that improvement on the offensive line depends on two things:
How much can Cal’s returners, particularly along the interior, improve in one off-season?
Is Jimothy Lewis the immediate answer at right tackle?
I think there are reasons for optimism on point 1. Bastian Swinney stabilized the tackle position late in the year, and we can always hope for a healthy season from Sioape Vatikani.
Reasons for optimism: Lewis has pedigree. He was a 4 star prospect out of high school, and he has prototypical tackle size at 6’6’’, 315 pounds. He’s entering his 3rd year of college football, which is often around the time when a guy will be reaching physical maturity and be ready to be a plus contributor.
On the other hand, we have the evidence of a non-dominant seven games, 4 starts, and 360 snaps as a redshirt freshman for Mississippi St., which is scant evidence to go on.
He is, by some margin in my estimation, the most pivotal player on Cal’s roster.
Will JKS make The Leap?
There is an eye-test vs. numbers conflict with JKS. As noted in the intro, I think he looked like a sure-fire NFL quarterback in his true freshman season. But the numbers were unremarkable:
Yards/attempt: 7.0, 83rd in FBS football
64.2% completion percentage, 70th in FBS football
18 touchdowns, 49th in college football
We all know how context dependent those numbers are - JKS had one healthy running back, a shallow WR core that dropped a ton of balls, an offensive line with inconsistent protection and zero running game explosiveness.
But as good as he was, there is room for improvement both from JKS, and from the players and coaches around him.
Can Cal’s offensive brain trust combine their disparate experience in year one?
Cal’s offensive coordinator, Jordan Somerville, spent his last three years coaching in the NFL (and his highest level of college experience is as an offensive assistant). Cal’s co-offensive coordinator, Ike Hilliard, has spent 13 of his last 14 years coaching in the NFL.
This isn’t to suggest that Cal’s coaching staff his hopelessly NFL-pilled. Nick Rolovich is still here, with an associate head coach title, and will surely be heavily involved in game-planning. Run game coordinator Steve Haunga has a decade of college experience. Passing game coordinator pat McCann has bounced all over the west coast across a 15 year career.
Still, this is a collection of coaches from a wide variety of backgrounds who don’t have a ton of experience working together. Sometimes, a wide variety of experiences and ideas can combine into something greater than the sum of its parts. sometimes, a wide variety of experiences and ideas can lead to a unit that doesn’t have a clear identity, or with clashes and disagreements over direction and decision making.
Their ability to maximize JKS will likely define the season.