Cal Football Lands Top-15 Safety Kingston Lopa from Oregon in Transfer Portal
The California Golden Bears again have secured a critical member of their defense backfield.
A day of exciting portal commitment news appears to have concluded with a new face. Former Oregon Ducks safety Kingston Lopa visited Cal this week, and has decided to return to California to play closer to home with his former defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Originally from Sacramento (playing at Grant Union), Lopa saw occasional duty as a backup in his redshirt freshman season with the Ducks, registering 12 tackles in 13 games. He redshirted the prior season, but did play six games in 2024. He brings a lot of experience and athletic talent to the table, but couldn’t get enough playing time on one of the most talented defenses in the nation.
The atypical 6-5, approximately 200-pound frame on Lopa should lend itself well to the STAR formation, the SS/LB hybrid that can play both safety and linebacker depending on the playcall and formation. He should have the talent to compete to start at Cal immediately.
Lopa is ranked the 6th-best transfer portal safety by 247 Sports, and the 13th-best transfer safety by On3. It’s a huge win for new safeties coach Connor Boyd, who helped coach Lopa at Oregon this past season.
Cal is not settling under Tosh Lupoi—these are major commitments, particularly in a secondary that is revamping its starters, with likely only Aiden Manutai able to return. Here are Cal’s other current portal commitments from the past two days:
Wide receiver Ian Strong (via Rutgers)
Edge Solomon Williams (via Texas A&M)
Offensive tackle Jacob Arop (via South Dakota)
Welcome to Cal Kingston!
Fortunately Isaiah Crosby has announced he's returning.
Great get. But it sucks that some players need to feel the pressure to hit the portal before their team is even finished playing for a championship. (Even if they are backups, they could be needed) NCAA needs to fix this, and schools need to make an exception for athletes to enroll late in the spring semester.