Cal football transfer portal entries: Nate Rutchena, Matthew Wykoff, JT Byrne, more
Several Golden Bears have announced their intentions to transfer.
The college football transfer portal doesn’t officially open until next week, but already some Cal Bears have made their intention clear to test the waters and see what’s out there. Let’s take a look at the early announcements.
Offensive lineman Matthew Wykoff
Wykoff played in all of the 2023 season at left guard after arriving from Texas A&M, starting half the games and rotating in the others. Wykoff saw significant action in six games in 2024, but fell out of the starting rotation before conference play and only saw occasional snaps afterward. Hopefully he can find a better situation for himself in his graduate transfer year of eligibility.
Tight end Nate Rutchena
Rutchena started his career at linebacker at Cal, logging 35 tackles in his first season in 2021, highlighted by an 11 tackle wrecking of Stanford in Palo Alto. He saw reduced time at linebacker in 2022-23 as the rotation got more crowded.
Rutchena switched to tight end this year, but was not able to see the field much with Jack Endries and Corey Dyches taking most of the snaps. Here’s to hoping he finds a better fit for him next season.
Tight end JT Byrne
Byrne played in 16 games in his time at Cal after transferring from Oregon State and was used primarily in blocking situations on offense. He played mostly on special teams, including 11 out of 12 games in 2024. Here’s to him finding a great home for himself in his graduate transfer season.
Punter Bobby Engstler
Engstler was brought in to be the heir apparent to Lachlan Wilson, so this is a bit of a surprise. With Wilson graduating, the Bears currently have no punters on the depth chart. Expect Cal to look hard for best punter still available in the transfer portal.
Cornerback Brooklyn Cheek
Cheek was one of Cal’s defensive backs in the 2023-24 class, and has also decided to test the portal waters to see what else is out there. Cal was graduating a lot of top secondary players, so Cheek was likely to be in the competition. Expect the Bears to continue to go hard in the portal for immediate secondary help.
Has any coach entered the portal yet?
It taketh away...
Hoping the giveth is greater than the taketh.