Cal Tight End Coach Steve Haunga Likes Playmaking Abilities Of His Corps

New position coach Steve Haunga sees a committee approach and a coachable group ready to grow into the new system.

Steve Haunga didn’t know much about Cal’s tight end room before he started considering the job. Now this group has him more excited than ever.

“Once I started considering this job and what he’s done in the past, and the guys that we could potentially get in the portal, which we did, it’s really exciting. It’s an exciting group to coach because they can make plays and do everything you’re asking of a tight end.”

Coming back to Berkeley carried its own weight. Haunga had been a strength and conditioning intern at Cal a decade ago, and he didn’t take the significance of returning lightly.

“At the time I was looking to become a strength coach and then transitioned over to football. Coming back to the Bay Area is home, and to come back to a place where I started my career has been pretty awesome, definitely a philosophical moment that I don’t take for granted.”

The room he inherited is a blend of portal talent and emerging youth. Dorian Thomas and Rico Walker transferred from outside the program, while freshman Taimane Purcell arrived from Hawaii and has been drawing early notice.

“Taimane is flashing a lot, and I’m really proud of the way he’s progressing. The group is making a lot of plays, adjusting, adapting to the new system. It’s been pretty awesome.”

Thomas is settling in as both a playmaker and a leader, one of the older heads in a room still establishing its identity.

“Dorian is very coachable, a guy that wants to play hard. He’s a playmaker when he gets the ball in his hands. Right now he has really good route running skills and we’re developing his run game, which he’s going to be really good at too.”

Mason Mini, last year’s starter, is working back from injury. He hasn’t been practicing in contact yet, but his presence is already being felt.

“It’s been awesome to hear Mason out there talking to the guys. His voice has definitely been felt on the team.”

Haunga is running the room alongside fellow assistant coach Mike Saffell, and he describes the partnership as genuinely collaborative.

“Really we’re kind of spearheading this thing together. I lean on him, he leans on me. No one has an ego. We attack this thing as a team.”

When the season arrives, he doesn’t see one player carrying the load.

“These guys are going to have to lean on each other. It’s not going to be one guy doing everything. It’s going to be a committee, because as the season goes on, things like injuries happen. We have to be able to rely on two, three, four guys for us to be a successful offense.”