Football Transfer Portal Check In

How does Cal's roster look when considering arrivals and departures?

College football roster tracking: hard in the best of times, near-impossible in the transfer portal era!

But as Cal increasingly becomes a portal-reliant recruiting team, understanding next year’s roster means understanding who Cal has brought in via the portal. Last year Cal brought in 23 transfer portal players and nearly every single one of them saw the field, and many of them were indispensable starters like Marcus Harris, Teddye Buchanan, and Jonathan Brady.

So what you will find below is a list, position-by-position, of players who have arrived at Cal via the transfer portal, compared to a list of rotational/impact players who have departed Cal for one reason or another, to get a sense of how well Cal has addressed roster gaps created by departures.

Two quick notes:

1. I have noted below my best guess of how many years of eligibility each incoming player has remaining, but please note that apparently there are no eligibility rules any more because guys like Chandler Rogers and David Reese still somehow have eligibility remaining, so take my guess with a grain of salt.

2. I haven’t listed incoming freshmen, with one oddball exception, because the assumption is that incoming freshmen will generally redshirt and not be impact rotational players in year one. Inevitably somebody will end up being the exception to that rule (Nyziah Hunter was the 2024 example) but we won’t know who that is until September.

Roster Arrivals/Departures

Quarterback

Arrivals:

• Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele, Oregon (technically), 4 years eligibility remaining

• Devin Brown, Ohio State, 2 years eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Fernando Mendoza, Indiana

• Chandler Rogers, who apparently somehow has eligibility left and is transferring to a yet-to-be-determined destination

Running Back

Arrivals/Departures: None

Wide Receiver

Arrivals:

• Dazmin James, Arkansas, 3 years eligibility remaining

• Jacob De Jesus, UNLV, 2 years eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Mikey Matthews, UCLA

• Josiah Martin, Oklahoma

• Nyziah Hunter, Nebraska

Tight End

Arrivals:

• Mason Mini, Idaho, 3 years of eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Corey Dyches, graduation/eligibility

• JT Byrne, Georgia Tech

Offensive Line

Arrivals:

• Tyson Ruffins, Nevada, 3 years eligibility remaining

• Lamar Robinson, Georgia State, 1 year of eligibility remaining

• Lajuan Owens, New Mexico, 3 years of eligibility remaining

• Jordan Moko, Charlotte, 1 year of eligibility remaining

• Leon Bell, Mississippi State (2-4 years. After JUCO play, he’s used zero FBS eligibility so he might have 4 years based on the Diego Pavia ruling?)

Departures:

• Will McDonald, graduation/eligibility

• T.J. Session, graduation/eligibility

• Victor Stoffel, graduation/eligibility

• Matthew Wykoff, Houston

Defensive Line

Note: I am classifying interior linemen and outside linebackers as defensive linemen

Arrivals:

• Jayden Wayne, edge rusher, Washington, 2 years of eligibility remaining

• Tyson Ford, interior lineman, Notre Dame, 3-4 years of eligibility remaining (used his redshirt but didn’t play a snap in his redshirt freshman season)

Departures:

• David Reese, Syracuse

• Xavier Carlton, graduation/eligbility

Linebacker

Arrivals:

• Buom Jock, Colorado State, 2 years of eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Teddye Buchanan, graduation/eligibility

Defensive Back

Arrivals:

• Dru Polidore, safety, Montana State, 1 year of eligibility remaining

• Tristan Dunn, safety, Washington, 2 years of eligibility remaining

• Hezekiah Masses, cornerback, Florida International, 1 year of eligibility remaining

• Jaden Mickey, cornerback, Notre Dame, 2 years of eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Marcus Harris, graduation/eligibility

• Craig Woodson, graduation/eligibility

• Nohl Williams, graduation/eligibility

• Lu-Magia Hearns, graduation/eligibility

Specialists

Arrivals:

• Brook Honore, punter, Arkansas State, 2 years of eligibility remaining? He’s listed as a redshirt junior but has no actual game action.

• Kyle Cunanan, kicker, Charlotte, 3 years of eligibility remaining

Departures:

• Ryan Coe, graduation/eligibility

• Derek Morris, UMass

• Lachlan Wilson, graduation/eligibility

Notes/Analysis

• You will note that Cal has nearly managed a one-for-one arrival/departure rate both overall and position by position. Sometimes the arrival/departures are clearly like-for-like replacements. Buom Jack? He’s here to replace Teddye Buchanan. Dru Polidore? Meet the new Craig Woodson.

• The most important question outside of quarterback: Has Cal upgraded along the offensive line? Ruffins and Robinson were both established starters as guards for Nevada and Georgia State respectively, and based on their PFF grades I think it’s reasonable to expect that they can make the transition to ACC play with the right development. Lajuan Owens played left tackle for New Mexico as a redshirt freshman and he might be the single most important non-quarterback recruit for this entire transfer portal class based on how badly Cal struggled at the tackle position last year.

• Maybe the biggest position of need? Edge rusher. Cal lost both Carlton and Reese and their only edge rusher transfer in is Jayden Wayne, who has recorded one sack across two seasons with Washington. If Cal doesn’t add more edge threats in the spring, they will be relying heavily on major developmental leaps/improved health from Ryan McCulloch and Cheikhsaliou Fall.

• It’s worth noting that in addition to being a solid receiver, Jacob De Jesus was first team all-conference in the mountain west as a punt AND kick returner, two areas where Cal could really use better production.

• Cornerback is going to be a huge question mark going into fall camp after Cal lost 1,879 cornerback snaps off of last year’s roster. Is Jaden Mickey ready for major responsibility after only getting rotational minutes at Notre Dame over the last few years? Can Hezekiah Masses smoothly make the jump from Conference USA to the ACC? Are there players already on the roster ready to step up as a starter?

• Are specialists going to be an issue? Cal’s ostensible replacement at punter hasn’t actually punted the ball in live action after multiple years as a back-up, and their incoming transfer kicker is 9-14 from 30+ yards with a long of 49.