Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele confirms his Oregon transfer, Cal is definitely a player
Could the California Golden Bears get a late Christmas present with the return of their top quarterback target?
It appears Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is definitely entering the transfer portal. He confirmed the initial report to ESPN.
"I just felt that I wasn't a main priority [at Oregon]," Sagapolutele told ESPN. "Of course there's going to be competition anywhere I go. But I'm just looking at other QB rooms and the best place for me to go get on the field early."
On3 reports Cal is expected to be a heavy contender ($). Georgia was on his shortlist. Adam Gorney of Rivals also reported that Cal was going to be heavily involved in his future recruitment.
Interestingly, Akili Smith (former Oregon legend, father of incoming Oregon QB Akili Smith Jr.) seems to think that Sagapolutele and Cal are matched up as well.
He had an opportunity to see our Qb room and felt he had a better chance to START at Cal… It’s really that simple… Good luck young man!!!
Oregon will have several young quarterbacks competing for the starting job, with Dante Moore sounding like the prohibitive favorite and likely another transfer coming in to compete. It’s a crowded quarterback room, so it definitely would have been tough for Sagapolutele to win the job outright.
Cal has plenty of uncertainty at the quarterback position after the departure of Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza had this to say on choosing Indiana with the IndyStar.
“I still believe I have a ton of things to get better at,” Mendoza told IndyStar on Friday. “Indiana was the best place for me to make that jump developmentally.”
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“That was a huge thing for me, especially having seen their offense have success and having coach Shanahan and coach Cignetti being a part of really being able to grow their team, whether it’s at Elon, JMU or Indiana, all those teams were successful and had really good quarterback play,” Mendoza said. “I just thought, ‘This is a great situation.’”
CJ Harris and EJ Caminong are currently the only two scholarship quarterbacks on roster, and their end-of-season performance didn’t jump out. Cal will probably at least one portal quarterback, but Sagapolutele would be a huge endgame win for the recruiting cycle, and give the Bears a lot of hope for the position and the future.
Let's get Marshawn Lynch on this assignment as they met on Gameday. We have an awesome backfield with Ott and Jet. A revamped OL a solid TE. Plus our 2025 schedule is manageable. Typical Bear optimist during our winter hibernation...
He's gotta realize that with the coaching changes on offense, a really good new o-line coach who has now brought in a lot of o-line talent (and he's not done), and a great offensive staff, that he will have more opportunity here than anywhere. AND, if he signs here we will land a couple more solid portal o-linemen and WR's. Then we'll need a solid back up QB. I think with a good Spring and Fall camp, he could come out next season and be as successful as Fernando would have been. If the rumors are true about Nando not playing nice with him, then he was viewed as a legit threat. He has the talent, it's all going to come down to the work ethic.