BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — There's plenty of new around the California football program as the Golden Bears get set to open fall camp for the upcoming season.
First-year coach Tosh Lupoi has overhauled the staff, the roster has been infused by more than 30 transfers and the expectations are rising for a program that has won more than seven games just once in the past 10 seasons.
One of the main reasons for those hopes and one of the most important pieces
that is back at Cal is sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who is looking to build on his successful freshman campaign.
“I’m thankful that he’s here,” Lupoi said Tuesday, the day before the first practice of the summer. “He’s an incredible part of our future. Just as good of a player he is, just as far as a character standpoint, his commitment. ... He’s a driving force in our culture. So thankful to have them and he’s done a great job and excited now to go to camp here and let it rip and attack this next chapter.”
The first order of business when Lupoi was hired in December to replace the fired Justin Wilcox was to get on a plane immediately following his introductory news conference and fly to Hawaii, where he got Sagapolutele to commit to remaining at Cal.
Sagapolutele made a major impact last year, throwing for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns. He now is one of the top returning quarterbacks in the country and looks to raise his game another level starting with being more of a leader on advice of quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich, one of the few remaining coaches from last year's staff.
“Being one of the younger guys, you’re in your shell a little bit,” Sagapolutele said. “Now being year two, I’ve definitely come out a lot more and just something that Coach Roll likes to talk about, just being a natural leader. Guys gravitate around them and just being able to be myself and just allowing the guys to be themselves around me as well.”
Lupoi has been aggressive since taking over at Cal, bringing in a large transfer class including wide receivers Ian Strong, Chase Hendricks and Cooper Perry to give Sagapolutele more options.
He also has started to put together a strong high school recruiting class for next season, which will be his preferred method of roster building.
“We were only active because of forced to,” Lupoi said about his use of the transfer portal. "I wasn’t the head coach here for national signing day for high school. There was only one possible way to impact the roster and so that’s exactly what we did."
Sagapolutele got time in the spring with his new receivers and now will use the next few weeks to work out any kinks before the season opener on Sept. 5 against UCLA.
His new teammates are already impressed.
“This guy, he’s the real deal,” said Hendricks, who had 1,037 yards receiving at Ohio last season, including 312 in three games against power conference opponents. “He’s not a fraud, this guy can really throw the ball. He has natural talent."
The new coaching staff, bolstered roster and promising quarterback have raised the expectations at Cal, a program that hasn't had much success for nearly two decades.
Lupoi was a player at Cal when Jeff Tedford took over a 1-10 team following the 2001 season and built it into one of the best programs on the West Coast. The Bears challenged power USC in the Pac-10 with the second-most wins in the conference over a seven-year span.
But the Bears haven't had a winning conference record since 2009 and posted a losing overall record every season from 2020-24 before going 7-6 last season.
Lupoi was an assistant under Tedford for some of Cal's best years and then went on to have success as an assistant at Alabama and Oregon. Now he has the team believing that getting back to the old standard is possible.
“I think we can be as good as we want to be,” said cornerback Ricky Fletcher, who transferred from Ole Miss. “We’re around coaches that have won at other places and a lot of players that have been brought on board that have won, so I feel it’s going to be a good transition for us to come here and bring a new culture.”
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
