By: Pete Fiutak, College Football News
Justin Wilcox was able to keep things going for nine years, but a 31-10 loss to Stanford ended the era a few games early. That paved the way to get Tosh Lupoi, a former Cal defensive lineman who turned into a whale of an assistant both in the NFL and college levels.
Lupoi's first job was to try keeping the top players around, and it started with holding on to star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
The Bears have their franchise quarterback, surrounded him with a whale of a haul of receivers through the portal, two new tackles, several strong running backs, and rebuilt the defense.
The parts across the board might be new, but there's a great energy, lots of talent, and there's reason to get fired up about Cal football.
At a Glance
- Head Coach: Tosh Lupoi (1st year)
- OC/DC: Jordan Sommerville / Michael Hutchings
- Key Player: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, QB Soph.
- 2025 Record: 7-6
- Biggest Question: How fast can the defense come together to complement the high-powered passing offense?
OFFENSE
What do you do when you have one of the best young quarterbacks in the nation? You give him an offensive coordinator who knows how to wing the ball all around the yard.
Jordan Somerville has spent the last three seasons with the Buccaneers as the assistant quarterbacks coach working with Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield. Before his stint in Tampa Bay, Somerville spent time in the college ranks at Oregon, New Mexico and Arizona State.
What’s Working
Cal had some Fernando Mendoza guy, and then he left for Indiana. JKS wasn't a bad replacement.
The 6-3, 225-pound freshman had a few bad moments, but he completed 64% of his passes for almost 3,500 yards and 18 scores.
Like Mendoza, he could've been a big-time transfer for just about anyone else, but he's still around.
The coaching staff got its star quarterback a slew of great receivers to work with. Leading man Jacob De Jesus is a Kansas City Chief now after making 108 grabs, but Ian Strong (Rutgers), Cooper Perry (Oregon), and Chase Hendricks (Ohio) are big-time signings who should help make the offense explode.
There will be more of a ground game. Sommerville's offenses are pass-happy, but they don't ignore the rushing attack - it's more about making the most of each carry.
Leading rusher Kendrick Raphael is gone to SMU, but Washington's Adam Mohammed and UTEP's Ashten Emory will do more.
What Needs Work
Can the offensive line hold up? The ground game only averaged 2.8 yards per carry, partly because there were too many tackles for loss allowed, and the pass protection gave up too many sacks - to be fair, Cal did throw over 500 times.
The interior is set, but the tackles are being replaced by transfers.
JKS might have been terrific as a freshman, but he and the Cal passing game were shut down to a dead stop by San Diego State, Duke picked him off three times, and he needs to carry the attack.
Ten of his 18 touchdown passes came in three games. Cal went 5-0 when he threw two or more scoring passes, and was 2-6 when he didn't.
The rushing offense. Again, this was a passing offense and ran the second-fewest times per game - only North Carolina had fewer attempts.
Even so, the 81.69 yards per game on the ground were the second-fewest in the nation - New Mexico State was the only team that was worse.
DEFENSE
Tosh Lupoi is the head coach. The defense is going to take on an attitude from the start.
Michael Hutchings is a young, talented former tough-guy USC linebacker who spent the last few years working with the solid Minnesota Vikings defense, and this is his first time as a defensive coordinator.
But he and Lupoi will need to work on the defense that will rely on a whole slew of transfers right away.
What’s Working
The linebackers will be fine. The losses are massive - more on that in a moment - but the coaching will be good enough to make the players in place shine.
Aaron Hampton will be a statistical star in the middle of the linebacking corps, and then it's all about the transfers.
Tristan Jernigan and Solomon Williams will be pass-rushing options from Texas A&M, AJ Tuitele is a great prospect from USC for the inside, and Tennessee's Emmanuel Okoye is a dangerous edge-rushing prospect for the rotation.
The coaching staff absolutely crushed the portal for defensive backs. As is, the secondary is full of returning veterans, starting with 44-tackle Aiden Manutai at one safety gig, senior Isaiah Crosby at another, and Jasiah Wagoner ready to do more in a nickel situation.
Corners Ricky Fletcher (Ole Miss) and Daniel Harris (Georgia) should be the new stars - both are around 6-2 and can move.
Oregon's Kingston Lopa and Northern Arizona's Michael Hurst are wonderful safety signings.
There's bulk for the interior. Getting 345-pound defensive tackle Jericho Johnson only added to the thump inside next to 310-pound Derek Wilkins, 285-pound Nate Burrell, and 345-pound Stanley Saole-McKenzie.
What Needs Work
The pass defense needs to be stronger. There's a reason the Bears went after a boatload of defensive backs in the portal. Overall, the group was good, but the team was 0-3 when giving up more than 250 yards.
More interceptions would be nice. Cal was 6-1 when picking off at least one pass, and 1-5 when it didn't.
Yeah, the new guys coming in are good, but you don't get better after losing a linebacker as good as Cade Uluave, who took his 100 tackles, three sacks, and 12 tackles for loss from last year to BYU.
Second-leading tackler Luke Ferrelli is off to Ole Miss, and in all, the top six tacklers have to be replaced.
Where's the pass rush going to come from? It'll be there, but there aren't any sure-thing killers to rely on from the edge. The portal pieces had better be fantastic, or the problems of last year - 100th in the nation in sacks, 102nd in tackles for loss - will continue.
Biggest Game
at Syracuse, September 12
Cal has a funky way of playing at a whole other level against teams that have to travel long distances to Berkeley.
No, it’s not good enough to roll through all of the early home games - UCLA, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and the layup against Wagner - but beat Syracuse, and with UNLV the only road game until late October, there’s a chance for a monster start.
CFN Season Prediction
Cal is one of the ACC's biggest wild cards.
Everyone who has to come to Berkeley will be in for a fight, and on the flip side, the Bears will log in plenty of miles with trips to Syracuse, Dallas (SMU), Raleigh (NC State), and Charlottesville (Virginia).
Talent-wise, the offense could be a monster as long as Sagapolutele plays up to his potential and upside.
With the coaching staff built to lock down the defense, everything should be there to have a huge season.
CFN Prediction: 7-5
The ceiling with this team is enormous, but with all of the new parts, travel, and 50/50 games, there should be plenty of ups and downs.
