Athlon Ranks Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele Near the Bottom of ACC QBs

Athlon Sports’ Steve Lassan took on the task of ranking the starting quarterbacks at all 136 FBS schools, and credit should be given to Lassan for listing Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele as Cal’s starting quarterback.

Afterall, the Athlon report was posted on August 19, just one day after Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox made the surprising announcement that true freshman Sagapolutele, and not Ohio State transfer Devin Brown, will be Cal’s starting quarterback for its August 30 opener at Oregon State.

Making the job of ranking Sagapolutele difficult is the fact that he has never played a down of college football as a true freshman. Sagapouletel is one of just four true freshmen Athlon Sports lists as a starting quarterback this season, joining Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, Maryland’s Malik Washington and BYU’s Bear Bachmeier. A couple other freshman quarterback are competing for starting jobs, but were not projected as starters by Athlon.

Athlon ranked Sagapolutele as the 79th-best starting quarterback in the nation, and the 15th-best in the 17-team ACC.

Here is what Athlon said about Cal’s quarterback situation:

Change is the biggest storyline for California’s offense in ‘25. Not only do the Golden Bears have a new play-caller (Bryan Harsin), but a quarterback battle between Ohio State transfer Devin Brown and touted freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele extended deep into fall practice, along with navigating major turnover at the skill positions. Brown played in 15 games at Ohio State over the last two seasons, completing 27 of 48 throws for 331 yards and three scores and rushing for 37 yards and a touchdown. He entered fall practice as the favorite, but Sagapolutele was named starter just over a week until kickoff. The true freshman ranked as the No. 7 quarterback prospect in the ’25 signing class by 247Sports and brings immediate intrigue and potential to this offense. As with any freshman, Sagapolutele will have his share of ups and downs this fall – but also flashes of potential.

“Flashes of potential” is what sticks out in that assessment.

Maalik Murphy, who will be Oregon State’s starting quarterback in the Beavers’ season opener against Cal, was ranked 46th in the nation.

Also, two players who have been starting quarterbacks at Cal were listed in the rankings at other schools, with Fernando Mendoza of Indiana coming in at No. 18, and Ben Finley of Akron ranked No. 99.

Athlon’s ranking of ACC starting quarterbacks (with their national ranking in parentheses)

---1. Cade Klubnik, Clemson (No. 2 overall)

---2. Carson Beck, Miami (No. 8 overall)

---3. Kevin Jennings, SMU (No. 14 overall)

---4. Haynes King, Georgia Tech (No. 17 overall)

---5. Darian Mensah, Duke (No. 22 overall)

---6. Miller Moss, Louisville (No. 35 overall)

---7. Eli Holstein, Pittsburgh (No. 41 overall)

---8. CJ Bailey, North Carolina State (No. 42 overall)

---9. Gio Lopez, North Carolina (No. 45 overall)

---10. Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech (No. 48 overall)

---11. Thomas Castellanos, Florida State (No. 61 overall)