Cal `Excited to Let it Rip' as Tosh Lupoi's First Fall Camp Begins

Bears return quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutle but feature dozens of newcomers

Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele at media day | Jeff Faraudo

On Wednesday — exactly one month from its season-opening game against UCLA — Cal kicks off its first fall camp under new coach Tosh Lupoi.

It’s been a busy offseason since Lupoi’s hiring last December, including assembling a staff, recruiting veteran players out of the transfer portal, completing spring workouts before focusing on the high school recruiting phase.

Lupoi is satisfied with how the Bears have handled all of those cycles of installing his program, but now preparation begins for 12 regular-season games in Cal’s third season in the ACC.

“Man, I’m so excited,” sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele said during the program’s Bay Area media day in the upper club level at Memorial Stadium. “The summer’s been amazing but just being able to put on the pads again is going to feel great.

“It’s going to feel way different (than spring ball). Just being now so familiar with the offense, a lot more comfortable. I’m just so excited to run the offense a lot better now and continue to go through these important things we’re going to have in fall camp and get better at them.”

Lupoi, a Cal alum who came back to Berkeley after four seasons as defensive coordinator at Oregon, is a head coach for the first time. There is little consensus on how the Bears will fare this season, but Lupoi has high expectations for what would constitute success.

“I’m tremendously excited by the hunger of this team as a group,” he said. “Been working since January. On the field, off the field, culturally, academically. Excited to let it rip here.”

Fans will see an almost entirely new team on Sept. 5, when former Pac-12 rival UCLA visits Memorial Stadium.

The Bears have restocked at the running back and receiver positions, added talent along the offensive line and brought in newcomers to field a defense that may feature as few as one or two returnees in the starting unit.

The key returnee is Sagapolutele, who assembled perhaps the nation’s best performance by a freshman quarterback last fall, passing for at least 200 yards in every game as just the second-ever true freshman quarterback starter at Cal.

JKS came away from spring ball encouraged by the infusion of transfer talent on offense, including running back Adam Mohammed (Washington), wide receivers Ian Strong (Rutgers) and Chase Hendricks (Ohio U) and tight end Dorian Thomas (New Mexico).

“Oh, most definitely. It definitely gave me an indicator,” Sagapolutele said. “Obviously, you see we have athletes all over the board and just being able to use them at their best abilities. Let people make plays. I’m so excited to do that.”

While addressing how effectively players used their summers to prepare for camp, Lupoi explains in the video above the process the staff uses to “gauge the best version” of each player.

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky