Cal QB Devin Brown: He's Smart; He's a Leader

Leader, consistent, smart.

Those are the words you hear regarding Cal redshirt junior quarterback Devin Brown.

You don’t hear much about his arm, like you do with freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. You just know that Brown can throw the ball adequately, because Rivals ranked him as the nation’s No. 3 pro-style quarterback prospect in the class of 2022.

But that is not what makes Brown the favorite to win the preseason competition to become the Bears’ starting quarterback for the August 30 game against Oregon State.

“Well, Devin’s really smart,” Cal offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin said in describing Brown’s assets. “I’ve said that before. Devin’s got the mind of an offensive coordinator. He sees things, he’s been around great coaches, so he understands that.”

Cal has a ton of new faces as a result of the high number of transfers in and out of the football program during the offseason. And with a limited amount of time to put all the new parts together to form a cohesive and productive offense, the Bears need a calm, experienced hand that has the confidence of his teammates running the show.

Furthermore, with the Bears coaching staff facing increasing pressure to be more than a .500 team, Cal does not have time to wait for a quarterback to develop.

Cal football general manager Ron Rivera rates leadership as one of the most important qualities a quarterback can have, and he has been impressed with Brown’s leadership.

What does Brown need to demonstrate in preseason practice?

“Just consistency,” said Brown. “Just have to stack every day. It’s not a matter of can or can’t do it. It’s just continuing to do it.”

And has he done that?

“I believe I have,” he said. “I believe I’ve stacked really good days so far. Just got to keep doing it.”

Cal coaches need to know what they can expect from their quarterback, and in a Cal quarterback room that is lacking college game experience, Brown at least played in 17 games during his three seasons at Ohio State. That’s 17 more than freshman Sagapolutele.

Brown was never the Buckeyes’ regular No. 1 quarterback, losing preseason competitions for that job in both 2023 and 2024. But he was not beaten out by a couple of stiffs. Ohio State’s 2023 starter Kyle McCord and 2024 starter Will Howard were both sixth-round picks in the 2025 NFL draft, and both are still on the rosters of the teams that selected them.

The 2023 competition between McCord and Brown was extremely close. They shared playing time in the first two games of that season before McCord was declared the starter before the third game.

When McCord transferred to Syracuse right after the 2023 regular season, Brown became Ohio State’s starter for the Cotton Bowl against Missouri. That was Brown’s opportunity to show he could be the Buckeyes’ starter the following season. But he suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter and played just 17 snaps, finishing 4-for-6 for 20 yards and leading the Buckeyes to their only score of game, a field goal, in a 14-3 loss.

Six days after the Cotton Bowl, Howard committed to Ohio State after making 27 starts for Kansas State, and leading the Wildcats to the 2022 Big 12 title. Brown did not have much of a chance to win the starting job in the 2024 preseason although there was a competition.

Nonetheless Brown was a member of a national championship team. He knows the ropes. He knows how he acts is as important as how he plays.

“He’s got great command every time he’s out there,” Harsin said.

You can’t detect Brown’s assets through observation, and he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to display those vital intangibles in a game.

Brown himself has difficulty describing his style.

“Um, I don’t know, I mean, I haven’t been playing, right, so it’s hard to tell without playing actually in college football so far,” Brown said. “You know. It’s my fourth year doing it, but it’s a little different on a different team. I would just say I’ve got a presence out there, a good leadership role out there.”

Presence. It's not a glamorous asset. You can’t describe it, but you know it when you see it. Will Cal fans see it this season?

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