Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele: Great Skills, But Is He Ready?

You don’t need to be a quarterback maven to realize Cal freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele can throw the football with the best of them. That’s obvious the first time you see him on the field.

“Great thrower,” is the first thing Cal offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bryan Harsin says about Sagapolutele. “That’s one thing. He’s got a fantastic arm. And he can make a lot of different throws from a lot of different angles.”

Sagapolutele agrees with Harsin regarding his best asset as a quarterback.

“Coach Harsin says it’s my accuracy, so I personally would say that’s a blessing for sure,” Sagapolutele said. “If it was me personally I’d like to say my running ability, but a lot people don’t agree, so maybe not that.”

Harsin also praises Sagapolutele’s offseason work in the weight room.

“He’s faster. He’s stronger,” Harsin said. “Everything about him physically has changed for the better.”

And Harsin lauds Sagapolutele’s vision, a critical element.

In short, Harsin says Sagapolutlele has “things now that you can’t coach.”

But is he ready? And can he wait his turn?

We just don’t know how Sagapolutele would perform in a game, whether he could incorporate the little things needed to be successful as a quarterback in a college game.

“It’s the details and the urgency of playing at this level,” Harsin said. “He’s never played at this level. . . . They’re seeing it at practice, but this is different from high school.”

A quarterback needs a thorough knowledge of the offense and the options available. He has to know what do when things go awry. He must gain the confidence of his teammates and perform best at crunch time.

“That’s what you want to find in your players,” Harsin said. “When it doesn’t go right and it breaks down, which will happen, they’re going to make something happen.”

Sagapolutele is learning that he can’t always go for the home-run play like he did in high school in Hawaii. He must be patient.

“But taking the easy throws that’s always right there, getting away from that high school mentality [of] taking the shot every time” Sagapolutele said. “And I’ve learned a lot since spring, and fall camp has been a great blessing for me to see that, and, you know, the check downs have been open, and just taking that has been big.”

Sagapolutele is competing with Ohio State transfer Devin Brown during preseason camp for the Bears’ starting quarterback spot. And although Brown was never the Buckeyes’ regular starting quarterback, he did play in 17 games at an elite football school.

The general feeling is that Brown will win the starting job for the August 30 opener against Oregon State. Not only does Brown have college game experience, but the Bears are trying to put in an offense with a virtually new roster filled with transfers. The pressure to learn the offense quickly is magnified with all the new components, making it more difficult for a college novice to earn the role as offensive leader.

Sagapolutele seems willing to accept the possibility that he won’t be the starter in the opener.

“I think I’m in a great position, being a freshman, a true freshman, being able to compete for the starting job,” Sagapolutele said. “And even if I’m not named the starter, I mean, it’d also be nice to learn and see in real time how the game goes and just learning as much as I can. I think if I’m the starter or if I’m not, I think it’s a blessing both ways. I’ll get a year under the offense. Maybe next year come back even stronger. And maybe this year, if I get a chance to play, just hope I can show my stuff out there.”

That last sentence might have some validity. Even if Sagapolutele is not the starting quarterback in the opener, he possibly could be the starter later in the season, when he gets a better feel for the intricacies of playing the position.

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