Cal Sports Report

Cal Transfer QB Devin Brown Commits to an FCS School

Devin Brown was expected to be Cal's starting quarterback in 2025, but he lost the competition with freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Jake Curtis|
Devin Brown
Devin Brown | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Cal transfer quarterback Devin Brown, who lost competitions to be a starting quarterback each of the past three season, has committed to Weber State, an FCS school, according to multiple reports.

Brown was a highly rated high school quarterback, and most observers expected Brown to be Cal’s starting quarterback in 2025 after spending the three previous seasons at Ohio State. He represented Cal at ACC media days in July 2025.

But he lost a competition for the starting spot to freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in preseason fall camp, and Sagapolutele performed well all season and never lost the starting spot.

Brown played in nine games for the Golden Bears this past season as Sagapolutele’s backup and completed 4-for-7 passes for 48 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

With one year of college eligibility remaining and Sagapolutele entrenched as Cal’s starting quarterback, Brown opted to move on to another school, this time to Weber State, an FCS school that went 4-8 this past season.

Brown is from Gilbert, Arizona, and was a four- or five-star recruit coming out of Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah. (Draper, Utah, is less than an hour away from Ogden, Utah, site of Weber State.)

He had offers from Notre Dame, Texas, Mississippi, USC, BYU, Michigan State and North Carolina State among others before signing with Ohio State.

He played two games as a true freshman in 2022 when C.J. Stroud was the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback.

Brown competed with Kyle McCord for the starting job in 2023, and he and McCord shared the job for six games before McCord was named the starter.

McCord entered the transfer portal before the Buckeyes’ bowl game that season, and Brown got his first start in the Cotton Bowl.  But he was injured early in that game and could not continue.

Brown competed with Kansas State transfer Will Howard for the Ohio State starting job in 2024, but Howard won the job and led the Buckeyes to a national championship.

Brown transferred to Cal after the 2024 season, and was seen as the leading candidate to win the starting job for Cal during the spring and the early part of fall camp. But coaches were impressed with Sagapolutele’s talent and made him the starter in the opener in his first college game.

Brown remained his backup throughout the season.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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