Five Former Cal Players Will Play for UCLA on Saturday

The last time Cal faced UCLA Mateen Bhaghani scored 15 points for Cal, making all four of his field-goal attempts and al three of his extra points in the Bears' 33-7 victory over UCLA in 2023.

When Cal hosts UCLA Saturday night, Bhaghani will do his best to beat Cal as UCLA’s place-kicker.

Such is the current situation in college football where players frequently change teams through the transfer portal and wind up facing their former team.

No former UCLA players are on Cal’s 2026 roster, but five players who once played for Cal are on UCLA’s current roster.

Besides Bhaghani, running back Jaivian Thomas, wide receiver Mikey Matthews, defensive lineman Tyson Ford and outside linebacker Ryan McCulloch are on the Bruins’ current roster after spending time at Cal. UCLA linebackers coach Vic So’oto was Cal’s outside linebackers coach last season.

Matthews and Ford may be in UCLA’s starting lineup tonight, and Bhaghani will do the kicking for the Bruins. McCulloch might move into the starting lineup when he is healthy, but he is likely to miss Saturday’s opener with an injury.

Thomas, who attended Oakland's McClymonds High School, won’t be the Bruins starting running back, but is likely to get some carries against Cal.

"I'm going back home, about 15 minutes away from Berkeley. It's where I started my college career," Thomas told the Los Angeles Times. "I want to stamp that game, and once I found out we played them, it was marked on my calendar. I'm excited for that game, and I want to go down there and get this win, start off the year right."

Thomas was Cal’s leading rusher in 2024, gaining 626 yards and averaging 6.3 yards per carry, but transferred to UCLA after that season

Bhaghani made 8 of 9 field-goal attempts for Cal in 2023, and he converted 16 of 20 field goal attempts for the Bruins last season. He is looking forward to the game at Cal.

"It's almost a dream come true to go play at the school that my career started at," Bhaghani told the L.A. Times. "I'm going to enter the game as any other, but it's a significant game for me, and I definitely want to perform to my level."

Matthews caught 32 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown in his one season at Cal in 2024, and he had 33 receptions for 348 yards and two scores for UCLA last season.

"We definitely have to come out fast. It's going to be pretty packed over there, so we just got to let them know that we're going to be on that timing and everything over there," Matthews said, according to the L.A. Times. "But it's going to be cool going back to see everything, and I like that environment and atmosphere over there because they have great fans over there as well."

Ford recorded three tackles for Cal in 2025, when he played in seven games.

McCulloch began the 2025 season as a starting outside linebacker for Cal, but he played just four games before suffering a season-ending injury. He had 11 tackles, including 2.5 stops for loss and 1.5 sacks, in those four games. He is likely to miss Saturday's game against Cal with an injury.

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