Four Issues Confront Cal in Spring Football, Which Begins Wednesday

A new offensive staff, a quarterback competition, no defensive coordinator and loss of talent in the secondary

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal’s spring football practice begins Wednesday with four areas being the centers of attention.

---1. Most of the focus will be on the quarterback competition between freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutle and Devin Brown, who spent the oast three seasons as a backup before transferring to Cal last month.

“They’re at different points in their careers,” said head coach Justin Wilcox, “Devin is very mature. Jaron is a very, very talented thrower.”

"Jaron’s a play-maker,” said Cal tight end Jack Endries. “He’s going to keep plays alive.  Devin has been very impressive with his leadership, and I think he has a very talented arm, and a big arm.”

Cal is unlikely to name a starter for the 2025 season during the spring.

---2. The Bears will have virtually an entirely new offensive coaching staff, led by new offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin.

In Justin Wilcox’s eight seasons as the Bears head coach, Cal has had a decent offense in only one of those seasons.  That was 2023 in Jake Spavital’s one and only season as the Bears’ offensive coordinator.

Will Harsin, new offensive line coach Famika Anae, new wide receivers coach Kyle Cefalo, new running backs coach Julian Griffin, and new offensive advisor Nick Rolovich create a more productive offense?

“Ultimately, we got to be better,” Wilcox said. “All of us and we have to score on offense, and we have to execute on special teams, and we’ve got to stop people on defense.”

---3. Who will be Cal’s defensive coordinator in 2025. Peter Sirmon has been the Bears’ defensive coordinator the past six seasons, and Cal’s defense has been outstanding for the most part under Sirmon.

Wilcox said he is working on adding to the coaching staff, but said there was no hurry.  In any case, he said the defense won’t change dramatically.

“We’re not installing a new system,” said Wilcox, a former defensive coordinator who has a lot of say on the kind of defense Cal will run.

“Not a while lot’s going to change,” said linebacker Cade Uluave.

---4. Who will be Cal’s defensive backs? Cal’s secondary has always been the team’s strength under Wilcox, a defensive back himself while at Oregon.

However, four of the five starters in the secondary from 2024 are gone,  and three of them – cornerbacks Nohl Williams and Marcus Harris and safety Craig Woodson – were good enough to be invited to the recent NFL Combine.  Williams and Woodson have a chance to be taken in the upcoming NFL draft.

Nickelback Matthew Littlejohn, who entered the transfer portal before withdrawing to remain at Cal, is the only returning starter, so there will be a lot of competition at positions that have been strengths for Cal.

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