JKS Shows Leadership Growth as Cal Hits Dog Days of Fall Camp

Cal held its first live scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday and no one was more excited about it than quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.

“I thought the scrimmage was amazing,” he told reporters on Monday. “Guys were flying around. O-line getting to the second level. Running backs making big runs. I just saw guys making plays. It was fun.”

Of course, football is fun every day for Sagapolutele, now a sophomore and embracing his role as a team leader.

“I see a guy super-excited to take the field with his brothers. And I see a guy who gets super-excited about being able to check plays when we sees something,” first-year offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville said. “That’s where we’re at right now.

"The guy is playing fast, he’s playing free, playing with love for his brothers next to him, and his energy’s contagious right now. We’re in the dog days of training camp and this guy is still bringing a smile on his face having an understanding that when you’re the quarterback, QB1 in any organization, guys are going to feed off that.

“It’s been super-cool to see him grow, taking on the challenge. He’s still learning a complex system and taking his lumps early on. `I should have done this, I should have done that.’ And now where we’re at, that he’s able to lead the charge is really cool to see.”

Tosh Lupoi, who will make his head-coaching debut on Sept. 5 when UCLA visits Memorial Stadium, saw lots that he liked in the closed scrimmage and plenty of room for improvement.

“I’m never going to be satisfied,” he said. “Certainly pleased with the guys’ hunger, their approach, attention to detail and really the response. This group, every time we challenge them they respond to that.

“Coming off of a scrimmage and having live tackling, a lot of reps, I really respected the way they handled their business today. Felt like there were some things that got better, which was the goal.”

Lupoi said both the offense and defense had their moments. He liked the play of the Bears’ special teams. “I thought the guys attacked it hard. They did a lot of good things,” he said.

Lupoi was asked if he’s seeing progress from the offensive line, a position group that has to be better after allowing 32 sacks and contributing to a rushing game that ranked second-to-last nationally.

“Every single group, our quest is to improve and grow,” he said. “The O-line absolutely has done that.”

Somerville said the coaching staff has pretty much installed the entire offense. Now it’s a matter of getting it right on a consistent basis and being able to tweak things to respond to what opposing defenses are doing.

“The biggest thing is you have allow for failure when you’re teaching a complex system like this,” Somerville said. “So, to challenge these guys and show the growth moments these guys have and the lightbulb clicks in their head has been really telling of where we’re at as an offense. Really excited about the growth from a system standpoint.

"Now, just continuing to challenge them on how much we can handle from a schematic standpoint. We’re in a cool phase right now with the offense.”

Defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings said the first scrimmage of fall camp always comes with growth moments.

“It’s never as good as it feels and it’s never as bad as it may feel, either,” he said.

Hutchings, also in his first season as a coordinator, said he and the defensive staff were most pleased by the sense that there are lots of capable players on their side of the line. He declined to identify individuals who stood out in the scrimmage.

“The biggest thing for us was how can we mix together these groups and see what combinations really gel. That’s really what the growth moments in the scrimmage were,” he said.

“The thing we came out happy about was seeing different guys work together and knowing we have depth on this defense to go out there and contribute in all areas. Regardless of who the first guy is to run out, it’s going to be a whole unit contribution.”

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