Mike Pawlawski on Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele: `He Can Be Real Special'

Cal Hall of Fame quarterback Mike Pawlawski, who tutored Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and played a decade of professional football, says Bears star Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is “insanely skilled.”

The next step for the sophomore left-hander: The mental side of the game.

“He’s got a new offense. He came in as a freshman and didn’t have huge expectations last year. Now he has expectations. Now he has leadership opportunities and demands of leadership on him,” said Pawlawski, who won a championship in the Arena Football League and serves as Cal’s radio analyst.

“He needs to take the step into that leadership role. Not just the guy who can sling it around the field and play free. He needs to be the guy now that gets people in the right position. That gets the offense set, that gets the team into the right play, that sets the mood.”

Pawlawski believes Sagapolutele’s habits will carry over to his teammates.

“If he brings the moxie, he brings that intentionality about the way he works and prepares and plays, the team will then follow that because their leader is doing it.”

Sagapolutele joined Jared Goff as the only Cal quarterbacks to start as true freshmen, and he delivered a season that impressed everyone. He passed for at least 200 yards in every game and finished the season with 3,454 yards, a 64.2 completion percentage and 18 touchdowns against nine interceptions.

He grew as a young leader throughout the season but that the aspect of his game Pawlawski believes has yet to fully blossom.

“One of the underrated skills for quarterbacks these days is their leadership potential,” he said. “ I don’t care about a big arm, I don’t care about height, I don’t care about anything else. Show me a guy who can lead and a guy that cares and a guy who has the charisma to bring his team with you, somebody who makes their teammates better, you’re going to show me a great quarterback.”

That mental side of the game is what elevated Mendoza to a high level at Cal before he took his undergraduate degree to Indiana last season. With the Hoosiers, he won the Heisman while leading his team to an undefeated national championship, which he parlayed into being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Pawlawski, who worked with Mendoza and joined him on draft night, says Mendoza and JKS are different because of their backgrounds. Cal provided Mendoza with his only Power 4 scholarship offer while Sagapolutele was a highly rated prospect with a line of college suitors.

“Fernando was the underdog his whole life, so he was fighting the underdog mentality,” Pawlawski said. “And that drove him to do the the things that he does, to be the way that he is, to always work harder. He had this bug in him that comes from his parents to always do the next thing and to grind on that. That’s how Fernando got to greatness and that’s how he’s doing to continue to get to greatness.

“JKS is the other side of the coin. He’s the guy who’s always had the talent, always had the tools. The game has been super-fun for him. He’s going to have to pick up some of what Fernando has in terms of grinding, doing the work and being insatiable about how you prepare.”

Pawlawski envisions big things from Sagapolutele when he rounds out all aspects of his game.

“That’s when it all comes together. You can be your own unique blend of quarterback but you have to find that blend that works for you,” Pawlawski said. “JKS has insane tools. He has just innate accuracy, ridiculous in terms of how he can throw the ball on a dime.

“If he can put together the study habits, the maturity and the leadership at that position, he can be real special.”

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