From the moment Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele made his stellar debut with California, fans have been linking his name to college football transfer portal rumors on social media. The star freshman quarterback officially shut down those discussions on Saturday by committing to return to the Golden Bears in 2026.
The former five-star recruit confirmed to those close to him that he will not enter the college football transfer portal and will return to California in 2026, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel. Sagapolutele started all 12 regular season games as a true freshman and posted 3,117 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Sagapolutele never appeared to be overly interested in transferring, but his impressive play caused speculation that bigger programs would be interested in offering him a lucrative deal in the portal. Transfer rumors only heightened when California fired head coach Justin Wilcox before the end of the regular season.
The circumstances surrounding Sagapolutele's recruitment can also not be ignored. After setting the Hawaii high school all-time passing record, the southpaw committed to California before flipping to Oregon. He enrolled in Eugene, but reversed course and returned to the Golden Bears from the transfer portal, all before playing a snap of college football.
With Oregon potentially losing star quarterback Dante Moore to the NFL Draft, Sagapolutele would have been an enticing answer to the Ducks' 2026 quarterback issue. Instead, he will remain in Berkeley and look to guide his current team to ACC title contention.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele prepares Cal for Hawaii Bowl
Before Sagapolutele begins his preparation with California for the 2026 season, he will be gifted with one final opportunity to play football in his home state. The 7-5 Golden Bears accepted a bid to face Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, giving the freshman an opportunity to return to his backyard.
Sagapolutele is not the only Golden Bear who will have a homecoming in the Hawaii Bowl. California interim head coach Nick Rolovich not only played at Hawaii, but he coached the Rainbow Warriors from 2016 to 2019 before accepting the job at Washington State. Rolovich will go head-to-head with Hawaii head coach Timmy Chang, whom he shared a quarterback room with at Manoa.
The bowl game berth marks California's third consecutive postseason appearance. The Bears faced another Mountain West foe in a 24-13 loss to No. 24-ranked UNLV in the 2024 Los Angeles Bowl. They have not won a bowl game since beating Illinois in the now-defunt Redbox Bowl in 2019.
