Former USC and Pitt quarterback Max Browne was the TV analyst for three Cal football games last season, and to say he was impressed with Bears freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele would be an understatement.
Sagapolutele’s anticipation is what sets him apart, according to Browne, an ACC Network football analyst.
“He’s the best quarterback returning in the country, which is just not me saying that because I’m sitting on your platform,” Browne said in mid-July. “I’ve been saying that all offseason – national, local, ACC, whoever. I think if JKS had a Texas Longhorn on the side of his helmet, the entire conversation around him would be a lot different.
“He’s up there in Berkeley, I know they have a prideful fanbase. I’ve been on the opposing sideline. But I think from an ACC lens and even a national lens sometimes you can fly under the radar. Yeah, I think JKS is the best true freshman quarterback I’ve seen since Caleb Williams.”
Williams, of course, became a starter early in his freshman season at Oklahoma, was the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner at USC, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft and is becoming a star in the NFL.
“This past year had a lot of great true freshman quarterbacks,” Browne said, “but it was different with JKS, saw him in person three or four times, calling Cal’s games and [I’m] super bullish on the signal-caller.”
The 2025 Cal games Browne covered for the ACC Network were the games against Boston College, Stanford and Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl. The Bears won only one of those three.
Other sources praise Sagapolutele, but don’t have quite the respect for him that Browne does.
The Athletic ranked all 2026 FBS starting quarterbacks based on the opinion of general managers, personnel directors and front office personnel, and Sagapolutele was ranked as the 14th best quarterback in the country.
None of the three most respected preseason college football magazines – Athlon, Lindy’s and Phil Steele – listed Sagapolutele on its first-, second, or third-team preseason all-ACC teams.
Those preseason quarterback rankings and all-conference teams are influenced by the projected success by the players’ teams, and the Bears are not expected to contend for an ACC title.
However, Browne looks at the qualities that make Sagapolutele a standout quarterback.
“The No. 1 trait that jumped out at me right away – and it showed off in the first drive of last season against Oregon State – is the anticipation,” Browne said. “For a true freshman quarterback to walk in and throw with the level of anticipation that he does consistently . . . Sometimes you see with guys like one or two throws a game where it’s like, ‘Hey, he’s got it in him to throw like this. He just needs to grow into that even more.’ With JKS it was consistent all season long.
“And I look at how they called their third-down offense, that’s another big one specifically, like third-and-8, third-and-9, there’s a lot of back-shoulder fade balls on the far sideline that they’re trusting their young quarterback to make that throw. And there’s a lot of coordinators that don’t even call that because it’s an incredibly difficult throw to execute and often can be like a foul ball where you’re throwing to the wide side of the field and it doesn’t work out.
“Even more high level, he’s got elite arm strength, elite accuracy, I think he has enough mobility. For a pocket passer he’s got all the mobility that you want in terms of navigating the pocket; he’s never going to be a zone-read guy. It’s all the traits but the one that really jumps out, the one that’s like, ‘hey, this is why he’s different,’ is the anticipation level for such a young quarterback.”
Asked to point out some things in which Sagapolutele is not proficient, Browne had trouble coming up with something. “I’m grasping at straws,” he said.
“The coaches rave about his leadership,” Browne said.
His one concern is that Sagapolutele with his big frame – 6-foot-3, 225 pounds – could relax and let his body go a little bit. Browne has not seen any evidence of that nor has anyone else, so it appears Sagapolutele’s body will be as football-ready as it was last season, perhaps even better.
The 2026 season will determine whether Sagapolutele is as proficient as Browne suggests. It’s one thing to have a good freshman season when expectations are limited, and it’s another to perform at a high level when you are expected to carry a team as a sophomore.
DraftKings placed Sagapolutele’s odds to win the Heisman Trophy at 80-to-1, and 25 players have shorter odds than that.
The first chance Sagapolutele has to show his sophomore form will be Cal’s season opener against UCLA on September 5. Cal is a 1.5-point favorite in that game according to DraftKings, and that slight edge is probably because it’s a home game for the Bears.
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