2026 ACC college football preview: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Cal are good sleeper bets

You may not have noticed it, but the California Golden Bears were one of the funkiest teams in college football in 2025.On the field, the Golden Bears were a high-ceiling, low-floor team that racked up some impressive wins against SMU and Louisville, but was also dogged by some head-scratching losses, like a 34-0 drubbing against San Diego State and a 21-point defeat against Stanford in The Big Game.The result was a mundane-looking 7-6 record and a loss to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl.While all of this was happening, their former quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, was rewriting the record books en route to a national championship and Heisman with Indiana.You’d think that Mendoza’s rise to stardom would have been a bee in the bonnet for fans in Berkeley, but they actually didn’t miss the future No.

1 overall pick all that much.That’s because the Golden Bears had one of the most electrifying players in all of college football under center in 2025.And he was a true freshman.Because he played for a mediocre team and for a program that hasn’t won 10 games since 2006 (when Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson were on the team), Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s sensational debut season at Cal went under the radar last fall.

College football die-hards tuned into the JKS Show every Saturday, but the Golden Bears weren’t good enough for their talismanic quarterback to crack the mainstream.It’s a shame because Sagapolutele was the goods, throwing for 3,454 yards, 18 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, while regularly turning heads with highlight-reel plays.The Hawaii native also seemed to get better as the season trudged on, as he threw for at least 320 yards in three of his last four contests.There were certainly hiccups from Sagapolutele in his freshman year.

Still, that strong finish can’t be understated because it came at the end of a season where Cal traveled across the country seemingly every week.At one point, the Golden Bears played a four-week stretch that saw t...