Cal landed its quarterback of the future in the winter when former Rivals100 prospect Jaron Sagapoultele joined the Bears after a brief stop at Oregon. The team needs someone to protect him moving forward, and now the Bears have that piece.
Local offensive tackle Tommy Tofi has committed to Cal giving the program one of its most important pickups in recent years. Not only is the four-star recruit one of the top prospects at his position in the 2026 class, he is one of the top players from the Bay Area having become a star at Archbishop Riordan heading into his senior season.
Tofi has been arguably the top priority in the class for Cal as the Bears tried to fend off a number of schools throughout the last several months.
The ace in the hole for Justin Wilcox's program has been Tofi's older brother, John Tofi Jr., who is joining the program this summer as an outside linebacker after signing with the Bears in the winter following his breakout senior season at Riordan.
The younger Tofi has expressed a desire to play alongside his brother in college, and that has worked in Cal's favor throughout the process.
"At one point it was only me and my brother, and it will always be me and my brother," he previously said. "... I'm just excited what Cal has for him. We'll see where it takes on from there."
There has been an infusion of Polynesian talent making its way to Berkeley over the last couple recruiting cycles, and that played a major part in the intrigue in Cal for Tofi. Seeing that the Bears then brought in a Polynesian coach, Famika Anae, to guide the offensive line only made Cal a more appealing option for the four-star prospect.
Cal has a Poly coaching staff and they just got a Poly QB (Sagapolutele) and the coaches are Poly," he said. "... Just getting to witness that brotherhood and environment, it really means something."
When Tofi released his top group of contenders at the start of the spring, the Bears were surrounded by some of the heavy hitters in college football. Oregon, Ohio State, USC, Tennessee, Miami, UCLA and Utah all made the cut for the 6-foot-6, 335-pound recruit.
Eventually, he lined up some official visits with Utah hosting him before the Bears had him on campus over the weekend. The Ducks and Tennessee secured official visits for June while BYU replaced Miami on the list and was in line to receive his final official visit later this month.
UCLA had been heavily in the mix as well but Tofi didn't make it out for a scheduled official visit with the Bruins in May.
It left Cal in a position to close up his recruitment, and the Bears were able to do that with his latest visit on campus. Tofi has been through Berkeley on a number of occasions including during the spring, so it is familiar territory and will now be his future home.
Tofi, who is rated No. 152 overall in the Rivals rankings, is the highest-rated high school offensive line prospect to commit to the Bears since Matt Summers-Gavin (San Francisco-St. Ignatius) signed with Cal as a member of the 2007 class.
Cal now has 10 commitments in its 2026 class including four four-star recruits — Tofi, running back Victor Santino, defensive back Jayden Crowder and Rivals100 defensive lineman Camron Brooks.
