HONOLULU — Jaron Sagapolutele has already lived the current college athlete experience and he’s a few weeks into his career. The left-handed quarterback from Ewa Beach, Hawaii was one of the top players at his position in the 2025 recruiting class and eventually decided that Cal would be his future home.

Then it wasn’t.

In a twist, the Rivals100 signal caller decided to sign with Oregon last month and even participated in a couple bowl practices with the Ducks ahead of their appearance in the College Football Playoff.

All seemed to be a bit lost for Cal with previous starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza having also gone into the transfer portal following Sagapolutele’s decision.

The Bears parted ways with offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch in that time and brought in Bryan Harsin along with senior offensive assistant Nick Rolovich.

In a short amount of time, the situation had changed and Sagapolutele decided maybe Berkeley is in fact where he should have been all along.

“It’s been a crazy process,” the Cal freshman told Golden Bear Report at the Polynesian Bowl check-in day Sunday. “I’m grateful to be there. The coaches really love me, they respect me and I’m just really excited to see what God has in store for me over there.”

The process of getting acclimated with the Bears has already started with Sagapolutele having stepped on campus to begin getting ready for spring ball. A clear path to the starting job awaits the four-star recruit, who was allowed to head back home to Hawaii for this week’s Polynesian Bowl, and knowing that he will have a shot at seeing early playing time mattered in the process for the Bears’ freshman.

So, too, did having a direction connection to the islands. Rolovich played at Hawaii and was the head coach for Sagapolutele’s hometown program. The resume that Cal’s new assistant put together while leading the Rainbow Warriors greatly impacted the thought process for Sagapolutele.