Watchlist Season: Tonges up for Mackey Award, Saffell for Rimington Trophy

It's watchlist season, and two more Bears made watchlists Friday morning for awards in college football. Seniors Jake Tonges and Mike Saffell were nominated to watchlists for the Mackey Award and the Rimington Trophy respectively.

Tonges, who walked on to the program in 2017 and earned a scholarship prior to the 2019 season, was one of 56 tight ends on the Mackey watchlist, an award for the top tight end in the country. During his time at Cal, Tonges has played in 29 of 30 games over the past three seasons, with eight starts.

The Los Gatos native accumulated his receiving stats over the past two seasons, with 25 receptions for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns over the past 17 games. During the 2019 season, Tonges recorded 13 receptions for 262 yards and a 60 yard touchdown reception against Ole Miss, which was the longest play of the season for the Bears.

For Saffell, this is the third consecutive year where he's been named to the Rimington Trophy watchlist, an award for the top center in college football. Saffell, who returned as a super-senior for the Bears while finishing up a master's degree in data science, has been one of the consistent pieces on Cal's roster since arriving on campus in 2017.

Saffell has played in 28 games, with starts in 23 of those games, including at least two starts in the last four season. 15 of those have come at center, while the rest came at right guard. Saffell was one of 40 centers chosen to the watchlist, and was also named the Pac-12's Football Scholar-Athlete of the year for his work in the classroom in 2020.