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California quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is returning to the team for his sophomore season in 2026. After the firing of coach Justin Wilcox, there was speculation that Sagapolutele could enter the transfer portal on the heels of his standout freshman season, but the young signal caller is sticking with the Golden Bears and new coach Tosh Lupoi.

On Saturday morning, Sagapolutele posted a picture of himself and Lupoi in his native Hawaii, signaling his intention to return to the Golden Bears. Shortly after, Cal announced the news. Sagapolutele expressed confidence in the vision that Lupoi has for the Cal program.

"After spending time with my family, a lot of prayer and many discussions, I have come to realize that Cal is the best place for me," Sagapolutele said. "I am grateful to be surrounded by so many supportive people who can help me achieve the goals that I have on and off the football field. I am excited to finish this season with a group of guys who have put in so much work and effort and I look forward to the 2026 season."

A four-star, top 100 recruit coming out of high school, Sagapolutele lived up to that pedigree and then some as a true freshman. He led the Golden Bears to a 7-5 record while putting up some impressive numbers for any quarterback, let alone a true freshman. Sagapolutele completed 63.6% of his passes for 3,117 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Sagapolutele ranked third in the conference in passing yards, and he won ACC Rookie of the Week on four different occasions.

"We are very excited about having Jaron return," Cal general manager Ron Rivera said. "Jaron is not only a great quarterback with a bright future, but he is also a leader, he's respected in the locker room and he exemplifies everything about what it means to be a California Golden Bear." 

Sagapolutele had familiarity with Lupoi before the coach's arrival in Berkeley. The young quarterback was a longtime verbal commitment to the Golden Bears but ended up signing with and enrolling at Oregon, where Lupoi was the defensive coordinator. However, Sagapolutele quickly left Eugene transferred to Cal and was able to beat out Ohio State transfer Devin Brown for the starting job.

Keeping Sagapolutele in the mix is a great start to Lupoi's tenure at Cal, which will need a star at quarterback to elevate the team while Lupoi finds a foothold on the recruiting trail. Following the early signing period, Cal's 2026 recruiting class ranks 55th nationally and 15th in the ACC, according to 247Sports. Lupoi, a former assistant for Nick Saban at Alabama, is known for his recruiting abilities. 

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Leading up to Cal's rivalry game against Stanford -- the last one Wilcox coached for the Golden Bears -- CBS Sports spoke to Rivera, a Cal alum and the former coach of the Carolina Panthers. He said Cal has its most important building block in Sagapolutele and compared him to the Panthers drafting Cam Newton. Now it's about building around him.

"You learn very quickly this is a quarterback-driven sport," Rivera said. "When we drafted Cam, we knew you had to find your quarterback, protect your quarterback, surround him with playmakers and have a complementary defense. Here, we found a quarterback in Jaron. Now we're working on protecting him, building around him, figuring out how to allocate financial resources. In the NFL, you draft maybe 10 guys. Here, you're trying to take 25 from high school and 15 to 20 from the portal -- and they're not locked in long term."

Rivera also noted that -- in the era of the transfer portal and NIL -- Sagapolutele "chose to come back to Cal" after his brief stint with Oregon. Sagapolutele told CBS Sports in November (before Wilcox's firing, it should be noted) that he hopes to stay another 2-3 years at Cal before pursuing the NFL.

With Sagapolutele choosing the Golden Bears again, that gives them plenty of momentum as the look ahead to 2026. Before turning the page to 2026, Cal will finish out the 2025 campaign in the Hawaii Bowl against Hawaii on Dec. 24.