Cal Football

Bear Insider Video: Cal TE Signee DJ Rogers at Polynesian Bowl

By Jim McGill

January 19, 2020

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4 Star incoming Cal tight end DJ Rogers‍ may not have been able to lace up the cleats in Saturday night's game but he'll be ready to go soon for the Bears and it can’t come soon enough for the Washington athlete.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” said Rogers of his time at the Polynesian Bowl. “It’s my first time out in Hawaii so just to be able to be out here with the sport I love and just being able to learn more about the Polynesian culture, it’s pretty cool.

“Just experiencing it is good enough for me. I wish I could play but I’ll be able to play for Cal shortly.”

Rogers was impressed by the talent assembled for the game, noting how strong the rosters were.

“Yeah, it is,” said Rogers. “We’ve got some pretty good dudes out there. Most of these guys are going to Power 5 schools where they can make an impact.”

Making the trip out to Hawaii also allowed Rogers to spend a little time with two of his future teammates -fellow Islanders Stanley McKenzie‍ and Muelu Iosefa‍.

“They’re actually on my team so we took pictures earlier and we’ve been talking about what other signees we could get and about the future of Cal football,” said Rogers.

Rogers liked the looks of Cal’s strong close to the season, winning four of five, including the Big Game win over Stanford and their 35-20 Redbox Bowl win over Illinois.

“I was impressed by what I saw,” said Rogers. “Garbers looked good. The tight ends and the whole offense looked good. The defense played well. It’s just a glimpse of what we’re going to produce next year. We’re going to have some new talent and some new guys come in to fill some gaps we were missing so I’m excited for the future.”

What’s Rogers most looking forward to as he starts his future at Cal in a few months?

“Just being a part of the team and work out with the guys,” said Rogers. “I’ll be out of this brace. Just being able to talk to the guys, get to know them, build the relationships with Garbers and the other QBs. I’m excited.”

Rogers was also excited with the offense’s performance late in the season when they got healthier, particularly the use of the tight ends in the offense.

“You know, they (the staff) told me stuff over the phone but just being able to watch it live -Cal was 100% honest with me about all the things they said. Being able to see it was pretty cool.”