The ACC released their preseason All-ACC Team over the weekend and while seven Bears were received preseason honors, there were no first or second team honorees and only two players on the third team, with the remaining five Cal players on the fourth team for the Bears.
Several players likely are rated fairly, including running back Adam Mohammed on the offensive side and defensive end Jayden Wayne and cornerback Ricky Fletcher, who were all rotational players with Washington, Cal and Ole Miss respectively. All were named to the fourth team and all saw every player rated above them with better stats.
Where the Bears have much more of an argument was with the remaining four offensive players with preseason honors.
The closest case is with sophomore quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolute.
As a true frosh, Sagapolutele had a particularly impressive season, passing for 3,454 yards with 18 TDs, nine interceptions and four rushing TDs playing behind an average at-best offensive line and as the youngest starting QB in the conference.
First team QB Darian Mensah (Duke) - now a Miami portal transfer QB - was clearly the class of the conference with an impressive 3,973 passing yards and 34 TDs to just six INTs along with one rushing TD. But where the case can be made for Sagapolutele to move up was the frosh QB’s lower interception total than second team QB Kevin Jennings (SMU), who had more experience and a better line and a higher yardage total than third team QB CJ Bailey (NC State) with Bailey’s 3,105.
Beyond the stats, it’s hard to argue that the Bears’ talented soph QB doesn’t have an extremely high ceiling that bodes well for a breakout soph season in 2026.
Arguably, the Bears’ strongest case for first or second team honors is with tight end Dorian Thomas. Despite Thomas’ stellar season where the senior transfer from New Mexico had better stats than all three players above him by a significant margin with 56 catches for 560 yards and four TDs compared to first teamer Luke Thomas (Penn State), who followed James Franklin to Virginia Tech with 26 catches for 257 yards and zero TDs. Second teamers Jeremiah Hasley (Duke) and Kaelan Chudzinski (Boston College) had 40 catches for 454 yards and 24 catches for 314 yards respectively. In their favor, Hasley had six TDs and Chudzinski tied Thomas with four TDs.
This appears to be a case of the senior not receiving the benefit of the doubt coming from a lesser conference.
Unlike the QB position, where there was one player per team, the wide receiver position group saw four players named per team, meaning nine receivers were ranked ahead of any Cal receivers.
Cal senior transfer Chase Hendricks (Ohio University transfer) had better stats than all but one receiver - national leader Malachi Toney (Miami) with 109 catches for 1,211 yards and 10 TDs - with fellow first team Duke receiver Cooper Barkate (now Miami) tallying comparable numbers to Hendricks with 72 catches for 1,106 yards and seven TDs to Hendricks’ 71 catches for 1,037 yards and seven TDs. All of the other receivers above him had significantly inferior stats, yet Hendricks only received a fourth-team nod.
It seems to be another case of a Cal receiver not getting his due based on the level of competition - something that should probably be factored in but preferably not to the extent it’s been applied.
Fellow Cal receiver Ian Strong, who earned the third team nod despite having stats better than several players above him in the preseason honors had 52 catches for 762 yards and five TDs but the senior receiver likely scored points for accumulating this numbers in the Big Ten with Rutgers.
The Bears will kick off the season Saturday evening on September 5 against UCLA at Memorial Stadium, where the retooled boys in Blue and Gold will embark on their mission to make believers out of the preseason honors voters and start off the Lupoi Era with a bang.
