ESPN Not Impressed with Cal’s Offseason Football Moves

Obviously we won’t know the impact of Cal’s many offseason moves until the 2025 season is complete, but ESPN gives a taste of what the changes might mean next season.

ESPN ranked the offseason moves of every team in Power 4 conferences, and it ranked the Golden Bears’ offseason moves 16th of the 17 ACC teams.  Only Stanford ranked lower.

Cal will try to prove that its new players fit nicely into its new schemes next season, minimizing the effect of its transfer losses.  A player’s fit in a system sometimes is as important as the player’s talent, and if the Golden Bears can put the pieces together in a successful way, a winning season is possible.

ESPN stated that it based its rankings on three factors:

--- 1. Retention of key (non-draft-eligible) players

--- 2. Retention of key coaches or staff upgrades

--- 3. Player additions, primarily through the transfer portal but also high school recruits

Two sentences in ESPN’s assessment of Cal stick out:

--- Put simply, Cal has been crushed by outgoing transfers, particularly on offense, where the Bears lost 18 players from the team that finished 6-7 a year ago.

--- Changing coordinators could turn out to be a good thing

One other thing: ESPN put Teddye Buchanan among Cal’s key departures. I believe Buchanan had run out of eligibility, and I know he was taken in the fourth round of the recent NFL draft. So it’s puzzling why he was included

Here is ESPN’s entire assessment of Cal’s offseason moves:

16. California Golden Bears

Key additions: QB Devin Brown, DE TJ Bush Jr. LB Harrison Taggart

Key departures: QB Fernando Mendoza, RB Jaydn Ott, LB Teddye Buchanan

Top incoming recruits: QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, OG Justin Hasenhuetl, TE Jacob Houseworth

Biggest coaching move: Cal has two new coordinators, although Bryan Harsin, the former Auburn, Boise State and Arkansas State coach, is the headliner. He returns to coaching for the first time since 2022, overseeing a unit that includes Ohio State quarterback transfer Devin Brown and a new-look running backs room. Coach Justin Wilcox seeks continuity on defense, where he promoted Vic So'oto and Terrence Brown as co-coordinators.

What went wrong: Put simply, Cal has been crushed by outgoing transfers, particularly on offense, where the Bears lost 18 players from the team that finished 6-7 a year ago. A spring portal exodus from the program's running backs room saw Cal lose its top five rushers, headlined by the departures of former All-Pac-12 selection Jaydn Ott and 2024 rushing yards leader Jaivian Thomas (UCLA). Combined with portal exits from Fernando Mendoza (Indiana), top wide receiver Nyziah Hunter (Nebraska) and lead tight end Jack Endries (Texas), plus multiple newcomers on the offensive line, Harsin will have his work cut out for him in his debut season overseeing a fully renovated Bears offense.

What went right: Although Cal lost its 2024 starter, the program secured its present and future at quarterback with the portal arrivals of Brown and freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, an ESPN 300 prospect who returned to the Bears following a signing day flip to Oregon. UNLV transfer wide receiver Jacob De Jesus is a two-time All-Mountain West special teamer with explosive potential on offense, and Cal added reinforcements up front with four offensive line transfers who combined for 40 starts last fall. If the spring portal stung Harsin's offense, it was kind to So'oto and Brown -- defensive end TJ Bush Jr. (Liberty), defensive tackle Zae Smith (Houston Christian) and linebacker Harrison Taggart (BYU) are among the latest members of a deep transfer class on defense.

Connelly's take: Changing coordinators could turn out to be a good thing, but the sudden loss of production in the spring significantly changed the tenor of the offseason. Wilcox replaced Mendoza with some intriguing options, but the skill corps lost far more than it gained, and the secondary is starting over.

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