Pro Football Focus Spotlights Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele

Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has picked up his first weekly honor. It’s not likely to be his last.

Pro Football Focus named the 18-year-old native of Hawaii its national quarterback of the week after his performance in Cal’s 34-15 win at Oregon State.

“You won’t find a better true freshman debut—especially on the road—than what Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele delivered for Cal,” PFF wrote. “The freshman posted a 95.5 passing grade, the highest among qualified quarterbacks in college football this weekend, thanks in part to his five big-time throws. He finished with 234 passing yards and three touchdowns.”

In the video above, Sagapolutele talks about his excitement for the Bears' home opener against Texas Southern on Saturday. Kickoff is 3 p.m.

Sagapolutele was not sacked by OSU and when given time to throw was nearly unstoppable.

“Sagapolutele thrived from a clean pocket, completing 18-of-21 passes for 227 yards, three touchdowns and a 10.8 yards-per-attempt average,” PFF wrote. “Even more impressively, he stayed composed under duress, earning a 93.6 passing grade on his pressured dropbacks despite facing pressure on nearly a third of his dropbacks.”

Sagapolutele was one of four freshman nationally who started in their team’s season opener. All of them played well. 

None threw an interception. 

All of them led their teams to victories. 

But only Sagapolutele played his first college game on the road and the Beavers were a more formidble opponent than the other three faced:

— Bear Bachmeier, BYU: Bachmeier graduated high school early and enrolled at Stanford back in January before transferring to BYU. Because he did not redshirt, Bachmeier remains a true freshman — the first to start at QB in the opening game for the Cougars.

In a 69-0 win over FCS-level Portland State, Bachmeier played only the first half, completing 7 of 11 passes for 97 yards with three touchdowns. He also ran for 32 yards and two TDs before leaving the game at halftime with BYU leading 49-0.

— Bryce Underwood, Michigan: The No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025 class, Underwood became the fourth freshman to start a season opener for the Wolverines. At 6-5, 230 pounds, he completed 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards with one touchdown in UM’s 34-17 win over New Mexico.

— Malik Washington, Maryland: The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder completed just three of his first 11 passes against Florida Atlantic. Then he found a rhythm and connected on 75 percent (24 of 32) the rest of the way.

Washington finished 27 for 43 for 258 yards with three touchdowns in the Terps’ 39-7 victory.