Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has been named ACC Rookie of the Week after his performance in the California Golden Bears’ season-opening win against Oregon State. The announcement was made by the conference office on Tuesday morning, marking the first weekly conference honor for the freshman quarterback.
Sagapolutele, from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, led Cal to a 34-15 victory over Oregon State in Corvallis. In his collegiate debut last Saturday, he completed 20 out of 30 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. He started strong by completing his first nine pass attempts and threw touchdown passes on each of Cal’s first two offensive possessions.
Sagapolutele is also notable as the first true freshman quarterback to lead Cal to a win in a season opener. He becomes only the second true freshman to start as quarterback in an opening game for Cal, following Jared Goff who started in 2013 before being selected as the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick in 2016.
“Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was named ACC Rookie of the Week following his week one performance in Cal’s season-opening win at Oregon State, announced by the conference office on Tuesday morning. This is the first weekly conference honor of the true freshman quarterback’s career.”
“The Ewa Beach, Hawaii, native led the Golden Bears to a 34-15 victory over the Beavers in Corvallis, Oregon, in his collegiate debut last Saturday. Sagapolutele was 20-of-30 for 234 yards passing with three touchdowns. He completed the first nine pass attempts of his collegiate career and converted two touchdown passes on the first two offensive possessions of the game against the Beavers.”
“Sagapolutele is the first Cal true freshman quarterback to lead the Bears to victory in a season-opener. He is only the second true freshman to be the starting signal-caller in a season-opener for the Bears, after Jared Goff arrived in Berkeley in 2013 en route to becoming the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick in 2016.”
“For coverage of Cal football, please follow the Bears on Twitter/X (@CalFootball, @CalFootballPR) and Instagram (@cal_football).”
