A crowded media day at Cal made one thing clear: this is not the same setup the Bears had when fall camp opened in 2025. The University Club on the eighth floor of CMS was packed with reporters, the team schedule glowed on big monitors, and even the food spread was getting the kind of walkthrough usually reserved for a front-of-house meeting. It was a polished scene, a far cry from the windswept practice local beat writers walked into at the start of camp.
Those monitors spelled out the day in detail, from a 6:30 wake-up to a 9:45 bed check, with every hour accounted for. The one major chunk in the middle of the day belongs to schoolwork, which stands out at Cal in a way it might not everywhere else. The point, as the setting suggested, is that this program is built around football but still lives inside a campus full of regular students.
Cal Legends were on hand too, marking another new chapter and welcoming back an alumnus who returned as a coach. Jahvid Best was among them, sitting two seats away from Coach Lupoi during the press conference and wearing a recovery boot. Another local reporter even asked Best whether he saw the irony of getting hurt playing flag football instead of tackle.
Lupoi kept the press conference moving and made a point of not revisiting old ground. He passed on rehashing the well-known JKS re-recruitment story, choosing instead to focus on where the program is headed. He also had an unusual talking point ready: CMS will host its first concert event since 1990’s visit from Sir Paul McCartney, a two-night run that drew 118,542 people and brought in about 3.5 million dollars.
That kind of detail fit the broader message Lupoi delivered about roster building. After a busy offseason in the portal, he said the Bears were active there only because they had to be.
“We were only active (in the portal) because we were forced to. I wasn’t the head coach here for national signing day for high school, so there was only one possible way to impact the roster, so that’s exactly what we did,” he said.
But his real preference is high school recruiting. Lupoi said that’s where the program’s backbone has to come from, especially because it allows for a better read on character.
“The lifeline of this program is going to be built off high school recruiting,” he said, pointing to the 25 commits lined up for the 2027 season. He added that Cal will still use the portal, but only in a selective way, treating the process more like the NFL, with the high school class serving as the draft class around which everything else is built.
There is still plenty of talking season left, and Cal is nearly seven months removed from the coaching hire that brought Lupoi home. The roster looks very different from what fans saw on Christmas Eve, and the usual first-time-head-coach storyline has already been mined plenty. Even so, one of the more encouraging notes from media day came from the way the two sides of the ball are already talking to each other.
“I think one of the most underrated elements of a defensive head coach, as far as the offensive approach and conversation, is that you feel really comfortable…having conversations about what’s given you problems in the past.”
That theme carried over to the offensive side, where second-year quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said the collaboration has been noticeable. “(Offensive Coordinator) Coach Somerville came in with a great plan, I did not expect Tosh to be so involved with things that give defenses problems.
I’ve been impressed with that.” Rolovich also said Lupoi’s knowledge of offense helps him connect with players in a direct, unexpected way, even calling out their reps by play name so they know the entire program is paying attention.
After the press conference, players fresh from their workout met with reporters and came across as relaxed and eager to get going. Cooper Perry and Kathar Mothudi, former Oregon Ducks on opposite sides of the ball, talked about settling into a new home and enjoying the energy of the Bay and the campus. Linebackers Justin Beadles and Tristan Jernigan, transfers from Louisville and Texas A&M, also seemed comfortable with the change in scenery.
Fall camp begins in earnest tomorrow, and the schedule is already waiting above them on the monitors.
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Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has sounded energized by what lies ahead, especially with the new talent arriving on offense. For Cal, the next few weeks are about more than just installation and conditioning, since this camp will offer the first real look at how Lupois approach translates once the pads come on and the season start against UCLA draws closer. [Read more 🡒]
Tosh Lupoi Just Framed Cals Rebuild With A Very Different Tone
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Lupoi also talked through how Cal intends to add talent with more selectivity, using both high school recruiting and the transfer portal while leaning on alumni support to help the program keep moving. He addressed his expanded role, too, along with the way NIL and sponsorship opportunities are becoming part of the larger picture as the Bears try to close the gap in a more modern way. [Read more 🡒]
Tosh Lupoi Is Making A Cal Recruiting Bet Fans Will Notice
Cals offseason rebuild leaned hard on the transfer portal, but Tosh Lupoi is presenting that as a one-time fix rather than a new identity. The head coach said the heavy portal traffic was driven by immediate roster needs, and that going forward the Bears want to put most of their energy back into high school recruiting, where the evaluation process is slower but, in their view, more reliable for building a program.
Lupoi also pointed to the limits of trying to judge transfer fits in a hurry, especially when culture matters as much as talent. The idea now is to be more deliberate with high school and junior college prospects, keep more of the best players already in the building, and let a promising 2027 class that sits among the national top 25 be part of the long-term foundation instead of leaning on outside help to patch holes. [Read more 🡒]