Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele will spend his Saturdays in Berkeley after all.

After flipping from Cal to Oregon on National Signing Day, Sagapolutele reversed course once again and signed with the Golden Bears after entering the transfer portal this weekend.

Sagapolutele, the top-ranked player in Cal’s 2025 recruiting class, initially committed to play under head coach Justin Wilcox in July. On National Signing Day on Dec. 4, Sagapolutele elected to play for Oregon and enrolled early in the university. Roughly a month later, Sagapolutele entered the transfer portal and landed at his original choice: Cal.

Per 247Sports, Sagapolutele is the eighth-ranked quarterback in his class and the 106th-best prospect nationally. As a senior at James Campbell High School, Sagapolutele threw for 3,404 yards with 46 touchdowns to three interceptions and was named the 2024 MaxPreps Hawaii High School Football Player of the Year.

In the midst of Sagapolutele’s saga, quarterback Fernando Mendoza entered the transfer portal and took his talents to Indiana in late December. Mendoza’s final act as a Golden Bear was leadig Cal on a 98-yard, game-winning touchdown drive to shock Stanford in The Big Game, then delivering an impassioned postgame interview that brought him to tears.

“This has to be the most special moment in my life to date,” Mendoza said through tears.

With Mendoza transferring and Chandler Rogers graduating, Sagapolutele will have an opportunity to immediately compete for playing time. Along with Sagapolutele — a four-star prospect according to ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals — Cal’s quarterback room currently features freshman EJ Caminong and redshirt sophomore CJ Harris.

Of those two, Harris has the most experience, having made his collegiate debut for Ohio in 2020 and playing in 12 career games, completing 97-of-178 attempts for 1,013 yards over parts of four seasons, including the LA Bowl last month. Caminong was thrown into duty in Cal’s 24-13 loss to UNLV in the LA Bowl, completing 6-of-19 passes for 57 yards in his unexpected collegiate debut.

Sagapolutele will likely have his opportunities to hand the ball off to running back Jaydn Ott, who announced on social media that he will be returning for his senior season following a junior year marred by a lingering ankle injury.

— Justice delos Santos

Golf

Matsuyama sets PGA Tour scoring record >> Hideki Matsuyama got the new season off to a smashing start when he broke the PGA Tour record to par for 72 holes by closing with an 8-under 65 for a three-shot victory over Collin Morikawa in The Sentry.

Matsuyama made an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole at Kapalua, lightly pumping his fist in about the only emotion he showed all week. That put him at 35-under 257, breaking by one the 34-under par by Cameron Smith set at Kapalua in 2022.

Matsuyama set another PGA Tour record with that final birdie, his 35th hole at birdie or better for the tournament. Smith in 2022 and Sungjae Im last year held the previous record.

It added to his 11th career title on the PGA Tour, and his third win in the last 10 months, all against some of the strongest fields.

Morikawa had to settle for second place despite not posting a round worse than 66 all week.

Soccer

Diallo’s equalizer results in draw >> Amad Diallo came back to haunt Liverpool with a late equalizer that secured a 2-2 draw for Manchester United against Premier League leader Liverpool.

The forward turned home Alejandro Garnacho’s cross in the 80th minute at Anfield after Mohamed Salah’s penalty had looking like giving Liverpool the win.

Diallo struck at the end of extra time as United beat Liverpool 4-3 in a dramatic FA Cup clash last season and hit a 90th-minute winner against Manchester City last month.

His goal on Sunday was only worth a point on this occasion, but it halted United’s four-game losing run and prevented fierce rival Liverpool from opening up an eight-point lead at the top of the standings.

United head coach Ruben Amorim, however, was still unhappy.

“It’s a point, a deserved point, but it’s just one point, and we should get mad. Today we should be really disappointed,” he said.

MLB

Bell, Nationals finalize deal >> First baseman Josh Bell and the Washington Nationals finalized a $6 million, one-year contract.

Bell returned to Washington after spending the 2021 season and bulk of 2022 there, hitting .278 with 41 homers, 145 RBIs and 48 doubles in 247 games. He was traded to San Diego with Juan Soto on Aug. 2, 2022, the first of three straight years he was moved ahead of the trade deadline.

Now 32, Bell played for Cleveland, Miami and Arizona the past two seasons. He hit .249 with 19 homers, 71 RBIs and 23 doubles in 145 games last year.

Rugby

Rugby star makes debut >> U.S. rugby star Ilona Maher made her debut for the Bristol Bears women’s team in front of a record home crowd of 9,240 fans.

But Maher, “the most followed rugby player on the planet,” could not prevent Bristol from losing 40-17 to defending champion Gloucester-Hartpury in a Premiership Women’s Rugby match.

She came on as a substitute in the 61st minute at Ashton Gate with Bristol trailing 28-10. Maher made her presence felt in a couple of rucks and looked for work off the wing but could make little impact to the overall picture in her 20 minutes on the field.

The previous attendance record for a Bristol women’s home match was 4,101 in May 2022.

Skiing

Ljutic wins again >> Croatian skier Zrinka Ljutic made it back-to-back World Cup wins in women’s slalom to take the lead in the standings. The 20-year-old Ljutic won her first title in Austria last week and followed up with her second at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Ljutic was joint-fastest with Wendy Holdener in their first run, then 0.16 seconds faster in the second.