Cal Football: Key Transfer Portal Additions for 2025

In this era of college football, the transfer portal is a fascinating time at the end of the season. As in years past, Cal head coach Justin Wilcox has done a phenomenal job in the transfer portal acquiring good football players. This year seems no different, as Cal has been very active in signing new players.

The deadline for players to officially enter the portal is December 28, but there are quite a few exceptions to the deadline that allow for players to enter at a later date. That means that even though the deadline has come and gone, Cal could still acquire more players. As it stands right now, Cal has a total of seven new players already signed.

Transfer Portal Additions for Cal Football

The Golden Bears were busy in the transfer portal, and these players should help add to the talent of Cal’s roster going forward.

Offensive Line

It’s no secret as to why Cal did what they did in the transfer portal in terms of overhauling the offensive line. Famika Anae, the new offensive line coach wanted to bring in his own guys and revamp a group that struggled mightily last season. The Bears brought in the following linemen: Leon Bell, Lamar Robinson, Lajuan Owens, and Tyson Ruffins.

Bell, a tackle from Mississippi State, has great size standing in at 6-foot-8 and 325 pounds. He should make an instant impact on the offensive line. Meanwhile, Robinson has played guard before at Georgia State, but projects to slide over to tackle. Bell and Robinson are expected to come in and immediately compete for both of the starting tackle positions.

Owens seems to be the most intriguing of the bunch. He’s following Anae from New Mexico, where the offensive line as a unit only gave up five sacks during the whole season. He also earned himself the Mountain West Freshman of the week against San Diego State.

Finally, Ruffins shocked everyone when he announced that he would be flipping his commitment from rival Stanford to Cal. The former Nevada Wolfpack just played his freshman season, so he has plenty of eligibility remaining. Owens and Ruffins are also expected to immediately compete for the two guard positions.

Secondary Additions

Cal is losing a lot of players in the secondary as they head to the 2025 NFL draft. The secondary is going to have a completely different look next season and quite frankly, has some big shoes to fill. The Bears went out and acquired Tristan Dunn, Hezekiah Masses, and Jaden Mickey.

Dunn, a former four-star recruit, is a safety who played for the Washington Huskies. He was a big get for the Bears and can replace the void left by Craig Woodson. Another void that this defense has to fill is the loss of Nohl Williams.

Masses was brought in to compete for one of the starting cornerback spots. He played in 12 games last season for FIU, totaling 47 tackles, one interception, and four pass deflections.

Finally, Mickey is another cornerback expected to compete for a starting position after Marcus Harris announced he was declaring for the draft. He only played four games four Notre Dame before entering the transfer portal. Mickey decided to come back to California after the passing of his mother. After losing three key players in the secondary, Cal brought in players who they hope can replicate the same type of success.

Front Seven Additions

Cal only brought in two players to compete for starting positions on the defensive front seven. The first signing came from another Notre Dame transfer, Tyson Ford. Ford was the first commitment Cal got in the transfer portal, but he did not play last season after he was put on a medical redshirt. It’s yet to be determined how much playing time he’ll get, but he should provide much-needed depth.

One of the best transfer portal additions last season in all of college football was the addition of Teddye Buchanan. Now that he’s declared for the draft, Cal went out and signed Buom Jock. Jock stuffed the stat sheet this season with Colorado State where he had a total of 100 tackles, one interception, and two and a half tackles for loss. One could only hope that he can replace a player of Buchanan’s caliber, but he’s still a good player and should make a major impact on defense.

Special Teams Additions

One of the biggest issues with Cal this season was kicking field goals. Coach Wilcox wanted to go out and bring in competition, so the Bears signed kicker Kyle Cunanan from Charlotte. He only appeared in three games this season but he did go a perfect 5-for-5 on field goals.

Cal Transfer Portal Additions Recap

Surprisingly, the Bears have yet to sign any offensive skill positions or a quarterback. That doesn’t mean that they can’t add players at a later date, but one has to wonder what their game plan is going forward. Hopefully, there’s a quarterback that’s on a team still playing right now that the Bears have an interest in.

The biggest worry was the offensive line, but Cal was highly aggressive bringing in new faces to compete at those positions. The Golden Bears seemed to have filled in the spots from departing defensive starters. We should hear more news about any recent additions as soon as the playoffs start to wrap up. It would be nice to see the Bears go out and get a quarterback and maybe one more wide receiver.