Still, Cal's young and inexperienced offense will be in the good hands of the fifth-year senior center they call "Cindo".

Cindric first stepped onto the Cal campus during a 2017 unofficial visit and immediately knew it was the place for him.

"It felt like a match made in heaven," Cindric said. "It just felt right."

Cindric remembers being "blown away" by the things he saw, including the stunning views of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area from the University Club on the eighth floor of FTX Field At California Memorial Stadium.

Over his last four years at Cal, it has been Cindric's accomplishments both on and off the field that have blown away others.

"Cal is the place for me," Cindric said. "There is no place I'd rather be."

Fast forward about a half-decade later and Cindric now has three seasons of starting experience under his belt, is a member of the team's player leadership council, a graduate of the prestigious Haas School of Business, enrolled in a master's degree program in Cal's Graduate School of Education, and just as impressively, involved in a multitude of campus and community activities and groups including Athletes In Action and the Cameron Institute.

"Matthew is a great blueprint of what we talk about all the time at Cal," said former teammate and current graduate assistant coach Michael Saffell. "You can have it all at Cal. We're going to win games and compete for championships, but we also want guys that can dominate in other phases of life like academics and can also be a great community member. A young guy can look up to Matthew, see all that he's doing and realize that you don't have to be limited to just football."

Cindric knows just how important it is to pass the torch to the team's next group of offensive linemen.

"My role in the past has been to be a glue guy and bridge the gap from the older to the younger guys," Cindric said. "Now, l feel like I'm that older guy who is setting the culture and shaping what we want the team to be from a players' perspective. I think I have some valuable experience and want to pass that on to our young players. I feel like I have a unique perspective in that I understand how to get those young guys to help build the team as a whole rather than build it from the top down. As a leader, my goal is that every guy on the team is able to talk to me about anything."

"Everyone recognizes Cindo for how great of a role model and leader he is both on and off the field," junior offensive lineman Brayden Rohme said. "He has done a great job keeping guys in check, and you can definitely tell the torch got passed on to him from some of the older guys. Cindo is a key piece to our team and his role as a leader is fundamental to our success."

Saffell calls him a "servant leader more so than a spotlight leader."

Cindric leads not only on the field but off of it. He has been active in the community throughout his Cal career, particularly this past spring through the "UpCycle" clothing drive project he spearheaded as well as his participation in the Cameron Institute's Leadership Showcase, where he gave a Ted Talk-style presentation focused on "leading from the margins." Cindric was one of five student-athletes to speak at the event designed to provide insights into their leadership journeys and how they are activating their leadership to inspire those around them.

"It was a cool opportunity to share my insights on leadership," Cindric said. "I really wanted to address an aspect of leadership that was actionable and emphasized things I do every day. I focused on leadership in the margins and the small details. It's not always the big talks or the huge decisions that show leadership but the little things like remembering people's names and giving guys rides to practice. It's those small things that really add up and build trust among the team."

Cindric also found the leadership showcase inspiring.

"It was a cool opportunity to be engaged with other student-athlete leaders in the Cal Athletics community," Cindric said. "Being involved in this event allowed me to see different perspectives from different teams, and to be able to learn and grow from that. It made me realize that I could not only be a leader for the football team but inspired me to want to do more in the athletics community as a whole."

It's hard to imagine how Cindric could do much more than he's doing right now, but he has plans to make leadership a focus in any career path he takes once his football playing days are finished. And while he studies leadership at a higher level, he will also continue to impart the knowledge he has gained and is continuing to learn in an effective way.

"When Matthew was one of the young guys in the room, he took something from each of our older players who were great leaders in their own right and came up with his own way of leading," offensive line coach Angus McClure said. "He's an excellent leader who is very comfortable in the role and has the respect of everyone on the team. When he speaks everybody listens."

"The thing that impresses me the most about Matthew is that he's so comfortable in his own skin," Saffell added. "He knows how to handle himself, and he doesn't push too far or too hard in any one direction to try to impress people. I think guys are really attracted to that."

Cindric insists that it is important to lead by example and says he's enjoying playing with a group of mostly younger offensive teammates, whom he leads but from whom he also learns and gains inspiration.

"I want to be someone people see working hard at practice and say 'wow, he wants to keep getting better,'" Cindric said. "The younger guys make me excited to go out to practice. They give me that extra boost on those days where I might be feeling like I don't want to be at practice. Their excitement and energy to just get out there and play really gets me going."

When his collegiate playing days are in the past, Cindric hopes that he will have a lasting impact on the players that follow him.

"I just want to pass on everything I learn to the younger guys," Cindric said. "One of the most valuable things I could leave on this program is to learn from everything you've done in the past and just keep getting better."