BERKELEY – Thousands of Cal alums will make their way back to campus for Homecoming this weekend to remember the special times they spent in Berkeley. But there is a large contingent of Cal alums who work for the football program and get to live that experience every day, including five former Golden Bear players currently in coaching roles - Josh Drayden, Ryan Longwell, Malik McMorris, Burl Toler III and Mike Saffell.

They know how fortunate they are.

"I think Cal is one of the most elite universities in the world and I truly believe in what it does for developing young people," said Saffell, who coaches the team's tight ends. "This place is extremely special, and I am so grateful to give back to it."

Saffell, who is among the youngest full-time FBS coaches in the country at the age of 25, played for four years as an offensive lineman at Cal from 2017-20 and had NFL aspirations before being forced to medically retire. He only thought about getting into coaching after spending time volunteering as a student assistant for the Cal staff in the first season after his playing career. He enjoyed it enough to accept an offer to become a graduate assistant in 2022 and was promoted to his current role after the 2023 regular season.

"I'll never leave," Saffell joked.

Saffell may never leave but the others have and returned.

Toler, who played wide receiver for the Golden Bears from 2001-04, is arguably Cal football's ultimate prodigal son. His ties to the program and University run deep. His parents Burl Jr. and Susan met at Cal when his father was a four-year football letterwinner (1974-77) and team captain in his final season. Three of his siblings – brother, Cameron, and sisters Pita and Laureina – are all Cal grads.

But unlike Saffell, his journey to return to Cal was long and arduous.

After his collegiate playing career, Toler set off on a journey around the world to pursue his dreams of playing professionally. He spent time on NFL rosters of the Oakland Raiders in 2006 and Washington Redskins in 2007 and 2008, but most of his professional playing career was with a long list of NFL Europe and Arena Football League teams. He even spent a season playing for Bologna in the Italian Football League in 2009.

But when his playing career finally ended after the 2012 Arena Football League season, he knew it was time to come back home.

Eight days after his playing career ended, Toler was hired to Sonny Dykes' 2013 Cal staff in a quality control role for special teams. Over the next three years, Toler did just about everything anything asked of him to gain coaching experience and knowledge, and when the Dykes' era ended in 2015, he had made himself marketable enough to land a job as the wide receivers coach at Fresno State.

After one season with the Bulldogs and another at UC Davis in 2017, his got his chance to come back home to join Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox's staff as running backs coach.

"Coach Wilcox blessed me with an amazing opportunity to return to Cal and be an integral part of the program," said Toler, who moved to his current role coaching wide receivers in 2019. "I'm thankful to be on his staff and the opportunity to learn and contribute to a common goal. It's extremely special for me to be coaching at Cal. It's beyond a dream job for me. I've heard stories of my Dad playing in Memorial Stadium, sat in the stands as a fan, and played during some magical years as a player, so now coaching at the same place is special."

And while he cherishes his memories at Cal, Toler is also embracing the current team and looking ahead to what Cal can become.

"It's an amazing place and my alma mater, but it's even more special because of what we have going on now with an amazing staff, a winning mentality and an ideal culture."

Memories of the past and excitement for the future are two things that brought Longwell back to Berkeley as a senior analyst working with the team's kickers after a storied 16-year career for four NFL teams.

"I've loved Cal since the first time (former head coach) Steve Mariucci showed me around campus," Longwell said. "I was fortunate enough to spend almost a decade with one of the greatest sports franchises on the planet in the Green Bay Packers, so seeing how it's supposed to be done on that scale made me jump at the chance to try and help bring those same values and priorities to Cal football."

While Saffell was elevated to a full-time coaching position shortly after his playing career ended, and both Toler and Longwell came back to Cal after long professional playing careers, Drayden and McMorris are putting in the grind that comes with being young graduate assistants.

"After my playing career ended, I had to decide what direction I wanted to go," said Drayden, who had a brief stint as an NFL player with the Washington Commanders after participating in a school-record 55 games during a six-year playing career at Cal from 2016-21. "I had some ideas, but when the opportunity to become a graduate assistant presented itself, I knew it was the right path. Being a GA isn't the easiest lifestyle, but it's been incredibly rewarding."

McMorris, who was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 fullback in his final season at Cal in 2018, got into college football coaching on the Utah staff in 2021 but couldn't resist when his alma mater came calling.

"I always knew that if I could come back to Cal, be a graduate assistant and learn from Coach Wilcox and his staff that I would take that opportunity in a heartbeat," McMorris said. "In my second season at Utah we were in the middle of bowl prep, and I got the phone call. A couple weeks later following the bowl game I put all my stuff in a Penske truck and made my way back to the Bay."