The list of Cal's Big Game heroes is lengthy.

When you turn the clock back a half-century or more, there are Jackie Jensen, Steve Swinney and Chuck Muncie, to name a few. Of course, there is Kevin Moen for his role in The Play in 1982 and Mike Mohamed certainly comes to mind for his game-clinching interception in a 2009 win at Stanford. More recently, Chase Garbers is front and center for his game-winning fourth-quarter touchdown run in 2019 that ended Cal's longest losing skid in the series at nine.

And while Cal's next Big Game hero has yet to emerge, earlier this week it was one of the Golden Bears' everyday heroes who had the attention of this year's squad talking about the importance of the Big Game.

Even at the young age of 26, Cal tight ends coach Mike Saffell has more Big Game experience than any other coach or player on the 2025 Cal roster other than Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox.

Saffell has bled blue and gold for nearly a decade since his arrival in Berkeley in 2017 at the age of 18. He played four seasons in the trenches as an offensive lineman for the Golden Bears from 2017-20 and was named the Pac-12's Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year in his final campaign. He was planning to return for a fifth and final collegiate season with the Bears in 2021 before injuries cut his career short and forced him to medically retire just prior to training camp.

Wilcox advised Saffell to take a little break from football.

"I told him to see if he could live without it," Wilcox said.

It didn't take long to see that he couldn't.

Saffell, who graduated from Cal's Haas School of Business in just three-and-a-half years in December of 2020, tried a few other things in the fall of 2021, including business and broadcasting, but remained close to the program.

"He was one of those guys that was always in the building," Wilcox said. "At first it was kind of like 'let's see how it goes' but once he took a liking to it, his coaching ascent has been like a rocket ship."

By January of 2022, Saffell officially began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Bears, and less than two years later in December of 2023, he became one of the youngest full-time FBS coaches in the nation when Wilcox hired him as the team's tight ends coach at the age of 24.

Saffell's hiring made a lot of sense to Wilcox.

"Mike's got all these great qualities that first showed up as a player and now definitely are there as a coach," Wilcox said. "He is such a team guy. He's humble but super competitive. He's intelligent, and he has a great work ethic and excellent communication skills."

Wilcox also thought it made a lot of sense to ask Saffell to be one of the first of many sources to help give current Cal players a Big Game education so he asked Saffell to give his perspective to a roster with more than 50 players who have never been a part of it.

"Mike was a player on the team that was able to beat Stanford and get The Axe back in 2019," Wilcox said. "As someone who has played and coached in the Big Game many times, his perspective is meaningful for many of the players who haven't been exposed to it."

"I wanted our players to know that even though there is a lot going on at Cal, that on this one day and for this one game that all of the attention of both universities is focused on the Big Game," Saffell said. "It's important for them to understand how much the universities, the alumni and the guys who have played in it really care about the Big Game. No matter what your record is going into this game, it is a game that makes or breaks your season because of the fanfare and the way people care about it. It's freaking awesome."

Saffell addressed the team after practice earlier this week and it had a profound effect on the current players.

"Coach Saffell's speech to the team after last Sunday's practice was electric and guys have been talking about it all week," said transfer tight end Mason Mini, who will participate in his first Big Game on Saturday.

"When someone like coach Saffell talks about the Big Game, it really means something to our guys," fifth-year senior tight end Jeffrey Johnson added. "He has been around Cal for a long time and seen a lot, and he is one of the best people to reinforce how important this game is."

With the 128th edition almost here on Saturday, the Big Game has been on Saffell's mind a lot of late.

"I think a lot about the Big Game heroes and the guys who have made huge plays and had massive games," Saffell said. "This is one of those games where you can really immortalize yourself as a Big Game hero."

Does Saffell have a favorite Big Game?

"It's hard not to say 2019," Saffell said. "There was all of this anticipation for that game, the potential of winning and then going out and doing it in front of all those people. It was awesome. Grown men were so happy they were crying."

The Bears are hoping to shed more tears of joy this Saturday on The Farm.