Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, the four-time ACC Rookie Of The Week and two-time ACC Quarterback Of The Week, will begin the 2026 campaign with a place on the Maxwell Award watch list, as announced Monday by the Maxwell Football Club.

Sagapolutele has rewritten the Cal record books during his lone season as the starter in Berkeley. Last season, he had the second-highest totals for completions, attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns by a Cal freshman quarterback to only Jared Goff in 2013.

The Ewa Beach, Hawai'i, native passed for 200 or more yards in all 13 of his games as a 2025 rookie and was the only Power 4 and second FBS player to start his collegiate career with 13 consecutive games of 200 passing yards or more.

Given annually to the outstanding player in college football, the Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, who was a standout player at Swarthmore College and a renowned sports writer and football official.

The Maxwell Award watch list will once again incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and conferences from coast to coast.

The full list consists of 81 players.