UNM's Famika Anae named Cal's new OL coach

[Matt Moreno]

Official now. Famika Anae is taking over for Mike Bloesch as Cal's offensive line coach.

Famika Anae joining Cal's staff as new offensive line coach

The Bears' replacement for Mike Bloesch comes to Berkeley after one season at New Mexico.

cal.rivals.com

 

[BearlyBreathing]

Interesting mix of up and coming and well established offensive coaches/assistants Cal has brought in. Seems like an upgrade, and time will tell. Will there be others?

 

[BearBassics]

Nice.

 

[Matt Moreno]

Really the two biggest numbers that matter most when looking at this: sacks allowed this season ... No. 1 - New Mexico; tackles for loss allowed this season ... No. 1 - New Mexico

 

[Magnificentbears]

We're so back!!!

Really the two biggest numbers that matter most when looking at this: sacks allowed this season ... No. 1 - New Mexico; tackles for loss allowed this season ... No. 1 - New Mexico

Might as well take the two UNM transfer o-line that haven't committed yet

 

[Matt Moreno]

Can’t begin to relay how important it could be for the Bears to have a Polynesian offensive line coach with the OL talent in the Bay Area right now.

2026 four-star Tommy Tofi’s dad seems to approve of this hire for Cal.

 

[BearBassics]

Can’t begin to relay how important it could be for the Bears to have a Polynesian offensive line coach with the OL talent in the Bay Area right now.

2026 four-star Tommy Tofi’s dad seems to approve of this hire for Cal.

USC offensive lineman Amos Talalele to enter NCAA transfer portal

USC offensive lineman Amos Talalele announced he will enter the NCAA transfer portal following his second season with the Trojans.

www.on3.com

 

[calderon11]

Can’t begin to relay how important it could be for the Bears to have a Polynesian offensive line coach with the OL talent in the Bay Area right now.

2026 four-star Tommy Tofi’s dad seems to approve of this hire for Cal.

What does Uce mean?

Poly pipeline!!!

 

[horsemon]

What does Uce mean?

Poly pipeline!!!

Uce basically is Samoan for "bro". Equivalent term in Tongan is "toko"

 

[bearborn11]

Sooo, my question is - who has been fired? With Anae that makes 11 on field assistants and that’s not allowed. So someone has been let go, or someone isn’t allowed to recruit.

 

[Colonial Bear]

Sooo, my question is - who has been fired? With Anae that makes 11 on field assistants and that’s not allowed. So someone has been let go, or someone isn’t allowed to recruit.

Bye Bloesch, another line of useless assistants/OC.

 

[febfeb]

Gilbert j assume

 

[BarliBear]

Sweet.

Amazing considering how low things were one week ago

 

[bearborn11]

Bye Bloesch, another line of useless assistants/OC.

With Bloesch gone it’s still 11.
Offense - AT, Saffell, Anae, Cefalo, Gilbert, Harsin
Defense - Sirmon, Brown, Browning, So’Oto, Watson

My guess is Gilbert is fired but we are somehow paying him to stick around to call the bowl game? But he can’t recruit? I dunno.

 

[droski]

With Bloesch gone it’s still 11.
Offense - AT, Saffell, Anae, Cefalo, Gilbert, Harsin
Defense - Sirmon, Brown, Browning, So’Oto, Watson

My guess is Gilbert is fired but we are somehow paying him to stick around to call the bowl game? But he can’t recruit? I dunno.

Harsin was named qb coach so yeah Gilbert has to be gone

 

[capnted]

With Bloesch gone it’s still 11.
Offense - AT, Saffell, Anae, Cefalo, Gilbert, Harsin
Defense - Sirmon, Brown, Browning, So’Oto, Watson

My guess is Gilbert is fired but we are somehow paying him to stick around to call the bowl game? But he can’t recruit? I dunno.

I think they could assign Gilbert as an analyst and therefore he could technically still call plays.

 

[capnted]

Can’t begin to relay how important it could be for the Bears to have a Polynesian offensive line coach with the OL talent in the Bay Area right now.

2026 four-star Tommy Tofi’s dad seems to approve of this hire for Cal.

This is a really big deal potentially. Tofi from the class of 2026 is an obvious one. But Amos Talelele and Tyson Paala-Ruffins are transfer targets. Paala-Ruffins likely is an immediate starter.

The number of Polynesian OL players is astoundingly high. It helps to have an assistant coach at that position with that heritage. A lot in some cases.

And he may yet be able to bring in a player or two from his UNM OL room. Lajuan Owens would be nice.

 

[capnted]

This is a really big deal potentially. Tofi from the class of 2026 is an obvious one. But Amos Talelele and Tyson Paala-Ruffins are transfer targets. Paala-Ruffins likely is an immediate starter.

The number of Polynesian OL players is astoundingly high. It helps to have an assistant coach at that position with that heritage. A lot in some cases.

And he may yet be able to bring in a player or two from his UNM OL room. Lajuan Owens would be nice.

Well Cal can take Paala-Ruffins off the board. Committed yesterday on his visit to Stanford. Good player.

 

[BearBassics]

Well Cal can take Paala-Ruffins off the board. Committed yesterday on his visit to Stanford. Good player.

Think anae gets him to visit? Or is he signed?

 

[capnted]

Think anae gets him to visit? Or is he signed?

He had set a Cal visit for next weekend. My guess is he does not visit.

 

[RugBear]

With Bloesch gone it’s still 11.
Offense - AT, Saffell, Anae, Cefalo, Gilbert, Harsin
Defense - Sirmon, Brown, Browning, So’Oto, Watson

My guess is Gilbert is fired but we are somehow paying him to stick around to call the bowl game? But he can’t recruit? I dunno.

Gilbert is gone. Harsin will coach QB’s

 

[capnted]

Gilbert is gone. Harsin will coach QB’s

True enough for next season. Who handles the play calling in the bowl game? Not sure it even matters. I expect Cal to play a lot of non starters significant snaps. Will be interesting to see if some players like Ott and Nohl Williams even play. I am sure Williams would love to play against his old team, but not sure he will want to risk injury in a game that really is sort of meaningless.

 

[djsit]

@Matt Moreno Considering nobody is talking about a special teams coach, it’s safe to assume one will not be added to the staff?

 

[freshfunk]

Can Cal get a poly OL pipeline for xmas, please??

 

[calderon11]

Can Cal get a poly OL pipeline for xmas, please??

Isn't there a couple of Bay Area Polys in the portal? the USC kid and forget who else but those would be good targets

 

[gocalbears1994]

This is a really big deal potentially. Tofi from the class of 2026 is an obvious one. But Amos Talelele and Tyson Paala-Ruffins are transfer targets. Paala-Ruffins likely is an immediate starter.

The number of Polynesian OL players is astoundingly high. It helps to have an assistant coach at that position with that heritage. A lot in some cases.

And he may yet be able to bring in a player or two from his UNM OL room. Lajuan Owens would be nice.

LaJuan Owens has committed to Cal. OL pickup with 3 years of eligibility left

 

[gocalbears1994]

I don't think LaJuan Owens has a Rivals transfer profile/ranking, but FWIW the other site On3 has him at 90.8 (borderline high 3* or low 4* star) as the #11 interior offensive lineman in the portal and the overall #110 national recruit. So great pickup, especially since he is only a Redshirt freshmen (who hopefully will be really productive at Cal for the next several years)

 

[Magnificentbears]

I don't think LaJuan Owens has a Rivals transfer profile/ranking, but FWIW the other site On3 has him at 90.8 (borderline high 3* or low 4* star) as the #11 interior offensive lineman in the portal and the overall #110 national recruit. So great pickup, especially since he is only a Redshirt freshmen (who hopefully will be really productive at Cal for the next several years)

Also loving that him and Anae already have strong rapport from UNM

 

[BLbearfan]

Also loving that him and Anae already have strong rapport from UNM

I’m hoping he brings the entire OL

 

[calderon11]

I’m hoping he brings the entire OL

From the article sounds like coach is use to putting together pieces into a productive OLine. But yeah bring another Lobo!

 

[uplandbear]

Cal OL portal adds, with the exception of Will McDonald and Barrett Miller, have been pretty mediocre to say the least. TJ Session was bad, but he was being played out of position. The rest were all duds. Reimer, Wykoff and Stoffel didn’t cut it and the jury is still out on Braden Miller.

We need 3-4 portal OL this cycle, this is a good start.

 

[Gkhoury2325]

Cal needs 5 new OL from the transfer portal. Coach Anae is off to a good start. He secured the commitment of Owen from New Mexico. McDonald was beyond disappointing as our starting center. I am hoping Coach Anae could get 1st Team All ACC center Luke Petitibon, and WSU guard Fa’ Alili Fa’amoe on campus for a visit. If we could get these two players it would be a great start to fix the IOL. It will cost a pretty penny, but Cal needs to aim high. All will play in the NFL.

 

[calderon11]

Cal needs 5 new OL from the transfer portal. Coach Anae is off to a good start. He secured the commitment of Owen from New Mexico. McDonald was beyond disappointing as our starting center. I am hoping Coach Anae could get 1st Team All ACC center Luke Petitibon, and WSU guard Fa’ Alili Fa’amoe on campus for a visit. If we could get these two players it would be a great start to fix the IOL. It will cost a pretty penny, but Cal needs to aim high. All will play in the NFL.

I'm sure getting top notch OL will cost a pretty penny but also very appealing to our Qb1 target

 

[BearBassics]

This is a really big deal potentially. Tofi from the class of 2026 is an obvious one. But Amos Talelele and Tyson Paala-Ruffins are transfer targets. Paala-Ruffins likely is an immediate starter.

The number of Polynesian OL players is astoundingly high. It helps to have an assistant coach at that position with that heritage. A lot in some cases.

And he may yet be able to bring in a player or two from his UNM OL room. Lajuan Owens would be nice.

@capnted - you have to be feeling good after this post. Ruffins and Owens both in.