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Jacob De Jesus will make his Cal debut on Saturday night at Oregon State.
Jacob De Jesus Wants To Win At Everything, On And Off The Field
Jacob De Jesus has a lot going on in his life.
On the football field, he is a starting wide receiver for the Golden Bears, the team’s top kick and punt returner, and a developing team leader.
Off the field, he is a father, son, brother, fiancé, and graduate student – and the team’s self-proclaimed ping-pong king.
De Jesus learned ping-pong from his late father, Rick, who passed away from cancer last year. One day, Rick brought home a table and would spend hours playing the game with his son at their Manteca home. These days, if De Jesus is not tending to one of his many responsibilities in life, you will likely find him dispatching of yet another teammate at the ping-pong table in the football program’s dining room.
“He’s an extremely competitive guy,” Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox said. “He tries to win in everything. I love that about him.”
De Jesus won 20 games in two campaigns at UNLV for a program that had gone nine seasons without going to a bowl game prior to his arrival. In last year’s LA Bowl, ironically against his future Cal team, De Jesus had a game-high 142 all-purpose yards in a 24-13 win to give the Rebels a school-record-tying 11 victories. As a sophomore in 2022, he helped Modesto Junior College to a share of a league title, and as a prep his Manteca Buffalos were two-time section champions.
And since his arrival in Berkeley, he has been working hard to bring his winning ways to a Cal team in which he is one of 56 new players on the 2025 roster.
De Jesus knows he has the capability to help a talented group produce victories and be a leader but wants to make sure his leadership is an inclusive process.
“When I arrived in January, I didn’t want to step in and start giving orders,” De Jesus said. “I wanted to work with guys who had already earned the right to lead.”
Fellow wide receivers Jordan King and Mark Hamper caught on quickly to De Jesus’ leadership style.
“He pushes everybody he’s around – not through his words but through his actions and hard work,” King said. “He is full throttle and if anyone is not doing that it makes them think that they need to…
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