As the early signing period for NCAA Division I football came and went last week, one thing became clear for Bay Area seniors – that despite not having a senior year on the field, the top athletes in the Class of 2021 had been thoroughly recognized and had gained nationwide respect amid the 2020 pandemic.
As leading recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman discussed on the most recent Prep2Prep "Beyond the Game" podcast, the most impacted by the pandemic will likely be future classes, as schools figure out scholarship limits in the next few years. This class, however, made a huge splash both in the Bay Area and across the country, especially off the edge, on both sides of the ball. Let’s take a look at some of the key takeaways.
• Cal head coach Justin Wilcox made securing the top talent in his backyard a priority, and it showed in the Golden Bears’ local haul. Four of the top recruits in the East Bay joined their class, including early enrollees Jermaine Terry (Kennedy-Richmond) and Akili Calhoun (Liberty), along with elite pass rusher Kaleb Elarms-Orr (Moreau Catholic) and Lu-Magia Hearns (De La Salle), an East Bay legacy talent who could pay recruiting dividends for Cal in years to come.
The Golden Bears also extended well into the Sacramento area, with defensive back Kaleb Higgins (Folsom), tight end Keleki Latu (Jesuit) and outside linebacker Moses Oladejo (Cosumnes Oaks) among the key additions, not to mention big offensive tackle Ryan Lange (Pittsburg), who rounded out the East Bay group and Class of 2020 grad Nate Rutchena (Monte Vista), who officially signed during this period after waiting a semester following high school.
• Edge positions on both sides of the ball were at a premium in the Bay Area. Tight end was a hot position across the nation for Bay Area recruits, with Brock Bowers (Napa) becoming the latest elite NorCal athlete to select an SEC school, heading for Georgia, while Christian Pedersen (Serra) opted for the rolling green hills of Kentucky when he chose Louisville. Terry, of course, stayed in his backyard by choosing Cal, while three-sport standout JT Byrne (Carmel) headed north to Corvallis and Oregon State.
The fact that a rising talent such as JP Murphy (San Ramon Valley) nearly flew under the radar, signing with San Diego State, only spoke to the immense depth at the position in the Class of 2021. The same can be said for Lafayette-bound Tyler Roberts of Valley Christian and University of San Diego signee John Giguiere of Napa.
• Across from those tight ends is an equally-talented group of pass rushers, led by Elarms-Orr and Calhoun at defensive end. Big 6-foot-8 Jailen Weaver (Antioch) lived up to his early promise by signing with Nebraska, while outside linebacker Will Schweitzer (Los Gatos) will take his overall athleticism to Notre Dame. Add Dominic Oliver (Valley Christian) to the mix with his commitment to San Diego State, and it is clear this is also a very deep group.
• All the way to our fourth bullet point, and just now it is time to bring up the top player from the Central Coast Section, Oregon signee Troy Franklin of Menlo-Atherton. Franklin has been dynamic for three straight years, a unanimous choice each year for the Prep2Prep award bestowed to the best player in each class. Teammate Jayden Stanley, meanwhile, will take his defensive back talents to UC Davis, after preparing himself weekly on the opposite side of the ball from Franklin.
• Before we move deeper into the class, it’s time for a quick coaching note. Just two quarterbacks signed early from the local class, and both are known at least as much for their general athleticism, with Dorian Hale (De La Salle) signing with Sacramento State and DJ Bryant (San Leandro) inking with San Diego State. If I was coaching an offense with this group of recruits, however, I would salivate at the thought of what I could do with some 12 personnel packages, putting two wide receivers and two tight ends on the field with a single-back set.
I’d like to see an opposing defense account for the thought of Bowers and Byrne at tight end (Terry and Pedersen would be equally formidable), with Franklin and Washington State commit Tsion Nunnally (Cardinal Newman) making plays on the outside. UC Davis commit Matteo Perez (Marin Catholic) perfectly fits the mold of an inside and outside zone runner from a single-back set, while Hale could perfectly execute the zone read and speed option out of the multiple looks we could give. I wouldn’t hesitate to even use some three tight-end sets with this group.
• The Pac-12 was well represented across the board by this signing class. Defensive tackle Evan Branch-Haynes (Sacred Heart Cathedral) and all-around athlete Logan Kraut (Maria Carrillo) both signed with Arizona, while Colorado snagged defensive ball-hawk Nikko Reed (Moreau Catholic). Heading the furthest north, meanwhile, is defensive back Vince Nunley, who signed with Washington. Nunley transferred to Freedom this past spring after making big plays in the secondary for Encinal last season.
• After going 7-0 in the regular season for the first time since 1939, San Jose State saw a larger portion of its early signing class come from Southern California. One exception to that, however, was Marin Catholic offensive lineman Kai Peterson-Davison, who joined Perez as a pair of Wildcats to sign for the next level.
• The Northern California signee traveling the furthest is not from the Bay Area, but is certainly worth mentioning, as Oak Ridge quarterback Justin Lamson is leaving early to head for Syracuse and its winter weather in far upstate New York. Lamson, of course, is the next in an impressive line of Trojans’ signal-callers, a recent lineage which includes current Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book.
• Monterey and Santa Cruz counties rarely make the kind of noise that they did this year with the early signing period. Aside from the aforementioned Byrne, two other big names signed their NLIs with Pac-12 schools. Highly-recruited offensive lineman Noah Pulealii (Palma) was the lone Bay Area recruit to sign with UCLA, while Soquel offensive lineman Robert Wyrsch joined Nunley by signing with Washington. Can you imagine facing an 831 all-star team with those three on the front line?
• Fresno State signed a pair of high-ceiling players in defensive back Alzillion Hamilton (Hayward) and all-around athlete Julian Neal (Mission). Neal’s signing is the culmination of some of the best talent coming out of San Francisco in a couple decades, while Hamilton helped lead the Farmers to back-to-back league crowns and a section semifinal appearance last season.
• Still on the heels of its amazing run to the WCAL title last season, St. Ignatius saw two of its seniors sign in the early period, with offensive lineman Jack Burnett committing to Air Force and linebacker Duke Reeder adding to the Pac-12 group with his commitment to Stanford. Read more about their signing day experience here.
• A few former BVAL products signed as well, after first taking the junior college route, as tight end Koby Gross (Pittsburg/Diablo Valley) committed to Florida State while former Antioch teammates Timmy Dorsey and Cam Nathan went from Laney College to East Tennessee State and Southwestern Oklahoma State, respectively.
• Cal Poly inked three from the Bay Area, signing defensive end Michael Otterstedt (Vacaville), defensive lineman Dominic Childress (Mountain House) and linebacker Javon Murphy (Stellar Prep). Southern Utah added a trio as well, snagging defensive tackle Chad Tasi (De La Salle), defensive lineman Joe Tongamoa (Saint Francis) and running back Dukari Glover (Stellar Prep).
• De La Salle had three signees in the early class, while Moreau Catholic, Menlo-Atherton, San Ramon Valley, Marin Catholic, Napa, Stellar Prep, St. Ignatius and Valley Christian each watched a pair ink their commitments.
