Claremont OT to be ‘set for life’ after accepting USC’s offer

It’s often a pat answer for why recruits decide on a college, but Jordan Austin’s grade-point average gives his reasoning some serious credibility.

Academics were indeed the Claremont High School offensive tackle’s deciding factor in committing to USC June 26. His 4.4 GPA and ambitious plans for higher education, not to mention the scholarship offer he received from Harvard, certainly speak to his priorities.

“I want to get a Masters degree and when you get one of those from USC, NFL or no NFL, you’re set for life,” Austin said. “But if you’re a starting offensive lineman at USC, you’re practically guaranteed a shot at the NFL.”

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Thirty scholarship offers in four months land Summit WR Brown at Washington

As soon as Erik Brown’s season ended, it began.

The Summit High School receiver didn’t have a scholarship offer when the No. 1 seed in the CIF-SS Central Division went down in the first round of the playoffs Nov. 9, 2012. Over a four month period beginning in February, he became one of the most sought after receivers in the country.

The pursuit ended last week when the 6-foot-2, 175-pound rising senior verbally committed to Washington, choosing the Huskies from nearly 30 scholarship offers that included UCLA, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Boise State and Oregon State.

“I knew it was coming,” Brown said. “I worked hard for this and it has been a blessing. It all happened really fast. I think I just got a chance to showcase what I can do when passing league came around.”

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As expected, Eisenhower football coach accepts position at Murrieta Valley

A day after publicly announcing his resignation as football coach at Eisenhower, Vinny Fazio accepted the head coaching position at Murrieta Valley on Friday.Vinny Fazio Mug

In his second season as a head coach, Fazio won’t be called to engineer a turnaround the likes of which he achieved his lone season at Eisenhower. Murrieta Valley finished second in the powerful Southwestern League and lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs to eventual CIF champion Corona Centennial.

“Professionally, this is the best day of my life,” Fazio said. “I’ve found the place where I want to be for the rest of my career.”

If Fazio had it his way, he would have never left Eisenhower. But The school whose football program hadn’t had a winning season since 2002, issued Fazio a pink slip in March.

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A national recruit, Diamond Ranch’s Delp will soon have offers to match

Diamond Ranch two-way lineman Kammy Delp picked up his ninth scholarship offer Monday, but schools like San Jose State better get in a word while they can. The 6-foot-5, 318-pound junior is a national recruit, he just doesn’t have the offers to match. Yet.

Delp already has five Pac-12 offers – UCLA, USC and Oregon have visited but not offered – and has received visits at spring practice from Alabama, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. The list just keep growing and the offers are likely soon to follow, according to Diamond Ranch head coach Roddy Layton.

“He could end up with 20 or 30 offers,” Layton said. “Every school that comes out has the same reaction, ‘Oh, he’s bigger than I thought he was.'”

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Chino Hills has a 50/50 chance of ending up in the Baseline League

There is a 50 percent chance at Monday’s releaguing meeting that the Baseline League will get even more competitive. Yes, you read that correctly.

The league that has produced two semifinalists for two years running in arguably the toughest football playoff division in California could be deeper beginning in the fall of 2014. Of the 20 releaguing proposals for the Mt. SAC area that will be voted on Monday, 10 of them include Chino Hills in the Baseline League.

Aside from the obvious geographic and economic reasons, Chino Hills was not shy about its preference to remain in the Sierra League, where it has won three football league championships in the last five years.

“Football is the money sport that I think people generally judge a school by,” Chino Hills athletic director Derek Bub said. “Unfortunately that’s what might get us moved. But we haven’t dominated the Sierra League in all sports. We’ve been in the middle of the pack.”

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Chino football coach resigns after just three years, two league championships

Matt McCain resigned Friday after three years as Chino’s head football coach, ending a tenure that included two league championships and one undefeated regular season.

The Chino alumnus will remain a physical education teacher and work experience coordinator at the school, but ends a football coaching career that began at Chino in 1995.

“I’ve continued my education and at this point in my career I want to pursue other professional opportunities,” McCain said. “Chino football has been a big part of my life and always will be, but this was a logical time for me to step down.”

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Summit WR has three Pac-12 offers after lighting up 7-on-7 circuit

Doors just keep opening for Summit’s Erik Brown. Perhaps that’s why the junior wide receiver resisted the temptation to commit immediately after UCLA issued him a scholarship offer last week.

It was the sixth scholarship offer for Brown since the end of football season, and the third Pac-12 offer. Brown also has offers from Washington and Oregon State. Nevada, Houston and San Diego State have also offered Brown.

“UCLA is his dream school,” Summit head coach Cesar Villalobos said. “And I expect him to keep getting offers partly because he’s doing so well with his seven-on-seven team.”

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Rancho Cucamonga QB to be priority walk-on at Arizona next season

Two years ago, Adam Friederichsen was the fourth-string quarterback at Carlsbad La Costa Canyon. Next season, he will be on the University of Arizona roster.

In his only season at Rancho Cucamonga, the senior started and helped the Cougars to the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals, helping him earn a priority walk-on offer from Arizona, which means he won’t receive a scholarship but will be guaranteed a spot on the roster.

A family illness prompted Friederichsen’s family to move closer to the City of Hope cancer treatment center in Duarte, landing him at a school that had just graduated its two-year starting quarterback.

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Alta Loma wants out of Baseline: ‘We just haven’t been competitive’

After 10 years in the competitive Baseline League, Alta Loma is ready to get out. In the upcoming realignment, the school is hoping for relief in the form of a move to another league, though Alta Loma athletic director Brett Procter declined to name a preference.

“The last five years we just haven’t been competitive,” Procter said, “not just in terms of league championships, but competing for playoff spots.”

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New head coach Bechtel on leaving for Chino Hills: ‘It was a gamble’

The vision that prompted Matt Bechtel to leave his first head coaching job after just two seasons and leave the Chaffey Joint Union School District after 16 years came to fruition last week. After one year as the Chino Hills offensive coordinator, Bechtel was hired as the school’s head football coach. He interviewed on Feb. 12 and was offered the position Feb. 14.

Bechtel, Colony’s head coach from 2010 to 2011, replaces Derek Bub, who resigned after five years as head coach citing the death of his father in October and his desire to pursue an administrative position. Knowing Bub was closing in on his administrative credential, Bechtel had his eye on the Chino Hills head coaching job when he accepted the offensive coordinator role and a teaching position last year in the Chino Valley Unified School District. But the move didn’t come without risk.

“Most people don’t get an administrative credential and sit on it for five or six years,” Bechtel said. “Did I think this was going to happen in eight months? No. It was a gamble for me to come here. I gave up tenure and 16 years at a time when job security in the teaching profession was in disarray, but you can’t get ahead in life without taking risks.”

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