It was too early to call it the Nick Bueno Show after Bueno rushed for 230 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns in Monrovia’s 27-13 win over Arcadia in the season opener last year. This year there’s no holding back. You and I both expect big things out of Bueno, who added some serious muscle to his 5-foot-9 frame.

The bicep curls have done Bueno good, but it’s his unparalleled speed that separates him from the pack. He was in midseason form during Monrovia’s first week of practice. His passes were crisp and on target. But what we didn’t see was him lining up at slot receiver. That’s right, receiver.

Don’t get it twisted. Bueno still will be the exciting quarterback we saw last year. But the offense will add a new weapon to its arsenal thanks to some depth in the pocket.

Monrovia’s in the process of grooming the next starting quarterback, and all signs point to sophomore George Frazier, who stands a solid 6-foot-2, to take over the reigns next season. He took all snaps with the second unit. Frazier’s not as agile or elusive as Bueno, but he does gives the Wildcats some serious pocket presence because of his size.

He’s a hard hitter and doesn’t appear shy from contact. Because he’s caught on so quickly, the chance to move Bueno around a bit was too hard to pass up.

“George has great knowledge of the game,” Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox said. “He leads by example, and he does it not just with his play, but also verbally. He’s a sophomore and can communicate and lead verbally, and seniors will follow.

“That’s something very few people have. He’ll most likely start somewhere on the field, whether on defense or possibly offense. And then we’ll get him at quarterback, put Nick in the slot. We’re going to move him around a little bit.”

Bueno spent dead period practice with teammates, working on patterns, timing and execution. Expect Monrovia’s aerial assault to make a bigger impact this season.

Still, it begs the question: Why move Bueno around?

“He’s a phenomenal weapon with his legs and arms,” Maddox said. “I don’t want to say he plays with an attitude, but he’s a warrior, and that’s evident by how he plays.

“He’s really impressed people. We used him all over the field (during summer). At defensive back, receiver and he impressed a lot of people with his versatility. We can definitely use him wherever we put him. he’s one of our best receivers. best runners and he’s great at defensive back. Really, we can use him wherever and he can excel. He’s clearly one of the premiere football players in the San Gabriel Valley.”

So get ready folks, because Monrovia’s looks more than ready to unleash its wrath on Glendora and San Dimas.

The offense hasn’t skipped a beat, it seems, and if it’s possible has gotten even better. Jay Henderson looked good in practice as well. He’ll be a top receiver to keep your eye out on. Don’t let his subtle numbers from last year tell you otherwise.

Charlie Cimmarusti, the Wildcats’ top safety the last two seasons, also lined up at receiver with the first unit. He was part of the receiving rotation last year, but saw limited time. He’s expected to contribute more on offense this season.

There was a towering and intimidating presence at Monrovia High School’s fall camp opener Monday at Cliffton Middle School.

The towering part isn’t a surprise. Ellis McCarthy was a 6-foot-4 standout as a sophomore and has grown an inch since then.

The intimidating factor? That’s where it gets interesting.

McCarthy is a boy trapped in a man’s body, now standing 6-5 and a weighing a staggering 290 pounds. It’s a drastic leap from when McCarthy weighed 245 pounds as a 15-year-old sophomore. It’s not like McCarthy’s been piling on the Doritos, a strong weakness of his. He shredded the baby fat and added muscle to his now-lean frame. McCarthy altered his eating habits, too. He cut off soda and opted for water and protein shakes. He also hit the weights hard this offseason and increased his bench-press max to 295 pounds.

“I also did a little cardio,” McCarthy said after practice. “I just wanted to be more healthier so I can be ready to go both ways and wherever my team needs me.”

McCarthy attended the Nike and USC camps and Pete Carroll’s “Win Forever” camp at Home Depot Center and earned rave reviews at all three as a top 2012 prospect. McCarthy mentioned Nebraska, UCLA and elsewhere in the Pac-10 as being among the places he’s considering.

McCarthy is destined to play on Saturdays, perhaps Sundays, too.

“He’s a Division I football player,” Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox said. “He is absolutely the real deal.”

McCarthy finished with 11 sacks last season as a defensive end. He’ll see a lot of time at tackle this season, although he’s expected to spend some time at end, too. The biggest adjustment, however, will come on offense, where McCarthy goes from tight end to tackle in an effort to bolster the line. He caught nine passes for 152 yards, but McCarthy often bailed out the Wildcats in long-yardage situations for first downs. His size, surprisingly quick feet and soft hands made it hard for opposing coaches to leave single coverage on McCarthy.

His tremendous upside as a junior-to-be has Maddox and future college coaches beaming.

“He’s young for his grade,” Maddox said. “So you figure at 245 (pounds) he was only 15 years old and he was at a 6-4 frame. So he’s just starting to fill out and become a man. He’s not even probably close to what he’ll be eventually, and that’s the scary thing.
“He’s only 16 years old and he’s got growing to do. He’s a young man in an adult’s body. He’s massive.”

Also …

Monrovia’s fall camp is being held at Cliffton Middle School because of work at Monrovia High. The new football stadium — complete with a grandstand, press box, weight room, turf field and track — is in the late stages of construction. Monrovia’s first home game is scheduled for Sept. 17 against Arcadia.

I just got off the phone with Darrell Covey, who said that Dylan Covey’s diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was the reason why Dylan and the family felt it was in Dylan’s best interest to forgo signing with the Milwaukee Brewers and stay close to home in an effort to better manage the diabetes.

The discovery was made Friday after a routine physical Dylan underwent Wednesday. Upon the discovery, Darrell said the family had to think hard about the best way to handle the news. Darrell said the Brewers still were willing to sign Dylan, who was selected with the 14th overall pick in Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior right-hander led the Minutemen (19-10) to the CIF Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinals this past season and posted a 7-1 record with three saves, a 0.40 ERA, 138 strikeouts and 20 walks in 70.2 innings. He also hit .414 with a home run and 17 RBIs and led the Minutemen to a Division 5 championship last year.

We first reported the family asking for at least a $2 million signing bonus, and it seemed apparent that the Brewers and Covey were close to getting a deal done before the diagnosis was discovered.

Covey subsequently will attend the University of San Diego where he was offered a full ride two years ago. Darrell said the family spoke with the school and were more than willing to help manage the diabetes, such as providing a nutritionist. I asked Darrell if Dylan agreed that staying home was the best option.

“Dylan was the one who was at the front of this decision,” Darrell said. Obviously, it’s tough that this didn’t pan out, but Darrell said that this perhaps is a sign that Dylan should take another road to the big leagues. “Money was never an issue,” Darrell said. “Dylan wanted to play in the big leagues, but now he feels this is a sign that he must go about it in a different direction.”

Tom Haudricourt at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also spoke with Darrell, who admitted to him that he and the family will “… probably now be a Brewer fan the rest of my life because these guys were great with us.”

Darrell added: “The bottom line is that we didn’t have a lot of time to make this decision, so we went with our gut feeling. We couldn’t even sleep on it. But Dylan went down to the UCLA diabetes center today and talked with the director there; got all the information he could.

“This wasn’t an easy decision. With the time element, we were up against the wall. At the end of the day, all five family members (including Dylan’s two brothers), thought college was the better answer, because of the proximity and structured environment. The Brewers tried to convince us otherwise but they respected our decision.”

I’ll have a story on Monrovia’s Ellis McCarthy in Tuesday’s paper. But here’s a story I also wanted to share, this one regarding running back Derrick Johnson. I caught up with Derrick after Monday’s practice to talk about the knee injury suffered in the CIF-Southern Section Mid Valley Division championship game, his recovery and his role on the field.

There’s never a good time for an injury, but if Monrovia’s Derrick Johnson had his druthers, he certainly would have preferred that deep bruise in his left knee at any time but the CIF-Southern Section Mid-Valley Division championship game last December against San Dimas.

Johnson, a senior-to-be, suffered the injury in the second quarter when his knee was caught in a pile. It was initially feared that Johnson had torn his ACL, but Johnson learned the extent of his injury when he arrived at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. Johnson spent two hours at the hospital, and it was there where he learned from a nurse that Monrovia lost to San Dimas. He didn’t know the final score, no less how the Wildcats almost pulled off a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter thanks to Nick Bueno’s relentless push.

Johnson found out in the most unusual of ways.

“I was in the bed alone when the nurse walked in,” Johnson said. “She said, ‘Oh, you’re a Monrovia football player. My nephew plays for San Dimas.'” It wasn’t long before Johnson was delivered the news, by the nurse who did so in a polite way.

“She just said ‘I’m sorry you guys didn’t win,'” Johnson recalled. “I wasn’t mad that she told me. How could I be mad? I was mad at myself because I felt I let my team down. I wanted to go back into the game after the injury, but they wouldn’t let me. I felt I could.”

Johnson said he was heavily medicated, so his reaction was subtle, if that. He spent two months in intense physical therapy. Before he knew it, Johnson was back on the field trying to regain his prowess that led him to 648 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns. As a hard-nosed linebacker, Johnson recorded 94 tackles, 61 of which were solo tackles.

Johnson looked sharp during Monrovia’s fall camp opener Monday morning at Cliffton Middle School. He looked more lean and had a quicker step to his game. Johnson was a straight-up-the-middle kind of back as a junior, bouncing off tackles and extending for extra yardage. But there was a noticeable first-step explosion Monday. Granted it was only practice, Johnson opted to use his speed and head for the wings instead of taking the rock down the middle.

“I feel faster and stronger,” Johnson said. “If my team needs me to pound for yardage, I’ll do that. If they need me to run outside, I can do that, too.”

Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox was impressed in other aspects, too.

“He’s come full circle in the two years,” Maddox said. “He’s grown tremendously. His leadership and work ethic is great. He and Nick (Bueno) are the two most respected leaders on our football team.”

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PASADENA – There was a time when La Salle High School’s Mike Novell calmly flew under the radar.

That time was last season, when Novell was the Lancers’ starting quarterback as a sophomore.

He went from mentally preparing to be the starting quarterback on the junior varsity team his sophomore year to being thrust into the starting role on varsity after winning the job in fall camp.

By season’s end, Novell had quietly made a name for himself. He completed 60 percent of his passes, throwing for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.

A year later, Novell understands that the pressure is on. He’s now under the microscope and the learning curve is gone.

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