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Nick Monica has had some athletes in his three years at San Bernardino High School in the likes of San Diego State signee Aarein Booker and All-Sun first-team wide receiver Vanzell Richardson. But he feels that Khleem Perkins might be the best of the bunch, as the 6-foot-4, 180-pound sophomore quarterback made the MaxPreps.com 2013 players to watch and is already receiving recruiting interest.

"We have schools around here that we've never seen before," Monica said. "Penn State, Michigan State, UConn, they've all been by to see this kid and he's only going to be a sophomore. We are excited about his potential and can't wait to see what he's capable of doing."

Monica's enthusiasm goes beyond just Perkins though. The Cardinals are coming off a fourth-place finish in the San Andreas League last season - their best showing under Monica - and have increased numbers of players out. Plus Monica believes that being in the fourth year of the system is paying off as well.

These previews will be sporadic - pretty much done right after I talk to the coaches. Just got off the phone with San Bernardino football coach Nick Monica, who took time out of a lovely Thursday evening at the Cheesecake Factory to talk shop. Hopefully his wife wasn't too annoyed.

Anyway, the Cardinals, after a pretty solid 4-5 record in Monica's first season in 2007, slipped a bit in 2008, registering a 2-8 record which saw them lose to Pacific, giving the Pirates their first victory since 2005. Needless to say, the San Berdoo brass are happy about putting 2008 in the rearview mirror.