DON'T THINK. IT CAN ONLY HURT THE BALLCLUB

Matt Baca is done waiting for a Division I scholarship offer. The Ayala quarterback committed Jan. 21 to the University of Northern Colorado, a Division I-AA (or FCS - Football Championship Subdivision, if you want to get technical) school in Greeley, Colo.

"I'm not worried about what everybody else thinks. I know I made a good decision," Baca said. "Northern Colorado is an ideal place for me."

Baca helped transform an Ayala team fresh off an 0-10 season into a 7-4 playoff team this season by completing 55 percent of his passes for 2,398 yards with 18 TD's and 10 interceptions.

There was talk about Baca being worthy of a Division-I scholarship, but the offers never came. Baca thought the 0-10 season may have hampered his recruitment, something the Ayala coach Tom Inglima initially disagreed with but later gathered from scouts to have been a factor.

"The bottom line is you get what you pay for," Inglima said. "If you're good enough, you can make it anywhere. I'm not talking about the NFL, but I am. If he would've gotten (Division I) offers he would have taken them but you've got to fit the program too."

Baca took his official recruiting trip last weekend to Northern Colorado, which went 1-9 last season in the Big Sky Conference. The only other school he visited was Division-II Minnesota State University at Moorhead.

"Division I-AA is a higher level, so I had to go with that," Baca said. "Plus I have family in Colorado so it'll make it easier for my family to travel. Northern Colorado was always my first choice."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Diamond Ranch High School safety Shelton Miles has narrowed his potential college choices to UTEP and Idaho.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior has taken recruiting trips to each campus but says he likely won't make a decision until Feb. 6, National Signing Day.

"It's pretty much split right down the middle right now," Miles said. "I love both programs but I haven't made up my mind."

The hard-hitting safety, who runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash, made 74 tackles his senior season for a Panther team that finished 2-8 (Diamond Ranch was forced to forfeit five games when it was discovered a player's transfer paper work wasn't completed).

He also rushed for 356 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.6 yards per carry, but he may have done his best work offensively at fullback where his hitting prowess was on display nearly every play.

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Damien High School safety Ryan McMahon will walk on at USC next season despite standing scholarship offers from UNLV, Utah State and Idaho State.

Through weekly contact with the USC coaching staff and his own analysis of the roster, the 6-foot, 187-pound senior believes he can succeed in one of the premiere college football programs in the country.

"I feel like I can fight my way up the depth chart at USC," McMahon said. "I know they're bringing in a lot of good players and they've already got a lot of good players there. If I didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't go there."

McMahon received a similar invitation to walk on at Stanford. A Stanford football coach informed him he had been admitted to the school but McMahon is yet to receive official word. Even if he is admitted, McMahon said "it would be tough to sway me from USC." The University of Pennsylvania also offered McMahon a scholarship.

"I don't want to play Ivy League football," McMahon said. "I want to play big-time, Pac-10, BCS-caliber football."

McMahon collected 77 tackles this season for 5-5-1 Damien. He had two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery.

USC began discussions with McMahon before the season about walking on but the Damien senior wanted to weigh his scholarship options before making any commitments. After fielding some offers, he decided not to take official recruiting trips to any of the schools that offered him.

"Basically, I'm a Southern California kid and I want to stay here," McMahon said. "Plus I like the social scene at USC. It's just the best fit for my future."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Erika Arriaran, the former Norco High School basketball phenom who is now a junior at the University of Texas, returned from the ACL she tore Jan. 7, 2007 only to injure her knee again before this season began.

The former National Player of the Year at Norco had arthroscopic surgery on her knee in November, according to Barb Kowal, assistant athletics director for media relations at the University of Texas, and has not been cleared to practice yet.

"We're hoping to get her back for the last six or seven weeks of the season," Kowal said. "Or we'll be looking to use a medical red-shirt year."

Arriaran had surgery to repair the ACL in February and was cleared to resume her normal regimen as the 2007-08 season approached. Before the season even began, she injured the knee in practice.

Arriaran was selected to the 2005-06 Big 12 All-Freshman Team after she slid into the starting lineup as a freshman and averaged 11.5 points per game during a 13-15 campaign for Texas, the Longhorns' second-worst season in the last 24 years.

Texas was 11-4 when Arriaran tore her ACL in the final seconds of an upset win over No. 10 Purdue on Jan. 7, 2007. But the Longhorns finished the 2006-07 season 18-14, not worthy of a bid to the NCAA tournament. Texas is ranked 25th this season with a 15-5 mark thus far.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Etiwanda High School's Christian Barker is "95 percent sure" he'll sign a national letter of intent with the University of Nevada on Feb. 6, national signing day.

After the 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive tackle took his official recruiting trip to Reno, Nev., last weekend, he is considering cancelling a trip to Oregon State scheduled for the first weekend in February, he said Wednesday.

In addition to the scholarship offer from Nevada, Barker has received one from Utah State but he has not received an offer from Oregon State.

Oregon State has proposed gray-shirting him, which means he would sign a letter of intent Feb. 6 with the Beavers, but would skip the 2008 season and wouldn't receive his scholarship until January of 2009, at which point he would enroll in school.

"I think I'm, still going to visit but they'll have to show me a lot," Barker said. "(Oregon State) is a Pac-10 school, but I might not get a scholarship. With the gray shirt, they tell you they're going to give you a scholarship but some teams find another player by then."

Barker visited Utah State Jan. 11-13 after receiving a scholarship offer from them roughly three weeks ago. Nevada offered him the next day.

Barker, a three-year starter who played offensive and defensive tackle, had 48 tackles and one sack his senior season. He would prefer to play offense in college, a request Nevada is prepared to meet.

Nevada graduated one starting offensive lineman last season and will graduate three more after the 2008 season.

"They're telling me that I might start next year right off the bat," Barker said. "And if I'm not ready I can red shirt and three more starting spots will open up the next year."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Upland High School guard Danny Redmon would probably be the most exciting basketball player I’ve seen this year – if the only two times I’d seen him hadn’t both been opposite Etiwanda.

In a battle of area heavyweights, I watched CIF-SS Division I-A No. 1 Etiwanda move to 21-0 with a 53-39 win over No. 4 Upland Tuesday night - Redmon scored just nine of those 39.

The 6-foot-2 senior was fairly passive early in the game, only to get overly aggressive as Upland tried to erase a late deficit. He forced up a few bad shots in the process, not to mention the blood pressure of his coach, John McNally. Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner, a defense-first, defense-second guy, ran a double team at Redmon every time he put the ball on the floor. But Redmon never seemed to get overly frustrated. He’s got a great demeanor, the type you’d want to see in your leader. He even handled his coach’s frustration with just the right amount of tact, listening long enough to get the point but walking away in time to avoid an extra dose of tongue-lashing.

I’ve seen Redmon score a total of 22 points in two games – MaxPreps.com says he averages 17.5 points per game but only has 10 games reported - but the way he moves with the ball alone is fun to watch. He doesn’t have a weakness, can shoot and handle the ball deftly. He may be at his best in traffic, specializing in pumping the ball around attempted shot blockers before flipping it towards the rim, seemingly always with a feathery touch. He never appears out of control despite the speed with which he barrels into the lane. I can’t offer too much analysis on his defense - I’ve only seen him play zone. But he has the tools to be a good defender: he’s plenty smart, exceptionally quick and has good hands.

Upland (18-4) was undefeated in league until Tuesday. They’ll get one last shot at Etiwanda the last game of the season (the Eagles beat Upland 47-41 on Dec. 14 in an Inland Empire Classic semifinal, their only other meeting this year).

I had a hard time putting my finger on why Etiwanda beat Upland so thoroughly Tuesday night. That probably means it had a lot to do with defense (much harder to gauge, at least statistically) a theory Upland's 39 points would certainly support. Etiwanda seemed to shoot the ball extremely well but when I added it up the Eagles had made 20-of-43 shots from the field (49 percent), good but not exactly awesome – Upland shot 39 percent (17-of-44). Upland out-rebounded Etiwanda 24-23 but had nine turnovers to Etiwanda’s five.

Etiwanda goes about 15 deep and is loaded with athletic players at every position. Their only potential weakness is size but 6-8, 265-pound junior Perris Blackwell goes a long way towards putting that theory to bed. Five players average at least eight points but none more than Jordan Finn’s 11.1. Finn was on crutches Tuesday after injuring his ankle Monday but the team hardly seemed to notice.

Etiwanda is built for the long haul - depth and defense can go a long way. It’s tough to base this on the three games I’ve seen but if depth presents a negative, it's that it hampers the emergence of a go-to guy, something Etiwanda may need as it enters the hotly-contested playoffs. The aggressiveness of senior point guard Erick Ellis, who didn’t even start the last two games I saw, may be evidence he can be that guy. He led the team with 16 points Tuesday. I don’t know his individual shooting percentage but I don’t think he missed a shot in the second half.

Kleckner doesn't seem overly concerned with it, but it’ll be interesting to see how long Etiwanda can stay undefeated with only six games left in the regular season.

Said Ellis on Monday after Etiwanda beat the No. 2 team in Division II-A, Moreno Valley Rancho Verde: “We feel like the Patriots.”

Posted by Clay Fowler at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The drama, or lack thereof, in our little competition here is appropriate considering the drama we'll likely witness in the NFC and AFC championship games Sunday. Way to go Colts and Cowboys; thanks for ruining what was supposed to be a couple of climactic showdowns. Of course, I should also thank Lingo and myself, the Colts and Cowboys equivalents of our playoffs. But the beauty of this thing we call sport dictates that none of us are out of it yet, not even the Giants.

Last week
Clay: 4-6
Overton: 3-7
Lingo: 0-10

Playoff standings
Overton: 17-9 (65%)
Clay: 4-16 (20%)
Lingo: 4-17 (19%)

We'll continue to use a point system to weight the picks. Since we don't have four games this weekend we'll drop the one- and two-point picks (also because we're clinging to hope for some drama) and keep the three- and four-pointers.

Here are this week's picks with the home teams in caps.

Clay's picks
4 San Diego (+14.5) over NEW ENGLAND
3 GREEN BAY (-7.5) over N.Y. Giants

Overton's picks
4 GREEN BAY (-7.5) over N.Y. Giants
3 NEW ENGLAND (-14.5) over San Diego

Lingo's picks
4 San Diego (+14.5) over NEW ENGLAND
3 N.Y. Giants (+7.5) over GREEN BAY

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During his official visit to the school, Chino Hills running back Michael Harris verbally committed to Fresno State on Sunday.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior was also offered scholarships by Utah, San Diego State and Minnesota, the only other school he visited. Fresno State was the only school of his prospects to guarantee Harris he'd play running back as opposed to defensive back.

"It's most of the reason I committed to Fresno," Harris said. "The coaches were very honest with me. Everything they told me was real. I pretty much knew on my way up there I was going to commit but I just wanted to see the campus and everything to make sure."

Harris cancelled trips to San Diego State and Utah.

Despite missing two games and all but one play of a third with a sprained ankle, Harris rushed for 999 yards and 12 touchdowns on 169 carries his senior season. After watching the Huskies lose two league games duing his absence, still bothered by the injury Harris returned for to run for 144 yards and a score Chino Hills' final game of the season. But it wasn't enough in a 33-17 loss to Damien that prevented Chino Hills from making the playoffs for the first time in Harris' career.

As a junior, Harris ran for 1,450 yards and 21 TD's, averaging 7.8 yards per carry and 132 yards per game for the 8-3 Huskies. Had he not been injured this season, Harris thought he might have been more sought after.

"I think I could have had a lot better season," he said, "but things happen."

Fresno State's leading rusher this season was freshman Ryan Mathews (145-866, 14 TD). The Bulldogs second-leading rusher, Clifton Smith, is graduating but sophomores Lonyae Miller and Anthony Harding, each of whom topped 100 carries, will return to the rotation.

As the only running back in the Fresno State's recruiting class thus far, Harris has reason to believe he could slide into that four-man rotation next season.

"The coaches told me if I come ready to play I'll be in the rotation," Harris said. "If they don't think I'm ready they might pull me out and redshirt me. I've watched them on TV and they use all four running backs. It's the perfect system for me."

Much like the offense at Chino Hills, Fresno State's base formation is the power-I. The Bulldogs, who went 9-4 and finished third in the WAC this season behind Hawaii and Boise State, run the spread occasionally, too.

Aside from formations and rotations, the most important thing to Harris is that he'll be on the offensive side of the ball.

"With (Fresno State) I'm a straight up tailback," he said. "I get to have the the ball in my hands. I've been a running back my whole life. I want the ball in my hands. It's a big relief to be committed. I feel like Fresno is the place for me."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Etiwanda High School's 6-foot-4, 310-pound tackle Christian Barker has narrowed his potential college choices to three: Oregon State, Nevada and Utah State.

He visited Utah State last weekend, will take a trip to Nevada this weekend and Oregon State the first weekend in February.

His first scholarship offer came two weeks ago from Utah State. Nevada offered the next day. Oregon State has not made an offer.

"It felt good to get that first offer; I was starting to think it was never going to happen," Barker said. "I saw people around me who I thought I was better than getting offers."

Barker, who played offensive and defensive tackle, had 48 tackles and one sack his senior season. He would prefer to play offense in college. Utah State specified they'd like him to play offense, but neither Nevada nor Oregon State has made that determination.

Despite Oregon State's 9-4 record this season and third-place finish in a BCS conference like the Pac-10, Barker isn't elevating the Beavers above Western Athletic Conference schools Nevada (6-7, 4th in WAC) and Utah State (2-10, 7th in WAC). Based on his experience at Utah State last weekend, he wants to complete all his trips before passing too much judgement.

"Before I took my trip (to Utah State) I didn't even think there was a chance I was going to go there," Barker said. "But after that, I liked the visit so much it's right there at the top of the list. They're all three even at this point."

Here are some clips of Barker on offense. Watch big No. 79 at left tackle.

Here are some clips of Barker playing defensive tackle

Posted by Clay Fowler at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's not really over, I'm just being dramatic because I lost EVERY SINGLE ONE of my playoff picks last week. Overton, who entered the playoffs with a five-game lead on Lingo and six-game lead on me, went 3-1. Lingo was a respectable 2-2, but didn't take advantage of the point system with which we weighted our picks, winning only his one- and two-point picks. Overton won his four-, three- and one-point picks.

Last week
Overton: 8-2
Lingo: 3-7
Clay: 0-10

Playoff standings
Overton: 14-2
Lingo: 4-7
Clay: 0-10

We'll weight the picks this week with the same system we used last week: 4 points for the pick in which we're most confident, three for the next most confident, etc. Here are this week's picks with the home teams in caps.

Clay's picks
4 DALLAS (-7.5) over N.Y. Giants
3 Jacksonville (+13.5) over NEW ENGLAND
2 INDIANAPOLIS (-9.5) over San Diego
1 GREEN BAY (-7.5) over Seattle

Overton's picks
4 INDIANAPOLIS (-9.5) over San Diego
3 GREEN BAY (-7.5) over Seattle
2 DALLAS (-7.5) over N.Y. Giants
1 NEW ENGLAND (-13.5) over Jacksonville

Lingo's picks
4 NEW ENGLAND (-13.5) over Jacksonville
3 Seattle (+7.5) over GREEN BAY
2 INDIANAPOLIS (-9.5) over San Diego
1 DALLAS (-7.5) over N.Y. Giants

Posted by Clay Fowler at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The window of opportunity is closing, but Matt Baca isn't panicking. While many will sign national letters of intent on Feb. 6, Ayala High School's quarterback has not received any college scholarship offers.

He was close to a deal with Utah State until their decision two weeks ago to switch to an option offense that doesn't fit the drop back passer that threw for 2,398 yards with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season.

Two Division I-AA schools are considering Baca: Northern Colorado and Southern Utah. Two Division II schools - Central Missouri and Minnesota Moorhead - are also looking at him. Division-I Idaho is still considering him, but Baca isn't confident they'll make an offer.

"A lot of people are telling me I shouldn't go to a Division II school, that I'm good enough to get a D-I scholarship," Baca said. "Recruiting is a tough game but I'm not going to start panicking. Our punter didn't get his scholarship last year until June."

Baca feels like Ayala's 0-10 season last year delayed his recruitment (0-10 sounds worse than it was; Eight of the ten teams Ayala played last year went to the playoffs). During the Bulldogs 7-4 season this year, he threw for 562 more yards in a wing-T offense than he did in a spread offense in 2006.

While Baca likely won't be signing anything on signing day, it could prove pivotal in his effort to play Division I college football. After Feb. 6, colleges will be looking to fill spots vacated by wavering recruits who signed elsewhere.

"I'm kind of that dark horse who's probably number two or three on some people's lists, so if their top recruits don't work out they might come looking for me," Baca said.

I wish I could shed some light on Baca's ability, but I never saw Ayala play this season. I did see future Division I quarterbacks Josh Nunes of Upland and Richard Brehaut of Los Osos. Baca isn't the prospect either one of those juniors is, but he did throw for more yards than either of them and before he threw three interceptions in a playoff loss to Norco had a touchdown-to-interception ratio that rivaled theirs.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

You knew the stakes would skyrocket this week. Who would expect anything less at playoff time? Since there are four NFL playoff games this weekend we'll weight our picks 1-4, delegating four points for the pick about which we feel the most confident, three for the next, and so on. Thus, the five-game lead Overton carries into the postseason doesn't look so daunting.

Final regular season standings
Overton: 74-60-3
Lingo: 69-65-3
Clay: 68-66-3

Here are the wild-card weekend picks with the home teams in caps.

Clay's picks
4 Jacksonville (-2.5) over PITTSBURGH
3 TAMPA BAY (-3) over N.Y. Giants
2 Washington (+3) over SEATTLE
1 Tennessee (+10) over SAN DIEGO

Overton's picks
4 SAN DIEGO (-10) over Tennessee
3 SEATTLE (-3) over Washington
2 TAMPA BAY (-3) over N.Y. Giants
1 Pittsburgh (+2.5) over Jacksonville

Lingo's picks
4 Jacksonville (-2.5) over PITTSBURGH
3 TAMPA BAY (-3) over N.Y. Giants
2 SEATTLE (-3) over Washington
1 SAN DIEGO (-10) over Tennessee

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don Lugo High School’s A.J. Pickens verbally committed to Arizona State on Tuesday. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior will play slot receiver for the Sun Devils after serving in a variety of roles at Don Lugo, including running back, cornerback and kick returner.

Pickens received scholarship offers from six other schools: Arizona, Washington, Oregon State, Utah, San Diego State and Fresno State. He took official recruiting trips to all but Utah and San Diego State. The decision boiled down to Arizona and Arizona State.

"I wanted to stay as close as possible to my family,” Pickens said. “I just felt more comfortable at Arizona State. With the environment and the people, it just felt like a good fit.”

Pickens will have to transition to a new position, having played receiver sparingly in high school. His 4.49-second 40-yard-dash speed was employed primarily at running back where he carried 102 times for 930 yards and nine touchdowns during a 7-4 senior season. He had 14 receptions for 69 yards but rarely lined up anywhere but the backfield.

Greg Setlich, Pickens’ coach at Don Lugo, thought cornerback would best suit Pickens in college. While many of the schools were undecided which position he would play, Pickens preference for offense also favored Arizona State.

“I barely got to play wide receiver but I always wanted to,” Pickens said. “With my team struggling they put me at running back. In college I’d rather play receiver than defensive back.”

Pickens left Arizona State recruiting coordinator Matt Lubick a message Monday, informing the Sun Devils safety coach he had good news. He received a call back Tuesday and informed Lubick of his decision. Pickens has not discussed the Sun Devils' immediate plans for him.

“I’m going to try to play as soon as possible,” he said. “But if I feel like I’m not ready I can always redshirt.”

Arizona State was a co-Pac 10 champion this season along with USC. The Sun Devils finished 10-3 following their Holiday Bowl loss to Texas.

If he signs on the line Feb. 6, Pickens will be the fifth Inland Valley product in the last two years to attend Arizona State, joining Norco High offensive linemen Adam Tello and Garth Gerhart, and Colony High cornerback Omar Bolden (who started nine games for ASU this season). Norco senior offensive tackle Kyle Johnson has also verbally committed to ASU.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chino Hills High School tight end Cory Harkey is not wavering from his verbal commitment to UCLA despite the firing of Karl Dorrell on Dec. 3 and hiring of Rick Neuheisel on Saturday.
The 6-foot-4, 240 pound senior was admittedly displeased when Dorrell was fired but said Wednesday he never contemplated looking elsewhere.
"It was upsetting," Harkey said. "But I've heard nothing but good things about Neuheisel."
Harkey hasn't yet spoken to Neuheisel but was told by UCLA tight ends coach Angus McClure he'd likely be receiving a call soon. Harkey caught 30 passes for 473 yards and three touchdowns this season for 6-3-1 Chino Hills.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)