Where was Darren Andrews last year?

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Hey Amat fans, where was Darren Andrews last year? If you answer “playing defense”, then please leave this blog and never return.

I’m standing there Friday night watching this guy literally be the best player on the field and I’m wondering where were they hiding this guy last year?

I’m not kidding, he’s the best player in the Valley as things stand right now.

The guy is probably the smoothest kick returner I’ve ever covered. He’s a fantastic DB. He’s electric at receiver.

And all I get is one season?

I get why we didn’t see Koa Haynes. Rio Ruiz was the QB. I get why we didn’t see Dionza Blue (at running back). Jalen Moore was the feature back. But I don’t get why Darren Andrews didn’t have more of an offensive impact than nine receptions for 68 yards and a TD.

Andrews is one of those rare players that any time he has the ball, everyone in the stadium holds their breath. So where the hell was he last year?

Was he hurt? Was it an oversight? Did he make a quantum leap in terms of ability between his junior and senior year? I’m lost.

Andrews is already committed to Duke, but uh, yeah, I gotta think some recruiters are gonna try and talk him out of that.

  • Sierra League Fan

    I agree, Andrews is very talented. It was a great match up watching him and Jack Austin Battle it out when Amat and CH played. Austin got the better of him that night, but not by much. I agree he is a force to be reckoned with on “O”, “D”, & special teams….he will surely receive many more offers.

  • Blacl Tooth

    Darren Andrews has become another great player for BIshop Amat. What makes him so dangerous is his speed. Why does he have so much speed you may ask? He’s a track star! I believe his time in the 100 meters was 10.7. When I ran track, before times were measured in yards, that time would have been 9.7. All I can say…pretty darn fast! He would have left me in the dust. I wish Bishop Amat coaches would encourage football players to participate in track like Serra High School does. Darren has good hands and with his speed ‘give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.’
    St. Paul might have a chance to pull an upset if Blue does not play. Will Amat loes confidence…no. No excuses, but we will all know why. There’s no one on defense fast enough to catch Scoby.

  • Koa is the real deal

    Aram, your doing all of the Amat stories these days. Whats up with that? Freddie give up? One thought, I dont get why we didnt see Haynes last year? Haggerty should have benched the starting QB at the beginning of the year when he wasnt fully committed to the program and went with Koa. The old QB was a good athlete but a baseball player at heart. Can you imagine how well BA would have done with Koa in the starting position progressing and getting better with each game just in time for the playoffs?

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    I can understand why Koa didn’t start ahead of Rio. He was a sophomore and Rio a senior. I also think the style of offense Amat is running this year would have made Rio look better, too.

    Is Koa going to end up having the better career and better team results? It sure looks like it from here. He’s the best QB in the Valley right now, by far. CORRECTION: I take back the “by far” … Matty Ice at Chino Hills is up there, too.

    But in the end, you’re looking at a real chance that Amat’s Big 3 end up having better seasons or being better players than last year’s trio of Rio/Jalen/Sanchez. And the team having a better season than what it had last year.

    Jalen playing ahead of Dionza makes sense because he had a monster junior season. Of course, I thought Dionza would win the job as a sophomore, but Jalen won it as a junior.

    But Darren Andrews? You can’t tell me there were better WRs on the roster. So what gives? This guy is the best weapon in the Valley and he had no junior season to speak of.

    It sorta reminds me of the old Buffalo Bills of the early 90s where you honestly got the impression that the backups (Frank Reich and Kenneth Davis) were maybe better than the starters (Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas). Crazy as it sounds.

  • GoAmat

    Good question. But you didn’t see him cry and run to another school because he wasn’t getting playing time or the position he wanted to play! They is a time and place for everything. As the saying goes. “Life is not fair”. But God is in control of everything!!

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    Go Amat!

    Actually, if you want to go there, he did leave Charter Oak because he wasn’t going to play ahead of Dennis Rufus. At least that’s what I’ve heard.

    You guys do have to remember, he was at CO first.

  • Anonymous

    Mr. Andrew was at CO first Aram is correct and No he was not going to start over D.Rufus but IMO Mr. Andrew is a very good player and made a wise decision but i also think that if he had stuck it out at CO i think he would had been recruited a little more.

    So (Go Amat) make sure next time before making a comment such as you made do your homework first.

  • ET

    is andrews the huge 6’5”ish receiver #11?

  • GoAmat

    No one really cares. But part of being in sports is to turn in you grades. Maybe that was the real problem. We all know that there is two sides to a story. Bottom line is…. As long as players are happy playing where they are, that’s all that matters! Look at Amats number 19. He played for Servite last year and is a Amat boy this year. Who in their young mind would want to leave Servite? And he’s getting playing time. There is life after high school esp if your good!!! Andrews is humble and knew he would shine someday and he had faith in the Amat coaches. Plus he has a awesome dad backing him up.

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    No, the tall receiver is Joseph Cook and he better be ready to shine on Friday.

    Andrews is the guy who scores every time he touches the ball. No. 7.

    I guess you coulda just looked at the picture I posted …

  • one game at a time

    Good question Aram.

    Well Amat had another speedster in front of him named Amam Sanchez (a senior) plus Amat was more run oriented with Jalen Moore. Andrews is a much better player this year, since he now has 2 years learning and developing the Amat system. But I do agree with you, why didn’t they used him more last year?!

  • GoAmat

    @anonymous. Sorry but I wasn’t referring to andrews not making the grades I said at least he stood at Amat no matter if he got playing time or didn’t play the position that he wanted to. Guess u misunderstood who I was referring to

  • Anonymous

    No big deal i was just replying to when you said

    “But you didn’t see him cry and run to another school because he wasn’t getting playing time or the position he wanted to play!”

    Thats all i was replying to but hey its water under the bridge.

  • FredJ

    Koa is the Real Deal….

    Amat all day, everyday, lol. Aram, just like me, realizes that Amat is the straw the stirs the web hits.

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    Oh Freddie,

    If only we got paid by web hits, you’d be a rich man.

    Truth is, I find the Amat football phenomena to be one of the most compelling things around. And part of that has to do with Fred and how well he covers them.

    I would say there’s a different tone to Fred’s coverage of Amat and mine.

    This is the Amat No Spin Zone!

  • Bulldogs have bite

    BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

    Cerritos cnacels remainder of their Varsity Football season due to safety reasons. After being outcored 234-0 in four games this season. La Mirada will now have a twenty day bye period before facing Mayfair in week 11!

  • Serra Smile

    Wow, you guys are really jumping ahead of yourselves on all fronts. Yes Amat has played a lot of local teams and posted “W’s”. Yes, Amat looks good early on. BUT, The other teams in the Serra have been posting some pretty good wins also.
    @Aram – This years “Three” better than last years? I will wait to see how they do against “like” competition (Serra League play) IF they can still post good numbers, wins and carry a team like the others than I will hop on that train…I truly hope they can. Amat NEEDS a better than first round run this year and they for sure need a Playoff appearance at the very least!!!
    As a fan of Amat Football I am not blind or am I an over zealous Fan-at-ic. I just hope that Amat can continue to improve and that more of their players can emerge as break out/game changer type players in the weeks to come. I still think there is a long way to go before we start handing out awards for this season so good luck against the st. paul SLIME this week Lancers, show them what LANCER FOOTBALL is all about on Friday night!

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    Serra Smile,

    You can wait all you want, but the fact is this year’s Amat team has played a much tougher, by far, not even in the same neighborhood, nonleague schedule than either of the past two teams did. By far. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

    I do, however, agree with the notion that the season will ultimately be judged by how things go in league and hopefully the playoffs.

    But I think this team, because of the nonleague schedule, is much further ahead of the game and much more battle tested.

  • FredJ

    How good are Amat’s nonleague opponents? Well, they’re 8-5-1 and would be 8-1-1 if not for the combined four losses to Amat. That’s impressive. La Mirada, Chino Hills and Charter Oak would be undefeated if not for Amat.

  • http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvfootball Aram

    Oh Freddie,

    Chino Hills would not be undefeated were it not for Amat. First of all, the game was a tie, not a loss. And secondly, they lost to Tesoro.

    Does everyone now see why we need the Aram Tolegian Amat No Spin Zone?

    Anyway,

    CalPreps ratings for each of Amat’s opponents so far …

    Servite 50.1
    Chino Hills 49.1
    La Mirada 50.2
    Charter Oak 44.3

    I’ll take it!

  • Anon

    A Fred that didn’t make any sense ch didn’t lose to amat so they are not part of the bs u posted about teams would be undefeated if not for amat

  • Anon

    I agree with the no spin zone thing Aram talking about Fred u are the reason y amat is so blog popular

  • fb102

    Koa is the real deal,
    You are on the right track when it comes to 2011 varsity. DAndrews had shown a LOT of promise as a soph and his underutilization was puzzling also.

    RR wasnt there most of the summer like the rest of the team and it showed. When the season started, RR went back to his old M.O. of throwing to who he was comfortable with and locking onto receivers from the snap. It worked the season before cause WG was THAT guy and at 66 so he was able to haul down many passes + defenses had to keep an eye on AS. Passing game worked for a while in 2011 until ZS went down then the short passing game went downhill. ASanchez was good for a couple of passes but with no QB ABLE to deliver to OTHER receivers(including DA), Amat became very/too dependent on the running game. With JM back there it was not a bad option, BUT an effective offense has to be balanced to be effective.

    Looking back, I wonder why the coaching staff did not insert Dionza Blue in ZSs spot. He is certainly as fast and talented.

    Also looking back, Amats coaching staff perhaps should have went with KH as QB from the start and made RR a WR. In the beginning of the season it may have been rough, BUT by the end of the season when RR was barely playing(due to injuries, mostly) KH would have been firing on all cylinders and been a much better QB for the next 2 seasons. KH sees the field like a QB should. DAndrews MAY have gotten more balls thrown to him last season IF the offense had had a QB that did NOT lock onto receivers from the snap.

    Amat made the playoffs with 1 league win, went out in round 1…..Would the season results/playoffs have been ANY different With KH as QB from the start of the season?

  • FredJ

    That was a mistake, not spin, but like a good politician, Aram spun it on me :) .. Aram’s a great spinner, he’ll tell you that Monrovia is the best team around and that Charter Oak will beat Amat. He knows how to get you talking, even if he doesn’t really believe it.

  • AMAT 73

    Aram,
    Pertaining to your first sentence in your first post. You say this offense would have made Rio look better too. Maybe, but would he have had the commitment and time needed by his involvment in baseball in and out of school to learn this offense ? I don’t think he could have grasped all that’s needed to run this offense with the time dedicated to baseball . Not knocking him in any manner at all as he was a solid player and did his best, just my opinion . Also have you noticed the elimination of the QB having to go to the sideline each time to get the play as in years past. We are able to run plays faster and with better tempo this season then before .

  • They’ll turn on you in a blink of an eye

    1. It’s amazing to me how all of the Amat honks appear to be in denial that Amat has a blemish on their record. All these Amat honks are posting as if Amat has beaten everyone that they have played so far, as if the Chino Hills game never happened.
    2. Last year all the Amat honks were all over this blog about Rio being the greatest QB in Amat history and now it’s as if they’re all standing in line to throw him under the bus.

  • Sideline Insider

    FYI @Aram,fb101, et al….KH was NOT ready by ANY stretch of the word, to be the #1 QB last season. He has grown leaps and bounds since last year BUT, keep in mind guys, he was unable to do ANYTHING in the second half of the c.o. game last week, even on his own. We will get the true litmus test come league play……Huh, Aram throwing praise in the direction of an Amat player? Hmmmmm.

  • Frank

    What good is having tools if they just sit in your garage?
    Amats problem last year was its utilization of talent. There was a mentality by staff that only certain people could get things done. When in fact Amat had some stud players in limitid roles. When guys were hurt there was an idea that they couldn’t be replaced,but this was far from the truth.
    I think Coach Verti has to get much credit for comming in and seeing the potential of a wider cast of players. Hopefully it continues and I think this is a good test for Amat this week. Playing without their lead scorer will allow someone else to step it up. It will also challenge them to handle adversity. Amat can’t fall into the trap of expecting one guy to do everything. I’m sure this years team won’t have that problem. As this is a very good team, that was highly underestimated.

  • AMAT 73

    turn in a blink,
    First off 3 posts on Rio and the QB situation does not in any way say that all of the AMAT honks are standing in line to throw him under the bus . We are merely stating what we think was the case with last years offensive output plain and simple and I believe Aram and maybe Fred see it that way also . Not enough commitment to football due to his baseball situation and by a 1.8 million contract I guess he made the right choice , which if was ok by Hags , then that’s what it was plain and simple as he is the coach. Now saying all were saying he was the great in AMAT’s history is a stretch .Yes a few over zealous honks came out with that but to the true Blue fan , we know what it would take to get to the level of a Haden or Sciarra and a few others and to be truthful Rio was good but not in or near their company . The Trib did more of building him up than the AMAT honks did last season . In baseball he is one of the best to hit the diamond at AMAT no doubt but that’s a different subject. One thing in closing , I don’t mind the hate towards AMAT but at least come on here with some truths when you accuse us of wrong doing and not what you think you see through your hater glasses. And by your post I guess you’re CH fan no doubt.

  • http://msn.com Prep Dad

    Amat73
    You must be infected with SLIME

    Good Luck!

  • AmatFreshman

    Did you see the Amat freshman score!! I don’t know if it’s correct.. but they beat St. Paul freshman 50-0.. and had a 50-0 lead by the 3rd quarter.. The future looks bright for Amat.. Freshman have only allowed 17 points this season including defeating Servite Freshman.. and are still undefeated.. Can’t wait to see how well they do in league. heard that some of these freshman can play varsity.. Hopefully Amat varsity gets to the playoffs.. would love to see some of these freshman get some PAC 5 varsity playoff exposure..

  • fb102

    AmatFreshman, COOL your jets…..When the current seniors(2013) were frosh they SMOKED every pre-league foe they faced except for St. Bonnies[win, but not smoked].

    That frosh team proceeded to LOSE EVERY league contest.

    The start is great and the team is very talented, but before annointing them the next big ‘thing’, let them finish the season.

    As for playing time in the playoffs as frosh, extremely remote. THINK about it, IF any 1 of them were good enough to be on varsity, they’d be there already. Adam Alcantara played against Lakewood AFTER RR went down with an injury.

  • fb102

    Sideline Insider, please re-read my post. Where does it say that KH was ready at the beginning of the season.

    My POINT was that IF KH HAD started in the beginning of the season, by the time league came around he MAY/WOULD have been READY. Instead by the time league came around, KH was in virtually the same spot as the beginning of the season.

  • one game at a time

    fb102

    That frosh team class of 2013 smoked all the preseason teams (WC, Diamond Ranch, Dominguez, Damien, squeaked past St. Paul and beat St. Bonnie 16-0), beat Alemany, lost a close one to Loyola, Crespi and got smoked by Notre Dame. They started off 7-0 and lost the last 3 games to go 7-3.

    Unfortunately, the team fell apart during league due to kids lost due to grades, disciplinary issues and injuries and couldn’t make the personnel adjustments. If that team didn’t have these problems, they could have won it all IMHO.

  • AmatFreshman

    @fb102

    I don’t recall Amat bringing up freshman during their season.. once playoff begins they do though.. They’re the ones without the”A”s on their helmets.. The great ones get playing time during playoffs.. mostly on special teams.. As far as letting them play the season.. you’re right.. it’s still to early to say they’re amazing.. I guess everyone (or maybe I) remembers the 94′ team and how they killed everyone their freshman year.. and then 4 years later they’re the #1 team in the nation. and then there was the c/o 2000… their frosh team went undefeated.. and by the time they were seniors they were ranked in the country… the problem was was that they had a few key transfer outs.. one of which was Chris Rix.. that team didn’t do to well their senior year.. but from what I hear from the size standpoint.. they’re larger and more athletic than the average Amat frosh teams we’ve seen the last decade.. hopefully they finish well.. and they all stick together these next 4 years..

  • slow your roll

    The SP freshmen team is horrible, LM 27-0, MD 55-0
    LH 34-21 and to be truthfull, I don’t see them wining a single game this year! The facts are, Asante didn’t care about this freshmen team and didn’t do any work to build for the future cause he doesn’t plan on being there longer than 2 years!! He thought he come in bring a couple of transfers and be successful and move on to bigger and better things….. Truth be told, his transfers have not had the impact he envisioned….

  • Brutus they are

    Frank 73 shame on you-FB 102…come on really!
    Koa is a good kid and a god QB, however he is not even close to being on par with Rio…Committment?, learn the offense?, what a idiot thing to say! Do you not remember what Rio sacrificed to even play, that he gave up… 2- gold medals for the program…he would have shattered Haden’s record but they pulled him at the beginning of the 3rd qtr twice…He hold’s a state record for consecutive completions…Most called him the best athlete to ever play the position at Amat…Hagerty was horrible last year as a play caller, and Verti is just as good if not better than Salter…There is no comparison with Ruiz, Moore, Sanchez and Shay…to this years skill guys…Amat could not stop the 3rd and long passes and of course last year with Santa Margarita being one of the most dominating teams in history…But Rio had his team within a play deep in the 4th qtr…Absolutely no comparison…Koa was 0 and 3 in 3 league games…the team had NO offense with out Rio

  • Brutus the barber

    Brutus you have to be kidding. The only reason he missed the national baseball tournament was because they postponed it from its early fall date. Until they cancelled it, he missed most of the summer and the first few games. Then once they postponed it, he went back to football and graced us all with his presence, so no personal sacrifice, it just led to an inconsistent start for the program. Great kid, great athlete and baseball player, not a great QB. Average if you look at his stats. Did he play hard? Yes. Did he give it his all? Yes. Did he play smart? No. One of the other bloggers mentioned the focus on only one receiver and that’s why there were so many forced passes and interceptions. He would have excelled at WR with his height and athleticism. Want proof? Look at the Mater Dei game where he was the WR and Mc Clanahan was the QB. This Kid Koa plays smart and can multitask and either run or find 2nd and 3rd receivers down field and that’s the huge difference. QB in today’s game is a complicated and requires above average intelligence and athleticism. Koa has both.

  • AMAT 73

    Brutus,
    First off do you even know all of Haden’s record and how long many of the stood and some that still stand. I have yet to hear any long time AMAT honk say Rio was the best to play QB at AMAT and who would know better, an outsider or a follower of the program for many years. You can’t really knock Koa for his performance last season . Rio went down and Koa was given limited plays ( you said it yourself , poor play calling last season ) to run and that’s mainly what was called , runs. My comment was just based on the fact that Rio could and did not put in the time needed due to his commitment to baseball ( AMAT or otherwise) to have a total grasp of the offense even if they were running this years offense with the better play calling.I felt this way last season only it wasn’t the right time to voice it and as I had said , Hags was fine with it so that’s what what we went with , doesn’t mean I liked it but lived with it . We are not talking about Shay,Moore , and Sanchez are we ?????? So far Koa has done an excellent job so let’s see where his career at AMAT pans out . Who knows , he may just make you forget about Rio when all is said and done as far as accomplishments on the football field . By the way name me Koa’s 3 losses in league last season .

  • Black Tototh

    First of all, we will never know, how good Rio Ruiz would have been, had B. Amat passed more.Haveing established the tradition of B.Amat would be a running team in later years, passing more, for whatever reason, did not seem to be the norm, after the success B.Amat had with so many great running backs.
    What I really like about Koa Haynes, is his flow in the backfield! Every new QB at B.Amat establishes his own style. Pat Haden’s make up and Haynes are totally different! Haden had very choppy steps; and moved his head a lot,as he looked for his special receiver,JJ Mc Kay. He looked like he panicked. He wasn’t in trouble, he just lookeed like he was! Not knocking him, he was one of our best,we all know that! Koa Haynes style differs. As he awaits to receive the hicked ball.He seems like he doesn’t have any worries. Sure he hussles to get away from would be tacklers. I’am not his coach only an observer. What I suspect he may be doing, is examing the defense. He then makes any adjustment where necessary. See you all at the game.

  • Brutus is delusional

    Brutus
    You have to be kidding me. Rio was not a very good QB, he would stare down receivers, was unable to anticipate when receivers would break open, and he took way too many sacks because he would wait until after the receiver broke open prior to throwing the ball which usually meant that the ball was thrown too late. Rio never should have been the QB, he should have stayed at Wide Receiver and or DB. We would have been light years better with Koa at QB last year.

  • fb102

    Brutus they are,

    Really? He MAY have been a great ATHLETE at Amat BUT by NO stretch of the imagination was THE BEST. BTW, define ‘most’. If ‘most’ is RR’s dad, I know where you are getting your POV.

    Are you actually writing that Ruiz, Moore, Sanchez and Shay are incomparable to this years top skill guys? I’d take KH and DA OVER RR and AS, and ZS. JM and DB are 2 different type of runners, so that is a push.

    Because KH IS this season’s Qb I attest that the coaching staff has a better weapon to work with. IF they had used KH at QB from the beginning last season, I am fairly certain the offense would have been better throughout the 2011 season too.

    Funny you bring up the playoff game vs. SM. RR threw at least 2 intercetions that led directly to SM scores. Both of them when the game was in doubt. One was a poorly underthrown ball that was put up as if it had been flung downfield haphazzardly.

    RR had HIS team….Funny I thought it was Amat’s team.

    Underneath all of this is that THIS Amat team is playing UNITED instead of as individuals. Sure there are star players, BUT this sr. group is working WITH the jr. and soph. group to achieve success.

  • fb102

    Brutus they are,

    Really? He MAY have been a great ATHLETE at Amat BUT by NO stretch of the imagination was THE BEST. BTW, define ‘most’. If ‘most’ is RR’s dad, I know where you are getting your POV.

    Are you actually writing that Ruiz, Moore, Sanchez and Shay are incomparable to this years top skill guys? I’d take KH and DA OVER RR and AS, and ZS. JM and DB are 2 different type of runners, so that is a push.

    Because KH IS this season’s Qb I attest that the coaching staff has a better weapon to work with. IF they had used KH at QB from the beginning last season, I am fairly certain the offense would have been better throughout the 2011 season too.

    Funny you bring up the playoff game vs. SM. RR threw at least 2 intercetions that led directly to SM scores. Both of them when the game was in doubt. One was a poorly underthrown ball that was put up as if it had been flung downfield haphazzardly.

    RR had HIS team….Funny I thought it was Amat’s team.

    Underneath all of this is that THIS Amat team is playing UNITED instead of as individuals. Sure there are star players, BUT this sr. group is working WITH the jr. and soph. group to achieve success.

  • berklee

    they all good on bass

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