Quarterbacks D.J. Uiagalelei of St. John Bosco and Bryce Young of Mater Dei will both go down as among the best in state history and could be dueling back and forth for many years to come. Photos: YouTube.com & Las Vegas Review-Journal.
As the Class of 2020 departs for college with everyone thinking about all of the usual senior traditions not happening this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we’ve already had one Hot 100 final player ranking issued for softball and have now finished it for football. There’s a new No. 1 as this group moves on as Bryce Young of Santa Ana Mater Dei has to be that high based on his various national player rankings. We also have several with big upward moves from our preseason rankings — led by another of the Class of 2020s amazing QBs — and several newcomers as well.
Note: We’ll also issue updated player rankings in football for the Class of 2021 in the next month and will take a first in-depth look at the Class of 2022 in early June. We also will be updating all of our boys basketball player rankings for all classes very soon. All player ranking charts are for Gold Club members only. This is a great time to sign up and you can get it for just $3.99 for one month. For details, CLICK HERE.
Different lists and different honors all have different criteria, which makes it easy to explain the rise of Mater Dei quarterback Bryce Young to the final No. 1 position for the Class of 2020 state player rankings.
When this year’s final rankings were put together by the three major national recruiting networks — 247 Sports, Rivals.com & ESPN — Young was the highest California player for all three. He was No. 2 overall for the nation by both 247 and Rivals and was No. 5 overall by ESPN. Coming into the season, Upland linebacker Justin Flowe was the highest Californian on two of the three ranking lists and therefore was No. 1 for the state.
Serra of San Mateo defensive end Nusi Malani went up even higher than QB teammate Daylin McLemore in final Class of 2020 rankings. Photo: Mark Tennis.
In the most important game that mattered for the annual Mr. Football State Player of the Year honor, however, it was St. John Bosco’s D.J. Uiagalelei who led his team to a win over Young’s team from Mater Dei and then he had another strong outing in the CIF Open Division state final. Uiagalelei also is still behind Flowe for the state player rankings, which for the first 25 to 35 slots are almost all based on a consensus of the three national recruiting rankings, so he dropped from No. 2 to No. 3.
