Preseason All-State Football (Part 1)

How can a preseason all-state team be done in two parts? This is just our way of not completely ignoring those Class of 2021 graduating seniors who may not play for their high school teams once the next season begins. Part 2 will be a revamped version of these teams chosen in early December and comprised only of those players who actually will be playing for their high school teams starting in January.

We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. All of our annual preseason all-section, all-county and all-region teams are being delayed in getting done until late November at the earliest. All of those posts will be for Gold Club members only, but we’ll have plenty more Gold Club coverage in football until then. You can now join for one-month rate of just $3.99. For subscription info, CLICK HERE.

FOR GOLD CLUB ARCHIVE OF ALL EARLIER PRESEASON ALL-STATE FOOTBALL TEAMS SINCE 1986, CLICK HERE.

To order a commemorative, official All-State Football patch for those who’ve been named to one of our all-state teams for the 2019 season, go to this link from our friends at Billy Tees, which has been the official merchandiser of the CIF for many years.

In the Coronavirus pandemic era, if you didn’t know, it was not possible to select all-state teams this last June and July for the sports of baseball and softball because not enough games were played.

We’ve now arrived to what is typically the preseason for football. We were waiting to see what would happen with the calendar for the 2020-21 school year before doing any of our preseason all-area, all-county or all-state football teams and of course we found out on July 20 that the games in California won’t begin until early January. That also puts into question how many of the top graduating seniors for 2021 will continue to play for their high schools in January or whether they will leave for their colleges.

Instead of waiting to find out, the plan for us has become to go ahead and choose a preseason all-state team for this year (Part 1) as if all of the seniors were heading to their high school teams this fall. For the ones who do leave, at least there will be some recognition concerning what they were projected to do under normal circumstances. The plan also will be to choose another preseason all-state team (Part 2) closer to the actual start of the 2020-21 season comprised only of those players who physically will be on the field for their high schools for the upcoming season.

Cal-Hi Sports Preseason
All-State Football Team (2020)

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

WR Beaux Collins (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) 6-4, 200, Sr.
One of the top-ranked wideouts in the nation, Beaux has announced he’s leaving for Clemson early as planned. He must want to get started hooking up with former Braves’ QB D.J. Uiagalelei, who already is at Clemson.

WR Troy Franklin (Menlo-Atherton, Atherton) 6-2, 170, Sr.
The State Sophomore of the Year after the 2018 season, Franklin can beat a team in a myriad of ways, even on defense. He has committed to Oregon.

TE Brock Bowers (Napa) 6-4, 225, Sr.
He’s one of the best players we’ve ever seen from the Napa Valley at any of the combines or camps we’ve been to or helped put together, and that goes back to the very first one (held actually at Napa High in 1994). Brock hasn’t yet committed.

OL Thomas Cole (San Luis Obispo) 6-7, 260, Sr.
We chose Thomas as a NorCal Defensive Player of the Week last season for his ability to rush the passer on defense. He’s even better trying to stop other guys from doing the same. The returning all-state first team junior has committed to UCLA.

OL Garrett DiGiorgio (Serrano, Phelan) 6-7, 295, Sr.
One of the reasons that Serrano posted a 12-1 record last season was the dominance of DiGiorgio along the offensive line. The UCLA commit was a third team all-state junior in 2019, but has jumped up on all of the player rankings lists since the early spring.

OL Earnest Greene (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) 6-3, 300, Jr.
There’s been no jumping up the player rankings list for Greene. Since he came onto the scene at Bosco at a young age, he’s been one of the top national linemen for the Class of 2022. He’s also one of the top five Class of 2022 prospects in the state regardless of position.

OL Ryan Lange (Pittsburg) 6-6, 330, Sr.
Cal just got a big commit from Lange within just the last week. He was impressive in the Pitt games we saw last season and has a lot of upside.

OL Noah Pulealii (Palma, Salinas) 6-4, 300, Sr.
There hasn’t been a player in the state who has blasted up the player rankings charts of 247 Sports, Rivals and ESPN quite like Pulealii. He’s done a good job getting out there to showcase events so he can be seen.

QB Miller Moss (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-2, 195, Sr.
We were definitely going to have Miller and Tyler Buchner of Helix on this first team and are listing Miller in this spot since Tyler was so great running the ball last season and fits better as one of those on multi-purpose. Moss transferred to Mater Dei after playing the 2018 and 2019 seasons at Alemany of Mission Hills. He passed for 3,118 yards and 28 TDs last year. Moss, who started at Loyola (Los Angeles) as a freshman, has committed to USC.

RB Johnathan Arceneaux (Lawndale) 6-0, 180, Sr.
An all-state sophomore and junior who had back-to-back seasons of more than 1,800 yards rushing, Arceneaux has transferred from Whittier to Lawndale. He recently committed to Fresno State. He’ll be playing for a Lawndale squad that had Medium Schools State Player of the Year Jordan Wilmore at runningback two years ago.

RB Byron Cardwell (Morse, San Diego) 6-0, 195, Sr.
He’s been the highest-ranked running back for the Class of 2021 since he was a sophomore at St. Augustine (San Diego). Cardwell transferred to Morse after last season. He has 20 listed offers, including those from Utah, UCLA and USC.

PK Cole Becker (Rocklin) 6-3, 205, Sr.
We just saw a profile of Cole on local TV in Sacramento, which reported he’s moved to No. 1 in national kicker rankings by Kohl’s. We’ll just say we had him on first team all-state for juniors before that.

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL Korey Foreman (Centennial, Corona) 6-5, 265, Sr.
Despite only totaling 32 tackles and five sacks last year, Foreman’s standing as the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country demands that he be on this team. He seemed to signal recently that he’ll leave for his first college camp in January, but that could depend on where he decides to go. He was still uncommitted as of late July.

DL Jay Toia (Grace Brethren, Simi Valley) 6-1, 300, Sr.
Younger brother of Soane Toia (now at San Jose State) committed to USC early in the recruiting process. He was noticeable playing for Grace Brethren in the CIF D2-AA state final in 2018 when the Lancers beat Del Oro of Loomis.

DL Victory Vaka (Westlake, Westlake Village)
6-3, 315, Sr.
After gaining notice as an all-state sophomore in 2018, Vaka had another strong showing for the Warriors last year. He has committed to Texas A&M.

DL Keanu Williams (Clovis) 6-5, 285, Sr.
This hard-to-miss presence has been making a name for himself in the CIF Central Section since he was a freshman. Keanu recently committed to Oregon.

LB Raesjon Davis (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-1, 215, Sr.
Sure, some of his stats from last year were off compared to others, but looking once again at some of the games he’s had in his two years so far at Mater Dei (especially as a sophomore vs. St. John Bosco and De La Salle) shows what he can do. Davis has committed to LSU.

LB Jonathan Flowe (Upland) 6-2, 210, Sr.
The comparisons to older brother Justin (now at Oregon) may be unfair because Justin has been one of the most impressive linebackers from California in 20 years. Comparing Jonathan to other LBs is more fair and he’s clearly in the top group for the state. He could join Justin in Eugene, but is currently uncommitted.

LB Ma’a Gaotete (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) 6-2, 220, Sr.
The leading returnee on defense for the defending CIF Open Division state champs is this linebacker. Gaotete came to Bosco from IMG Academy in Florida and is from Las Vegas. He’s still appearing on his Twitter page as from Bosco and not from Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) but if he goes to USC early it isn’t going to matter. We decided to list him for this team for the same reasons as others who may be on the move before January.

LB Will Schweitzer (Los Gatos) 6-4, 215, Sr.
Smart and quick to the ball, Schweitzer uses his length very effectively throughout the course of a game. He helped Los Gatos win the 2019 CCS D2 title and has committed to Nebraska.

DB D.J. Harvey (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth) 5-11, 175, Sr.
He was placed in the multi-purpose category for the all-state juniors first team after last season due to catching 84 passes for 1,465 yards to go with his defense. D.J. also has had 12 career interceptions and will be a DB in college so we’ve got him on defense for this team. He has committed to Virginia Tech.

DB Dyson McCutcheon (Bishop Amat, La Puente) 5-10, 175, Sr.
The son of 1994 Mr. Football State Player of the Year Daylon McCutcheon continued his excellent play in the secondary last season, but also became one of the Lancers’ top threats on offense, especially in games that Cal-bound RB Damien Moore missed with injuries. McCutcheon has committed to Washington.

DB Ceyair Wright (Loyola, Los Angeles) 6-1, 175, Sr.
We know for sure that Ceyair will be with the Cubs in January because the school doesn’t allow mid-year graduations. In June, he put together an impressive video featuring many others from the state’s Class of 2021 promoting the Black Lives Matter movement. For all he’s done off-the-field, to be honest, we’re more interested in how Ceyair proceeds in life in those endeavors than on it. There’s no doubt, though, he’s a great player and was uncommitted the last time we checked.

P Jack Stonehouse (Chaminade, West Hills) 6-3, 175, Sr.
He was a first team overall all-state selection as the punter last season. Jack averaged 44.8 yards per punt with six of them inside the 20. He may be the best punter in the nation.

FIRST TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE

RB/DB/KR Prophet Brown (Monterey Trail, Elk Grove) 5-11, 180, Sr.
Standout from team that last year beat Folsom in the Sac-Joaquin Section D1 playoffs before losing to Oak Ridge in the final has 100 carries in his career for 1,330 yards (you do the math for that average). He also had three picks on defense and returned a kickoff for a score. Brown has committed to USC.

QB/RB Tyler Buchner (Helix, La Mesa) 6-3, 190, Sr.
There wasn’t anyone in the state who had his name added in more places in our updated set of state records when those were done a couple of weeks ago than Buchner. Playing for his previous school, Bishop’s of La Jolla, our State Junior of the Year had 4,474 yards passing and 53 TDs plus he rushed for 1,610 yards and 28 more scores. Tyler has committed to Notre Dame.

QB/RB Dorian Hale (De La Salle, Concord) 6-1, 190, Sr.
If the Spartans end the next season No. 1 in Northern California once again, Hale figures to be the leading NorCal Player of the Year candidate. It would be the third straight season he’d have quarterbacked them to that spot and he’ll put himself on a short list of the school’s best QBs. Hale has committed to Sacramento State.

QB/RB Kajiya Hollawayne (San Jacinto) 6-3, 205, Sr.
It was a bit of a gamble to put Hollawayne first team for juniors last season. It’s just that San Jacinto isn’t in the same boat competitively as a lot of other schools. But we checked him out closely at last March’s Elite 11 QB regional at Cerritos College and he was definitely one of the best there. It wouldn’t be a surprise if down the road Kajiya becomes the best NFL prospect of the group. He has committed to UCLA.

QB/RB Justin Lamson (Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills) 6-3, 190, Sr.
After playing DB as a sophomore starter for the Trojans two years ago, Justin took over at quarterback and led them to their first CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 title. No, he isn’t as high on recruiting lists as Folsom’s Ari Patu (Stanford commit) from the same Sierra Foothill League, but clearly has been better so far as a high school player. And Lamson’s offers picked up steam throughout the spring with him eventually committing to Syracuse.

RB/DB Mitch Leigber (Laguna Hills) 6-1, 205, Sr.
He moves up from second team juniors to first team preseason and recently committed to Stanford. Leigber rushed for 936 yards and 11 TDs last season, but was recruited as a DB. On that side of the ball, he had 109 tackles and four picks.

Second Team Offense
WR Kyron Ware-Hudson (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-1, 195, Sr.
WR Xavier Worthy (Central, Fresno) 6-0, 170, Sr.
TE Jermaine Terry (Kennedy, Richmond) 6-4, 235, Sr.
OL Maximus Gibbs (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) 6-6, 340, Sr.
OL Andrew Madrigal (Norco) 6-4, 300, Sr.
OL Ross Maseuli (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-3, 315, Sr.
OL Elia Migao (Chaparral, Temecula) 6-3, 320, Sr.
OL Josh Simmons (Helix, La Mesa) 6-5, 320
QB Jake Garcia (La Habra) 6-2, 190, Sr.
RB Jordan Hornbeak (San Joaquin Memorial, Fresno) 6-0, 190, Sr.
RB Kavika Tua (Oceanside) 5-8, 175, Sr.
PK Josh Bryan (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth) 6-2, 180, Sr.

Second Team Defense
DL Devin Apiu (Pacifica, Oxnard) 6-5, 215, Sr.
DL Akili Calhoun (Liberty, Brentwood) 6-4, 250, Sr.
DL Jailen Weaver (Antioch) 6-7, 260, Sr.
LB Jaden Genova (JSerra, SJ Capistrano) 6-0, 195, Sr.
LB Je’kob Jones (Central, Fresno) 6-0, 215, Sr.
LB Ethan Mascarenas (Mission Viejo) 6-1, 205, Sr.
DB Noah Avinger (Servite, Anaheim) 5-11, 170, Sr.
DB Jaylin Davies (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-0, 170, Sr.
DB Xamarion Gordon (Warren, Downey) 6-2, 190, Sr.
DB Domani Jackson (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-1, 170, Jr.
DB R.J. Regan (Lutheran, Orange) 6-1, 180, Sr.
P Jarrett Reeser (Canyon, Canyon Country) 5-10, 170, Sr.

Second Team Multi-Purpose
RB/WR Raleek Brown (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 5-10, 170, Jr.
RB/LB Ethan Calvert (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) 6-3, 230, Sr.
QB/RB Peter Costelli (Mission Viejo) 6-3, 205, Sr.
WR/DB/PK Mikey Ficher (Tulare Western, Tulare) 5-10, 175, Sr.
QB/RB Noah Fifita (Servite, Anaheim) 5-10, 180, Jr.
QB/RB Chayden Peery (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth) 6-2, 200, Sr.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports