Prep Rally: Letās start previewing the 2022 high school football season
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Itās time to start previewing top teams and players for the 2022 football season. One of the most intriguing is freshman quarterback Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park.
Freshman to watch
The referee for the seven-on-seven summer passing game kept saying āthird down.ā
Newbury Park head coach Joe Smigiel kept answering āsecond down,ā his voice rising and his frustration growing.
Meanwhile, the 15-year-old freshman quarterback and son of the head coach, Brady Smigiel, acted impervious to the dispute, huddling with teammates to prepare for the next play.
It was the perfect scene to imagine what might transpire this fall between father and son.
āHeās more mature than me,ā Joe said
At 6 feet 4, Brady has the size to be a top quarterback along with the arm. Now letās see what happens when the pads come on.
Hereās a profile of a teenager who when he was 13 took one of the last photos of Kobe Bryant before his death.
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Peko brothers
The Peko brothers, Domata Jr. and Joseph, have been able to hang out and learn from their father, Domata Sr., a defensive lineman in the NFL for 15 years. Theyāve been on the field at NFL stadiums before games watching, listening and trying to understand what it takes to succeed.
Now theyāre using those lessons at Calabasas High, where Domata Jr. is a 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior defensive end and Joseph is a 6-foot, 245-pound freshman lineman.
Domata Sr., who was born in Whittier and later lived in Samoa, was an assistant coach at Calabasas in 2019 until he signed late with the Baltimore Ravens.
Joseph, known around Calabasas as āBaby Peko,ā is built similarly to his father, who is 6-3, 325 pounds.
Long snappers to watch
Long snappers remain valuable contributors to any football team, and long snapping guru Chris Rubio offers his latest list of top long snappers for the coming football season, led by Oaks Christianās Tate Haver, who is committed to Texas.
Haver, the son of Rams general manager Les Snead, is very fluid with his snaps with no wasted movement and quick hands, Rubio said.
Other long snappers to watch from the senior class include Chase Martin from Thousand Oaks, Joshua Fuentes from Oxnard, Trent Middleton from Orange Lutheran and Jonathan Tabb from El Modena.
A rising junior is Rylan Vagana from Santa Ana Mater Dei.
DeMar DeRozan reminiscences
With every summer, the landscape shifts, gentrification seeping into the infrastructure DeMar DeRozan calls home.
When spring melts away and the final buzzer sounds on DeRozanās season ā echoing this year after a first-round series loss to the Milwaukee Bucks ā the former Compton High star returns to Los Angeles. Itās a city, though, different from 15 years ago, when his deep-sea-blue No. 23 Compton jersey rocked rims across the land. The Kia Forum was long the ābig thingā in Inglewood, he said. Now the city has the gleaming L.A. Ramsā SoFi Stadium.
āOver time, you look up,ā DeRozan said, āand Inglewood is going to be like Beverly Hills.ā
After speaking in the final event of Tuesdayās LA84 Foundation Play Equity Summit, DeRozan reflected for a moment on the change he saw year after year in his hometown ā a change he called ācrazy.ā And not just on the cityās surface.
The No. 23 Tarbabes jersey and his 30-point outbursts in cramped high school gyms are immortalized in grainy YouTube highlights. But as the years have passed, the competition as DeRozan knew it has crumbled, corresponding with a decades-long drop in enrollment among familiar public schools.
The once-mighty football programs of LAUSD schools such as Crenshaw, a few miles north of the Forum, suffered engagement so low that games had to be cancelled this past season. Long Beach Jordan High basketball, a Moore League rival in DeRozanās Compton heyday, went 10-16 last season and 0-12 in 2021. Fremont, a stout 21-8 opponent for the Tarbabes in DeRozanās senior season, didnāt win a game last season.
āItās one of those things thatās real sentimental, especially with me being able to enjoy my high school ā how much high school mattered coming up,ā DeRozan said of the local decline in enrollment and competition. āFor me, seeing where itās at now, itās kind of sad to see.ā
Hereās the report.
Praying in the spotlight
Stafon Johnson has long been a self-described āchurch boy.ā
The Dorsey High coach and former standout Dons running back found a home base in church, growing up in Compton. His grandfather was on the ministerās board there. Faith came along when he started playing Pop Warner, when he came to Dorsey and when he realized pregame jitters could sometimes be calmed by a few words to God.
He said he never prayed before basketball games like he did football. It was the physicality of the game. The knowledge that freak accidents could happen with one misplaced cleat.
āWhen I got to the NFL and college, thereās an actual chaplain,ā Johnson said. āSo I just thought that was just one of those universal things, where, āDuh.ā ā
But prayer within public high school football programs is not so simple.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a football coach in Washington state who was put on paid leave after praying on the fieldās 50-yard line after games.
The decision blurs the line between church and state in public schools, with the high court holding that the coachās actions were protected by the 1st Amendment. For some coaches like Johnson captaining LAUSD programs, that line has long been hazy.
Hereās a report from Lucas Evans.
College baseball uncertainty
UCLA baseball coach John Savage is like many college baseball coaches these days in trying to figure out a roster for next season while having to wait until the middle of July just to see who might be leaving because the amateur draft doesnāt take place until July 17-19.
āThe timing is terrible,ā Savage said.
Adding to the uncertainty, there was a Thursday deadline when coaches must let returning players know whether scholarships will be renewed. Savage has 11.7 scholarships to give out, including for incoming freshmen. Itās a yearly balancing act, and this year is even more uncertain because there are many more players draft eligible because of COVID-19 redshirt seasons. How many will choose to leave? How many will be taken during a 23-round amateur draft?
Hereās a report.
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āWhat the heck?ā
Wyatt Becker, a sophomore quarterback at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High with 16 college scholarship offers, said he learned the news about USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten via Twitter.
āWhat the heck?ā he said was his reaction.
High school sports recruits from across California had similar thoughts of shock.
A report on the reaction from recruits about last weekās stunning news.
Notes ...
Two sophomore baseball players from La Mirada have committed to UCLA. Outfielder Maverek Russell and shortstop Aiden Aguayo both announced commitments. ...
Keani Albanez is the new girlsā basketball coach at Oaks Christian. She played at Buena and Gonzaga. ...
Beth Bailey is the new girlsā water polo coach at Huntington Beach. ...
Colin Sahlman from Newbury Park has been selected the Gatorade boysā state athlete of the year in track and field. Sahlman, a distance runner, is headed to Northern Arizona. ...
Freshman Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura has been selected the Gatorade girlsā state athlete of the year in track and field. Sheās a distance runner. ...
Former Servite catcher Garret Guillemette has transferred from USC to Texas. ...
Former Mira Costa pitcher Thatcher Hurd has left UCLA for Louisiana State. ...
Former Beckman outfielder Nick McClain has left UCLA for Arizona State. ...
Santa Ana Mater Dei 6-8 forward Zack Davidson has committed to Montana. ...
Former El Camino Real guard JD Wyatt has transferred to Reseda Cleveland. He will be a sophomore. ...
An all-star team of California baseball players, many from Orange County, won the Geico high school baseball championship in Louisiana. Huntington Beachās Aidan Espinoza and JSerraās Jonathan Mendez each hit a home run in the final. Orange Lutheranās Eric Borba was head coach. ...
Mission Viejo wide receiver Jackson Holman has committed to Arizona. ...
Santa Ana Mater Dei won the eight-team St. John Bosco seven-on-seven tournament Saturday, defeating Carlsbad in the championship game. The best tournament of the season takes place Saturday at Edison High in Huntington Beach with Mission Viejo, Long Beach Poly, Los Alamitos and Corona del Mar battling it out against the top private schools. And best of all ā admission is free. Bring a lawn chair and sunscreen and be nice to the officials when they donāt call defensive holding. ...
Former St. Paul and Pepperdine infielder Andy Stankiewicz is the new baseball coach at USC. He was head coach at Grand Canyon.
From the archives: Jordin Canada
Jordin Canada is fulfilling all her dreams and aspirations as a womenās basketball player.
She was a star point guard at Windward, went on to become a four-year standout at UCLA and is now playing for her hometown team in the WNBA, the Sparks.
Hereās a story from 2013 explaining how when Canada is on the court, āthereās magic in the air.ā
Hereās a story when she was The Timesā player of the year.
Recommendations
From the Ventura Star, a story on no regrets for Newbury Park distance star Colin Sahlman on passing up competing in CIF events.
From the Fontana Herald News, a story on a stadium being named after football coach Dick Bruich.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the Supreme Court ruling that allowed a football coach to pray after a game.
From TheRinger.com, a story on 17-year-old basketball standout Andrej Stojakovic.
Tweets you might have missed
Until next time...
Have a question, comment or something youād like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.