Local High School Recruits Could Play Closer To Home

This past week was undoubtedly a very exciting time for a number of Orange County area high school football players. This past Tuesday, was the first day high school football players could sign their National Letter of Intent. For those unfamiliar with the The National Letter of Intent or NLI, it is used to indicate a student athlete’s commitment to play sports at a particular university. This past week a number of Orange County football players put pen to paper and officially announced their college of choice. Many, like Matt Barkley of Mater Dei signing with USC or Terrence Brown of Orange Lutheran choosing to attend Stanford, signed with FBS (formerly known as Division 1-A) schools. Others chose to sign with FCS (formerly known as Division 1-AA) schools that are quite a distance from their hometowns.

With all the research and investigation on the most realistic and feasible way to bring back Titan Football, most would agree that bringing back the team at the FCS level makes the most sense. Jumping into the FBS level of competition would be a mistake because of the humongous costs associated with running a program of that size and magnitude. So it stands to reason that if Cal State Fullerton did have a FCS football program they would have an outstanding chance at recruiting local athletes just based on the close proximity to their homes.

Here is a list of Orange County area High School football players who signed a letter of intent this past week to play football at schools that would be on the same level as CSUF if the program was reinstated at the FCS level. (Those names in italics are pictured. Photos appear courtesy of the Orange County Register.)

• Jamie Azdair (Santa Margarita, 6-0, 230, C): Hamilton College
• Joe Casey (La Habra, 6-1, 225, LB): Humboldt State
• Duke deLancellotti (San Clemente, 6-0, 175, QB): Cal Poly SLO
• Curen Devlin (Trabuco Hills, 6-2, 226, LB): Mesa State
• Mark Edwards (Whittier Christian): Evangel
• Geoff Hyde (Esperanza, 6-2, 250, C): Cal Poly SLO
• Anthony Kaspar (Dana Hills, 6-2, 235, DT): UC Davis
• Bryan Kiernan (Mater Dei, 6-0, 270, C): San Diego
• J.J. Mayer (Trabuco Hills, 6-2, 208, QB): Southern Utah
• Randall Nygren (La Habra, 6-3, 195, QB): Southern Utah
• Matt Peleti (Aliso Niguel, 6-3, 260, OL): San Diego
• Nicalaus Powell-Calhoun (Segerstrom, 6-4, 210, WR): North Dakota St.
• Jeff Quigley (Laguna Hills, 6-3, 285, OL): San Diego
• Bijon Samoodi (Servite, 5-8, 170, DB): Cal Poly SLO
• Tubotein Taylor (Canyon, 5-11, 170, ATH.): Idaho State
• Ryan World (Santa Margarita, 6-2, 180, QB): Western Carolina

To assume that all of these athletes that chose to pursue their football futures elsewhere would automatically attend Cal State Fullerton had they been offered a football scholarships is highly optimistic. It is not too far out of the realm of possibilities that Cal State Fullerton would at the very least be in the running for their consideration. Many might even choose Cal State Fullerton had the opportunity to stay home and have family and friends watch them play on Saturdays be available to them.

Each year Cal State Fullerton does not have a football program is another year the coaching staffs of Southern Utah, Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, etc. can continue to raid the talent rich area that is Orange County. Adding to this, think of all the other local football players that are choosing to attend junior colleges because a FCS scholarship is not available to them.

Without a local option for these athletes to consider, Cal State Fullerton is essentially shipping these athletes off to other schools out of the area away from their family and friends. It’s a shame isn’t it?