He just turned 16 in September. Not sure how the 19 year old rule works but I would think his family took that into account. My understanding is that he was held back or held out of school entirely for a year after 8th grade and worked with a quarterback coach during that time, which would indicate to me that this decision was football related and not academic. Even being 16, going essentially from 8th grade to a starter on a large school varsity team is remarkable. In the very first game of the season against Rocklin he showed poise and confidence and Turlock actually led at halftime. He has done well in all the games although I did not see their game against Folsom so I assume he struggled as has every else in the section against them. Turlock has scheduled tough non-conference games for a number of years to get the team battle-hardened as the league they're in is very weak, so their chance of an undefeated regular season is essentially nil (they are 5-3 now). Since 2018, the first year of the CCAL league, Turlock has only lost 3 league games. Silva is listed as 5'9", but is probably closer to 5'8" or 5"7". Will he get any taller? I don't know. I reached my full height at 16, but some grow later in age. As for the playoffs, Turlock is Div. 1 (5th largest school in the section) and should certainly get a first round home game, if not a top 4 seeding, depending on what the committee thinks. They have not had a problem winning the first round but then run up against the SFL teams, especially Oak Ridge as they have played them at least 3 times in the recent years. In 2022 they had the big upset of St. Mary's in the second round but then got back down to earth the following week against Oak Ridge. Just getting past the second round would be a huge deal but of course Folsom is waiting at the end for any team that gets that far.
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