Menlo-Atherton quarterback Xander Eschelman (6-foot-3, 195 pounds) has verbally committed to Columbia after picking up an offer at the end of June.

He has a wide open playing style that leads to big plays. He is a good athlete in getting out the perimeter and maintaining his arm strength on the move. While on the move, he can put the defense in a bind as a running threat (when needed), but also has a quick release to hit receivers over the middle. His best pass is floating the ball over defenders on deep balls.

As a junior appearing in seven games, he completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,107 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

With the season fast approaching, it seems it will be another great season for Sac HS football! I wanted to start a thread on thoughts and predictions for which Sac teams seem ready for a great season. Per usual Folsom seems to be the clear team to beat in Sac. They are loaded with talent and return Lyons at QB. Does anyone in the Sac area have shot at these guys? Oak Ridge? Speaking of talent the Grant Pacers are back and seem to be the second-best team in Sac. They have returned to form and look to be hungry to take the top spot with a great nonleague schedule. Who are the top teams in sac this season? Should be an awesome year! Here are some teas that come to mind.

Folsom
Grant
Inderkum
Oak Ridge
Rocklin
Monterey Trail

Big congrats to former Folsom HS and Sonoma State Cossack for getting drafted in NBA to Grizz. What a story. No stars, no rankings, no prep school... If you are good they will find you! Knecht is the same story.

Go McKenna!!

Jalen Green Elite (1-1)

Lost to Team Loaded-VA 72-66 (Luke Isaak had 10 points and 5 rebounds)
Beat Compton Magic 69-62 (Luke Isaak had 7 points and 5 rebounds)

Team Lillard (1-1)

Beat ETG Midwest 74-66 (Jasir Rencher had a team high 16 points. Elijah Perryman had 12 points and Jalen Stokes had 11 points)
Lost to Team Loaded-NC 63-48 (Jalen Stokes had 10 points, Jasir Rencher and Alivin Loving each had 9 points. Rencher went 3-for-7 from 3s)

Abe Simmon's will be stepping down after Nineteen years.
He was preceeded by his Father, Sam Simmons going back well into the the early Ninties.
The new Varsity coach will be Rob Barde.
Before coming to Chico he had some experience with his alma Mater at Drake and Novato.
He will have some big shoes to fill

Here's wishing you great hoops

Steven Kwan, Washington HS, Fremont, 2015, on AL AS final ballot for OF. Already 2 time GG in his MLB career... trying to get selected for his 1st MLB AS game.
Currently not showing up on MLB BA leader board as he had time on IR, but during summer will get added once he reaches minimum AB's. Current at .362 and has one of the best AB to SO ratios in MLB.

Another East Bay player, Bryan Woo, Alameda HS, 2018, currently on IR but has 3 and 1 W/L record and 1.77 ERA

Marin Catholic tight end Braiden Bachich-Dixon (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) has seen his recruiting stock grow since the end of the high school season and became the first 2025 Bay Area commit for head coach Ken Niumatalolo. He chose the Spartans over other Mountain West offers Fresno State, Nevada and Washington State.

While he projects as a tight end, Bachich-Dixon played wide receiver for the WIldcats where he showed the ability to get clean releases, pressure the top of the defense and make contested catches. He averaged 20 yards per catch in finishing with 853 yards and 12 touchdowns. He had 132 yards and two touchdowns in the state title game.

Bachich-Dixon is slotted to be a weapon in what should be a wide open passing attack for the Spartans, which plan to run the Spread-N-Shead offense with roots back to June Jones.

In total, San Jose State now has 10 commitments in the rising senior class with eight of them coming from California.

Go Gauchos! Big get for my Gauchos !

NorCal Results from Friday:

Salesian , Riordan, Clovis North, Valley Christian-SJ, DeLaSalle, Mitty, St. Ignatius, Dublin, San Ramon, Clovis West and Oakland Tech all advance in their respective brackets.

Consolation Brackets:
Bishop O’Dowd, Modesto Christian, Inderkum, Branson, San Joaquin Memorial, Sheldon

Chase Bentley Granite Bay (Texas A&M)
Alec Blair De La Salle
Cash Brennan Rocklin (Arizona)
Antonio Castro De La Salle (Cal Poly)
Manny Dorantes Palma (Cal)
Brady Estes Whitney
Brayden Jaksa Irvington (Oregon)
Marco Jones San Ramon Valley (Texas A&M)
Rohan Kasanagottu Valley Christian (USC)
John Kasten Clovis (North Carolina)
Brock Ketelsen Valley Christian (Stanford)
Cooper Kunis Oakmont
Kole Laubach Valley Christian
Joey Lorenzini Rocklin
Quinten Marsh Valley Christian (Stanford)
Sean McGrath San Marin (Cal Poly)
Elijah McNeal Dublin (UC Davis)
Marcus Mickle St. Mary's-Stockton
Trey Morris Washington-Fresno (Texas)
Jordan Ortiz Valley Christian (LMU)
Kyle Pettersen Roseville (UC Davis)
Kyle Pott Franklin Elk Grove
Brock Sell Tokay (Stanford)
Tyler Spangler De La Salle (2026 Stanford)
Jaxon Valenzula Great Oak
Waylon Walsh Mitty (Santa Clara)
Kaleb Wing Scotts Valley (LMU)
David Wiser Bradshaw Christian (Stanford)
Dylan Wood Franklin-Elk Grove (Arizona)

SMH

168 of top high school teams from CA, AZ, NV and OR will be playing at the Roebbelen Center in Roseville June 28-30. The event is hosted by the Bay Area Basketball Coaches Association and is NCAA sanctioned. Schedule is on Exposure

Colleges usually announce redshirt players by stating their redshirt status first; the red-shirt sophmore or the red-shirt junior. Why is this not a thing in high school football?

In high school a hold back sophmore playing on a varsity team is really a junior from a mental and physical standpoint, so why act as though these players are the same as their class peers?

Doesn't this create an unfair advantage for students who are not held back?

1. Salesian remains a team built on defense, unselfishness and depth, but the leading man for the 2024-2025 season will be 2025 wing Alvin Loving, who committed to Yale after the event. Loving is a power wing who is a good shooter, can put the ball on the floor and finish through contact.

2. Riordan lost multiple Division I signees, but will boast the best backcourt in NorCal with incoming transfer Semetri Carr and returning junior Andrew Hillman. The duo can both create their own shot with Carr putting pressure on with his quickness and Hillman has the strength to overpower other guards.

3. Inderkum went 3-1 over the weekend with regional wins over Clayton Valley Charter and Folsom. The Tigers have a strong core coming back with 2025 forward Taylen Goodman, 2025 post Malachi Johnson and 2027 point guard Siincere Hudson. Could Inderkum be the top team in Sacramento next season?

4. Speaking of Clayton Valley Charter, 2025 point guard Elijah Perryman has backed up a good junior season and is a guard to watch over the next year. He has a good handle, sets up teammates well and is a shooting threat.

5. Rocklin 2025 forward Mark Lavrenov stood out for the Thunder and solidified himself as one of the top returning seniors in NorCal. In speaking with several college coaches that were there to watch him, they walked away thinking he was a legit Low to Mid D1 recruit.

6. San Ramon Valley went 4-0 with wins over Mitty and Clovis North. The Wolves have a pair of guards that will keep them among the best teams in the region with Luke Isaak and Thomas Conley.

7. Sacramento also went 4-0 with a win over Clovis West. 2025 guard Sir Marius Jones has picked up offers from Fresno State and Weber State since the event and he is joined by Sheldon transfer Jaden Spears. Sheldon has also lost Muhammad Singleton, who has transferred to Fairfax.

8. The talent level remains high in the West Catholic Athletic League led by Riordan and Mitty. However, another player who showed well at Cali Live was Valley Christian-San Jose 2025 wing Brayden Harris, who is one of the top scorers in NorCal.

Goelz, who ws at the school for 39 years, didn't have his contract renewed by Sonoma State

Per Ethan Kassel's posts:
Former Branson player 6’8 forward Ty Landers now at SI. That's now 3 players who have left the Bulls' program.
Bellarmine loses its best player in Will Corbett - going to rival St. Francis. The Bells lost Brayden Harris last year to VC. Bells also lost their top WR to transfer. What's going on in Bells Land?

2024 - https://norcalpreps.rivals.com/news/player-rankings-girls-basketball-2024-top-40-2

2025 - https://norcalpreps.rivals.com/news/player-rankings-girls-basketball-2025-top-40-1

2026 - https://norcalpreps.rivals.com/news/player-rankings-girls-baskeball-2026-top-25

As I have made my return back into following high school basketball, tonight was the first event I have been to in years. And even though I have seen critical comments about Prolific, I must say I have much respect now for them.

For starters their game of the many games today is just different. Sure both teams are loaded with talent and some future lottery picks, the size, speed, and leaping ability with a 24 second shot clock is awesome to watch. Dream City has a lefty who can flat out play and he is only a sophomore. And Stokes and AJ are incredible and Winters Grady was fun to watch.

Branson by far runs the best offense. It’s not a surprise they beat more athletic and talented teams. Great coaching staff, great to see Jonas on their bench, and the kid going to Illinois is a joy to watch and Carr, I am sure some good schools must be knocking on the door, but if he could sprout up a tad more, watch out cause the kid can flat out score.

Salesian played a tough game. Got off to quick start. But Millenium played them hard and the sophomore leading scorer for Milkenium is big time. Coach Mellis kept his team in it and they got the win. Was great to catch up with Coach. Being I live so close gonna check out a few more games and would love to see them practice. He runs a great program.

Riordan played solid tonight. Have only seen them play online. Sensley had a big game. Got to catch up and spend some good time with Tofi and talk about some great moments during the state title run. So glad he is coaching. He is such a nice guy, and was one of the nicest high school players to ever be around daily. Nice to see good old Kareem on the Riordan staff as well. Great guy. And I think the only tough obstacle Riordan has is balancing playing time. Got to give Curtin credit for taking on such a challenge. Sometimes having to many D1 players can be tough at times. But they balanced the rotations well and I think it wore down Centennial as they don’t have a very deep bench.

And as for the Clovis game. They play hard as hell. But man would have loved to see more flow in that game. Everytime you turned around whistle after whistle on both Vanden and Clovis, really disrupted the flow.

As for the atmosphere. Great to see the great Leon Powe in attendance. Got to catch up with him and such a nice guy. Glad to see he still works for the Celtics. He said he enjoys living in Boston. Nice to also see some of the Soldiers staff and Mr. Mark Olivier. I said man your Lebron James team I will never forget. He said my team this summer has potential to be the best. This summer he will have the best senior and junior in the country and he said they are gonna be pretty loaded. And two more things.

Kiddman I don’t know how you do it. I didn’t get a chance to meet you but as I watched the game I thought to myself I bet Kiddman would be a great play by play guy. Cause all you type with the game moving so fast, much respect sir.

And lastly and most importantly I met the one and only Ayalar. Great to meet you man. Glad you got to experience the coaching side of one of the best games and be around such talent. Prolific ran a great event. Much credit to one of SH’s finest Phil for running such a great event with a great lineup. Really cool what they did for Sensley before the game and showing on the video screen one of the biggest shots ever made in Prolific Prep History for the national title.