Prep column: Sticker shock

Barry Faulkner

In the pressurized vacuum of college football coaching, a

scholarship is a terrible thing to waste. So, when coaches dangle the

keys to a free education in front of a prospective recruit, the threat of

winding up with a lemon often dictates they require some standard

equipment.

The luxury class of recruits comes at least 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, with

bulging biceps, sub-4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, a 400-pound bench

press and, theoretically, enough on-field accolades to satiate the most

avid Internet recruiting geek.

Guys like Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden wear a path in these kids’

living room carpet.

That some of these rides often come with a penchant for the fast lane,

is merely an occupational hazard. As long as a blue-chipper has enough

accessories to validate his worth to the coaches, the media and, perhaps

most importantly, the alumni, a program, and its staff, can garner

substantial offseason mileage from landing these guys.

Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the most recent Heisman Trophy

winner, is a recruiter’s dream.

But Josh Heupel, the 6-2, 214-pound senior, was salvaged off the

community college scrap heap before quarterbacking Oklahoma to the

national championship, beating Weinke’s Seminoles in the national title

game.

The resumes of formerly employed big-time coaches are filled with

top-10 recruiting classes, judged using criteria that measures all things

tangible.

But football games are not won on the track, in the weight room, or at

the tailor shop.

Football games are won by players, who often don’t fit these

prepackaged demands.

Newport Harbor High senior Chris Manderino is one of these guys.

Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley, in his third decade as a high

school head coach, knows this. Manderino, his teammates and even some

opposing coaches know it too.

But no Division I college coach has been able to push aside the

stopwatch long enough to consider the intangibles that made Manderino, I

believe, one of the five best high school football players in Orange

County. This is the same county that produced more than three dozen

Division I scholarship recipients, according to signing-day reports last

week.

Meanwhile, the 6-1, 205-pound Manderino, who rushed for 2,141 yards,

scored 31 touchdowns, lit up opposing ballcarriers at outside linebacker

last fall and contributed to 24 victories the last two seasons as a

varsity starter, sits pondering whether he’ll walk on at UC Berkeley or

USC.

No scholarship, no respect, no problem.

“I’m a little surprised,” Manderino said of the absence of scholarship

offers, which he limited somewhat by an uncompromising desire to attend a

Pac-10 school. “I thought I was at least as good, or better, than some of

the guys who got scholarships.”

Instead, recruiters, unimpressed by his mediocre 4.8 speed, looked

past the rest of the package, confounding Brinkley in the process.

“I just think (Manderino) is a player,” Brinkley said. “I think our

program has a pretty good track record with Pete Hogan starting as a

sophomore at Colorado State and making second-team all-conference, Brant

Hill starting as a redshirt freshman defensive end at Nevada and Brett

Baker being the poster boy (single-season tackles record as a junior

safety) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I try to be honest with recruiters,

because I want to maintain a good reputation with them. I don’t try to

sell kids I don’t think will play, but I’ve gone to bat for Chris. I’ve

told coaches I have no doubt he’d be starting somewhere on the field by

the time he was a junior. He could play outside linebacker (where Cal

projects him), or strong safety (USC’s projection), and I’m not so sure

he couldn’t be a quality fullback who could catch the ball out of the

backfield. His grades are OK, he has adequate size and he’s a hard worker

who knows how to win. The only (negative) I can see is the speed factor,

but I think speed is way overrated.”

Brinkley calls Manderino the single most overlooked player he’s ever

coached.

Manderino said he has not allowed himself to become discouraged and is

thankful to have an opportunity to eventually earn a scholarship. Cal

head coach Tom Holmoe has, in fact, assured Manderino a scholarship would

be forthcoming, should he work his way up their depth chart.

Manderino, in fact, plans to use this slight as motivation to become

an even better college player than most envision he will be.

Call it fuel injection.

Another Newport Harbor High football standout, Brian Gaeta, recently

underwent surgery to repair a patellar tendon and planned to have the

other one fixed, as well.

While this is bad news to Sailors’ boys volleyball coach Dan Glenn,

who will be without the 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter for the upcoming

season, Gaeta said he expects to be fully recovered in time to lead the

Tars’ football squad as a returning starter at receiver and cornerback

next fall.

The Newport-Mesa schools’ football schedules for next season are all

but finalized and there have been a few changes.

The most interesting addition is from Costa Mesa, where Coach Jerry

Howell’s Mustangs will host Centennial High of Coquitlam, British

Columbia (near Vancouver) in Week 3 next season.

The Centaurs are in a “rebuilding mode” according to a school official

reached Tuesday, who reported they did make their provincial

quarterfinals last season. The school’s enrollment is 2,100, grades 9-12.

Centennial replaces Bolsa Grande, while the Westminster game was moved

from Week 3 to Week 2. The Mustangs will also play Whittier Christian, a

replacement for Brethren Christian, in Week 5.

Newport Harbor has replaced last year’s Week 5 foe, Claremont, with

Millikan. The Sailors are still looking for an opponent in Week 10 and

Westchester is among the candidates.

Corona del Mar will play Troy in Week 2, instead of Pomona, while

Estancia reports no changes from last year’s slate.

The CIF Southern Section is on a mission to emphasize sportsmanship

and I’ve seen plenty the last couple weeks.

The good-spirited interaction between student rooting sections at

Thursday’s CdM-Mesa boys basketball game was about as good as it gets.

From what I observed, both rooting sections were passionate, while

maintaining perspective and a sense of humor.

Though I won’t go into specifics, I thought the sportsmanship in the

stands was more admirable than that displayed by the players on the

court.

The biggest act of sportsmanship I’ve seen this year, however, came

from University High boys basketball coach Mike Dinneen. After one of his

players was whistled with a technical foul for arguing a call from the

bench, Dinneen insisted the young man personally apologize to the

official in the locker room, after the game. “And be sincere,” Dinneen

advised, before his player knocked on the door of the room the officials

were changing in.

CdM student rooters, who have shown in past years they are not above

flaunting their socioeconomic superiority, had the tables turned by Costa

Mesa fans Thursday.

As time wound down on the Mustangs’ 58-39 victory, which clinched a

share of the school’s first boys basketball league crown, some Mesa

rooters shouted, “Warm up the Porsche! Warm up the Porsche!”