Prep Rally: With practice starting, here are the high school football linebackers to watch

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Official high school football practice begins Monday for the City Section and Southern Section teams that have zero week games. The strongest position this season will be linebackers. Let’s examine the talent level.

Linebackes galore

Senior linebacker Noah Karim Mikhail of Bonita is headed to Texas A&M

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Just watch and admire how good the linebackers will be this season. There are so many players identified as standouts that colleges have reaped the reward by coming to Southern California to take them away.

Noah Karim Mikhail of Bonita will be a four-year starter. He’s so highly regarded that his final three college choices were Texas A&M, USC or Oregon. He picked the Aggies.

The Mater Dei dynamic duo of Nasir Wyatt (Oregon) and Abduall Sanders (Alabama) are disruptors and intense pass rushers.

Samu Moala of Leuzinger is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior with physicality that can’t be taught.

Madden Faraimo of JSerra and LaVar Arrington Jr. of Charter Oak look the part as future college and NFL players.

Weston Port of San Juan Hills is a UCLA commit and four-year starter.

Tristan Phillips of Ventura is a 6-4, 215-pound junior with athleticism and talent.

San Clemente has a terrific duo of Matai Tagoa’i, a USC commit, and Puka Fuimaono, an Arizona State commit.

Jake Silverman from Torrance is a Nevada commit and versatile linebacker. Nicholas Boldt of Heritage Christian has been making big plays and big tackles.

The City Section has plenty of linebacker standouts, starting with four-year starter Mark Iheanachor of Narbonne, committed to Southern Methodist. Eddie Plaza of Birmingham is a tackling machine and first-team All-City player. Arturo Arguello of Los Angeles has made much improvement running track and in the weight room. Will Glettner of Hamilton is a 6-3, 220-pound senior with a 3.9 grade-point average who should be one of the best in the Western League.

Gideon Obienu of Fairfax is a 6-3, 220-pound middle linebacker who also starts for the basketball team. San Pedro’s Dylan Rubino is a defensive end/linebacker who plays all over the field.

Football

Elijah Asante is the new football coach at Hamilton.

(Lauren LeMay)

Scrambling to find a football coach with the season just four weeks away, Hamilton has hired former Carson, L.A. Jordan, Compton and St. Paul coach Elijah Asante, who came out of retirement. Official practice begins Monday.

Asante has had a long, colorful career. His Carson teams once beat Mater Dei in back-to-back seasons. He wears a suit on the sideline and coin the phrase, “I absolutely don’t recruit. I attract.”

Here’s the report on his hiring.

King/Drew coach Joe Torres said he officially has 125 players signed up in the program that’s only in its third year.

Fairfax is receiving help from a pair of transfers from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Roman Jasper, who was a 6-7 swimmer for the Knights, is going out for football for the first time on the offensive line. Donovan Shirley will be the likely starter at quarterback as a sophomore after being a backup on Notre Dame’s freshman team.

Defensive end Mitch Mooney of San Marino has committed to Brown.

In girls’ flag football, MaxPreps came up with a list of 20 players to watch nationwide, and among the players is Newport Harbor quarterback Maia Helmar.

Season No. 37 for Garrett

Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett.

(Robert S. Helfman)

It’s football season No. 37 for Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett starting Monday when official practice begins for City Section schools. He took over as head coach in 1988.

“I’m extremely excited, but I don’t play,” Garrett said Sunday morning. “The fire is still burning.”

He’s staying the course despite obstacles on enrollment and talent. All he can do is coach those who show up at Crenshaw and sign up to play football. That’s what he intends to do. He’s also nearing 300 wins, which would put him in Hall of Fame territory. He has 284 coaching victories, according to CalHiSports.com.

Here’s a story from 2012 looking at Garrett and other City Section “lifers.”

Here’s a story from 2019 on Garrett explaining why he keeps coaching.

Here’s a story from 2021 on Garrett dealing with the pandemic.

Baseball

Members of the Torrance 13/16U Babe Ruth team that has advanced to the World Series.

(Torrance Babe Ruth)

Torrance Babe Ruth has two teams that have qualified for the Babe Ruth World Series. The 13-16U team includes players from Banning, Narbonne, Torrance, South Torrance and Peninsula. Also qualifying is the 14U team.

The World Series will take place Aug. 8-18.

Notes . . .

Harlee Thomas, an Edison High graduate and the daughter of former Servite football coach Troy Thomas, has received a soccer scholarship to Weber State. . . .

Eric Scott has returned to Southern California as football coach at West L.A. College. He played at Crenshaw and UCLA, became an assistant at UCLA, Nevada and San Jose State. . . .

JSerra girls and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame boys have won the Southern Section’s annual Commissioner’s Cup for top sports programs. . . .

Receiver Jacob Martin from Edison has committed to Idaho State. . . .

The football transfer portal keeps humming along. Here’s the latest. . . .

Former Loyola and UCLA pitcher Nathan Hadley is the new pitching coach at JSerra. He was an assistant at Harvard-Westlake last season. . . .

Pitcher Cam Fausset of Newbury Park has committed to USC. . . .

Landon Hu, a switch hitter from West Ranch, has committed to Pomona-Pitzer. . . .

Sophomore guard TJ Wansa from Cleveland High is transferring to Bishop Alemany, giving the Mission League another transfer newcomer. . . .

Baseball player Jacob Campos of Bishop Amat has committed to St. Mary’s. . . .

Former Westlake pitcher Dylan Volantis has switched commitments from USC to Texas. . . .

Riley Hale, a point guard at Sonora, has transferred to Mater Dei. . . .

Rocky Turner has resigned as track coach at Bishop Alemany. . . .

Pitcher Ethan Russell of Santa Margarita has committed to UC San Diego. . . .

It was one first-round draft pick from Harvard-Westlake greeting another when Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty welcomed Bryce Rainer last week. . . .

Infielder Zach Nagy of Royal has committed to the University of San Francisco. . . .

Cornerback LaRue Zamorano of Corona Centennial has committed to Michigan State. . . .

Defending Southern Section Division 1 baseball champion Corona is picking up a top pitcher/hitter in Ethin Bingaman, who was a junior standout at Arrowhead Christian Academy. He had seven home runs. . . .

From the archives: Gage Jump

Former JSerra pitcher Gage Jump is headed to pro ball.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Former JSerra pitcher Gage Jump is headed to pro baseball after signing with the Oakland Athletics for a $2-million signing bonus. He was a second-round supplemental draft pick.

Jump made an impressive comeback from Tommy John surgery in 2022 when he was a freshman at UCLA. He transferred to LSU and was fully recovered last season. He was drafted in the 18th round out of high school.

Jump is only 5 feet 11 but continually throws overpowering stuff. He’s left-handed, too.

Here’s a look back from high school days.

Recommendations

From the Seattle Times, a story on Washington’s first transgender high school track champion.

From Mercurynews.com, a story on a Northern California school district deciding to keep artificial surfaces for fields instead of switching back to grass.

From DailyBruin.com, a story on former Bishop Montgomery and UCLA star Noelle Quinn coaching Canada at the Olympic Games.

From Wtop.com, a story on a school district in Maryland becoming the first to offer pickleball as a varsity sport.

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