Notebook: Local athletes make college choices as signing day approaches
Athletes across the Stanislaus District are starting to stand out, and college recruiters are taking notice.
Many are talking to college coaches, announcing verbal commitments and taking recruiting visits to schools of all levels all over the country.
The NCAA’s initial and final signing dates for most sports are Nov. 10, 2021, and Aug. 1, 2022, respectively.
The football early signing period is from Dec. 15-17, 2021, and the basketball early signing period is Nov. 10-17, 2021.
According to the NAIA website, its schools do not have an official “signing day”, meaning athletes can sign with a school when they choose.
Here are some of the athletes who have received attention from colleges:
Central Valley athlete picks a college: Central Valley High pitcher Gabrial Lopez announced on Oct. 25 that he will be attending San Francisco State University.
“Today, I am very proud to announce that I have committed to San Francisco State University to continue my baseball career and further my academics.” Lopez said in a tweet.
Lopez finished with a 0.60 ERA and went 7-0 in eight appearances. The Hawks finished 14-4 overall. During the spring, the senior batted .213 with eight RBIs.
Oakdale softball player makes her choice: Oakdale softball pitcher Delainey Everett verbally committed to Mississippi State University on Sept. 29 via Instagram. The junior plays for the NorCal Firecrackers travel team.
MC guard picks up another offer: Modesto Christian sophomore Jamari Phillips received an offer to play basketball at the University of Kansas, according to the Crusaders’ Twitter account. The offer is part of a growing list of other Big 12 Conference, Pacific-12 Conference and Southeastern Conference offers for the guard who has garnered national attention.
Phillips is the third-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2024, according to ESPN.
Patterson football players standing out: Not only is Patterson undefeated in its league and anticipated to win the Central California Conference, but the Tigers have two players who made headlines. Lineman Marcus Simien has made noise on the recruiting trail, picking up scholarship offers from Fresno State and Nevada as an offensive lineman and Sacramento State as a defensive lineman — all during his senior season.
The senior told 247Sports that he is open to playing on either side of the ball at the next level and is getting interest from Boise State, Montana, Montana State, Wyoming and Utah.
Meanwhile, kicker Johan Mendoza received NorCal special teams player of the week award from CalHi Sports after going 8-for-8 on PATs and hitting his only field goal from 39 yards out.
If you know of a Modesto-area athlete who will be signing on Nov. 10, send me an email at qhamilton@modbee.com.
Gregori basketball well represented at local tournament: Gregori boys basketball players Kyle Monk (2022) and Donovan Langarica (2023) put on solid performances at the West Coast Elite Bakersfield Exposure Camp.
Monk, who picked up a scholarship offer from Cal State East Bay in September, was named the tournament’s Day 1 MVP on Oct. 16.
West Coast Elite is one of the premiere basketball programs in the country and hosts events in 15 cities around the west coast including states like Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
Water Polo Playoff Brackets: The water polo regular season is winding down in the Stanislaus District and section playoff brackets are scheduled to be announced Friday. Outbracket games are slated for Tuesday, Nov. 2, and first round matchups are Thursday Nov. 4.
In one of the final tune-ups before playoffs, local teams competed in the Western States (girls) and DeLong (boys) tournaments the past two weekends.
In the Western States, Turlock finished fourth in the varsity Gold Division with a two-day record of 2-2. Pitman (3-1), Downey (3-1) and Enochs (2-2) finished second, third and fourth, respectively in the varsity Silver Division.
In the DeLong, Rocklin and Heritage finished first in the two Gold Divisions while Lakeridge-Oregon and Clayton Valley finished first in the Silver and Blue Divisions, respectively.
In Gold Division games at Downey High, the Knights finished fifth and Turlock finished sixth. Oakdale finished in seventh and Davis eighth.
In the Silver Division at Oakdale, Sonora and Ripon finished in second and third while Pitman came in fourth. Gregori finished second in the Blue Division hosted by Ripon and Enochs and Modesto finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
