Local boy does good
RICHMOND – Besides the best of the best stars featured in Monday’s Nike Football The Opening Bay Area article, there were many others that were honored on Sunday at De Anza High, and some surprising performances by quite a few diamonds in the rough – and no player competing fits that description better than 2017 running back Ronnie Rivers of Freedom-Oakley.
He isn’t from West Contra Costa County where the event was held, but in the almost 500 boys that competed from Northern and Southern California, plus several other western states and others further east, being from East Contra Costa County is enough to qualify Rivers as a local.
The 5-8, 170 pound Rivers didn’t get a coveted invite to The Opening Finals being held July 5-10 at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, like fellow East Bay running back Najee Harris of Antioch, but he was named the running backs camp MVP after beating out some more highly recruited players.
So as to avoid confusion, the camp MVP by position is chosen for that camp only, so while Rivers was the MVP, Harris was still the only running back to receive one of the nine invites for non-quarterbacks.
Even so, receiving this kind of recognition will certainly mean the current offers including Idaho, Sacramento State, San Jose State and the University of San Diego should multiply for this two-sport (track) star and son of Ron Rivers, a former Fresno State running back who played in the NFL for six seasons, mostly with the Detroit Lions, and is the current softball coach at Heritage-Brentwood.
Prior to taking the field Rivers was queried by Prep2Prep: “My goal is to compete, make the big time plays, and make guys miss me in the open field."
Rivers certainly did that and more to attract the attention of the assembled coaches and analysts.
"Heading into this camp, I just wanted to prove to everybody that I'm just as good as the next guy, and show that size doesn't matter a whole lot," Rivers said, following his performance at The Opening. "If you can play, it will show on the field. Today showed my strengths as being able to make guys miss in space and catch the ball, which is important because it adds another weapon to your arsenal."
The running backs lead coach for The Opening Regional was certainly impressed by the performance of Rivers.
“Rivers did great. He's going to be a special player. We liked him a lot," said Napoleon Kaufman, the current Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland football coach who starred at Lompoc High and earned the 1990 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football State Player of the Year honor before an excellent college career at Washington that preceded an exclusive NFL career with the Oakland Raiders.
Other California MVPs
Besides Rivers, two other California standouts were position MVPs in Richmond, with some also earning an invite to The Opening Finals in July.
Two players mentioned in the first feature on The Opening Regional, Jaylon Johnson of Central-Fresno and Jack Sears of San Clemente, were defensive backs and quarterbacks MVPs, respectively, and both earned invites, Johnson to Oregon in July, and Sears to the Elite 11 semifinals on June 3-5 in Los Angeles.
The wide receiver MVP was Chris Brooks from Newbury Park. The 5-9,170-pound Brooks is not the tall long wideout some colleges want, but in this day and age more and more colleges are looking for players like Brooks that can get open and are hard to bring down like a running back, and Brooks can play that position as well. Arizona appears to be at the top of his list, but San Diego State and Washington State are on his list as are other D1 majors.
Another Southern California player that garnered an MVP was Lamin Touray of Bishop Alemany-Mission Hills. The 6-1, 227-pound Touray was the top linebacker at the camp. The running backs had a lot of trouble with him and his size and strength in the one-on-ones. He has some solid offers like Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State and Wyoming, but as the summer wears on his stock could be rising.
Arizona and Oregon get into the act
The offensive and defensive linemen MVPs were both from out of state, and although both 6-5, 250-pound OL MVP Jonathan Nathaniel from Basha (Chandler Arizona) and DL MVP Marlon Tuipulotu were very impressive, only Tuipulotu was invited to compete in Oregon.
Even so, Nathaniel reportedly has over a dozen offers with New Mexico and Washington State supposedly at the top of the list. As for the 6-2, 275-pound Tuipulotu, the Washington-commit showed power and agility and none of the offensive lineman could handle him in the one-on-ones.
Other locals that shined
The offensive lineman had a little bit of a hard time in the one-on-ones with what was some top defensive line talent but three Northern California players looked pretty good and two of them made it to the group that squared off against the top defensive lineman. They are Aaron Banks of El Cerrito, Jalen McKenzie of Clayton Valley-Concord and Popo Aumavae of St. Mary’s-Stockton.
To many of the assembled analysts Banks looked the best of all the offensive lineman except maybe MVP Nathanial from Arizona. The 6-6, 306-pound Banks held his own in the one-on-ones against the top D-linemen and although he fell short of his goal of getting an invite to the big show, he did what he said prior to the event with respect to showing his suitors what he’s got.
“I want to show everything I have, get a ticket (invite) and show why I’m highly recruited,” Banks told Prep2Prep in the morning prior to competing.
Right now Banks has over 20 offers including 10 Pac-12 schools, plus other biggies like Florida and Michigan to name a couple.
McKenzie, the son of Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie and younger brother of current Tennessee lineman Kahlil McKenzie, looked pretty good and drew interest from the analysts but he didn’t play as a sophomore and suffered a knee injury two minutes into the first game last season against Folsom, so everyone wants to see what he can do. He showed up wearing a brace but held his own for the most part. Despite it all McKenzie has offers from Miami, Oregon State, Tennessee, UCLA and Washington State.
“I’m waiting on a few more offers and it depends on this camp and a few others,” the 6-5, 285-pound McKenzie said prior to competing. “Right now I want to get a ticket.”
Other locals and Californians worth a mention
Besides Banks, McKenzie and the 6-3, 300-pound Aumavae, who has almost 20 major offers, including 10 from the Pac-12, several other local and California players stood out, including Kyle Lindquist, a quarterback from Pleasant Valley-Chico. He made the final seven quarterbacks selected for the seven-on-seven drill that ended the camp.
Berean Christian-Walnut Creek wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins also impressed many with his play at The Opening, going hard in every drill despite his commitment to Washington State.
"I never got a chance before to do all the combine tests here," Hodgins said. "This was a nice opportunity both in drills and on-field skills to test myself against the other top athletes in the region."
Justin-Siena quarterback Aidan Willard, a recent Oregon State commit, also had his reasons for working hard on the field throughout Sunday's competitive drills.
"We're looking at running a more wide-open offense this year," Willard said, speaking about the Braves' offense in the fall. "It's also just a great opportunity to come compete against the best quarterbacks around."
EBAL power Monte Vista-Danville was also well represented at the event, with quarterback Jake Haener receiving an invite to the next round of the Elite 11 quarterback challenge, and standout inside linebacker Nate Landman and two-way end Erik Krommenhoek making their presence felt.
"I really wanted to come here and show that I can run and make plays against guys considered to be 'athletic' linebackers and defensive backs," said the six-foot five-inch Krommenhoek, who has recently received additional offers from USC, Colorado, and Arkansas. "I'm also working to improve my separation and make plays downfield this season."
The other players in alphabetical order:
Tommy Brown, offensive line, 2018, Mater Dei-Santa Ana
Tucker Fisk, tight end, Davis
Omari Harris, running back, 2018, Antioch
Jullen Ison, running back, Moreau Catholic-Hayward
Jordan Jackson, defensive line, Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland
Jimmy Jaggers, tight end, Roseville
Paul Scott, linebacker, McClymonds-Oakland
Kobe Smith, wide receiver, Serra-Gardena
Andrew Voorhees, offensive line, Kingsburg
Rajah Ward, running back, Homestead-Cupertino
Ben Wooldridge, quarterback, 2018, Foothill-Pleasanton
Invites to The Opening Finals
Jaylon Johnson was already mentioned as an invite to The Opening Finals at Nike Headquarters on July 5-10, and Najee Harris of Antioch and Colby Parkinson of Oaks Christian-Westlake Village were featured in Monday’s The Opening Regional feature. However, six other players were given a prestigious invite to Oregon in July but all of them except Hunter Echols of Cathedral-Los Angeles, were from out of state, including Tuipulotu, and only four positions were selected.
Echols is an excitingly quick 6-4, 230-pound defensive end that was getting around the top offensive lineman or driving them backwards in the one-on-ones. He’s committed to UCLA but prior to committing he had over 30 major offers including the big ones like Alabama.
The remaining invited players are:
Gregory Rogers, defensive lineman, Centennial (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Jay Tufele, defensive lineman, Bingham (South Jordan, Utah)
Salvon Ahmed, defensive back, Juanita (Kirkland, Washington)
Alex Perry, defensive back, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Note: All players are incoming seniors unless otherwise noted
Nate Smith contributed to this report
