I don't think the issue is the acceptance of xfers. I believe it's how they are being attracted / recruited to the various programs.
Basically, who is knocking on whose door?
Bick, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being on these kinds of forums for over 20 years, it’s that people are going to believe what they want to believe. I’ve come across dozens of posters who have no insights into the logistics or inner workings of high school football programs at a particular school, yet they will pontificate with total confidence about the virtues or evils of what goes on this those programs. It’s frustrating and disappointing, but I recognize it as being some of the lifeblood of these forums. It is what it is, and I can’t change it.
With that said, I will start my 20th year as part of the Mater Dei program this fall, so I hope you believe I have some insights and a more unique perspective of what goes on there than some others on this forum or on others. So I will tell my version of what happened at Mater Dei, how it changed things, and the exact date that it occurred.
The date was Apr. 11, 2015. In March and early April of that year, the Inland Empire Ducks were arguably the best and most talented 8th grade football team in the country. As their players became high school freshmen, most of the best historically moved on to Corona Centennial, while some others enrolled at St. John Bosco, Norco, and a few other schools, depending on where the kids lived. Players like Bru McCoy were on their way to St. John Bosco in the fall, and Shakobe Harper was headed for Long Beach Poly.
Also in February and March of that year, there was a Best In The West 7-on-7 passing tournament that was one of the best in the Western states. That organization put on six or eight regional tournaments throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. The winners and second-place finishers of those tournaments came to Fullerton College on Apr. 11 for the championship tournament that would determine “the best in the west”. All of the teams that showed up that day were club teams composed of the best high school players in their areas who would be juniors and seniors in the fall. All of them except one. A team of primarily 8th grade I.E. Ducks players finished second in a regional tournament in Fontana in March, and they were there to compete against the 15 best club teams from those three western states.
The quarterback of that team was J.T. Daniels. Furthermore, the team had a defensive coach who helped coach the defense throughout the day, but the offensive coach had another commitment and was absent. So Daniels not only had to lead his offense against all-star teams of athletes two and three years older, he also had to call all his own offensive plays. Somehow, that team won its first game to advance to the round of eight. They won their second game to make the semifinals. They won their semifinal game to advance to the championship game, which they lost by a touchdown. It didn’t really matter. There were a couple hundred coaches and dads at the end of that day who were waking around not believing what they had just seen. And that was the day everything changed.
The Daniels family lived in Irvine near UCI, so University was their local public high school. But J.T. had watched that excellent documentary about the Mater Dei-Servite rivalry on TV when he was in 5th or 6th grade, and from that night on, he was determined to play for Mater Dei. If anyone knows J.T., he has always had a focus and been driven in a way that is amazing. When he sets his mind on something, it takes a truck to move him.
So when it became clear that he was coming to Mater Dei, other families changed their minds. Bru McCoy and Shakobe Harper enrolled at the school to play with J.T. Other top freshmen who enrolled for the same reason were Syrr Barnes, Steele Dubar, Jojo Forrest, Cam Gardner, the Kinslow twins, Michael Martinez, Trent McDuffie, William Nimmo and Titus Toler, most of whom had been headed elsewhere.
When Daniels started as a freshman and had an excellent year, the incoming freshman class the following season included stars like Kody Epps, Darion Green, Tai Marks, Myles Murao, Dean Neeley, Elias Ricks, Chris Street and Nate White. They all came to play with J.T. As did transfers Xavier Bell, the Faoliu brothers, Roman Kafentzis and the St. Brown brothers.
The team won a national championship in 2017. They won another in 2018. They were on their way to a third in a row in 2019 when a last minute fumble on the Bosco 11-yard-line while going in for the winning score denied them. Calpreps named them #1 in the nation after the just completed Covid-shortened spring season, and one rating agency already has them as their preseason #1 in the nation going into this fall. That’s what does the attracting and recruiting.
Since late 2017, the flow of top athletes inquiring to transfer or schedule a shadow day has not stopped. The players who have been turned away would form an all-star team that nobody could beat. When we beat Bosco this past Apr. 17, the inquiries started again on Monday, the 19th, and they continue almost every day. So far, not a single athlete has been accepted. It’s no different than why so many of the nation’s top high school seniors want to play at Alabama.
As far as “who is knocking on whose door”, it’s part of my job to get to know most of the players and their parents. I’ve known almost all the kids and parents who transferred in and transferred out, and the reasons they did so. I can say in my 20 years, there has been one case of “recruiting” by making initial contact with a family at another school. That was in 2010, the coach who made the contact was fired, and the family never came. Bick, if you want to know who that player was, send me a PM.
So that brings me to the question, what are the evil things that people insist Mater Dei is doing wrong? And more specifically, other than being an attractive, co-ed school, with a record of almost all their college scholarship athletes earning a degree, and with a program that, with the exception of one unfortunate sack and fumble, could have been seeking its 5th straight national championship this fall, what is that school doing that other schools aren’t?
