San Diego trio
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Cathedral Catholic in San Diego, Calif., features two of the more intriguing prospects from the talent rich county for the Class of 2006, along with a playmaking linebacker.
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Cody Pope only has one year of organized football under his belt but he has already developed into one of the West Coast's most sought after linemen.
The 6-foot-6, 280-pound two-way lineman has picked up offers from Washington, Colorado, Colorado State, Idaho, Idaho State, Fresno State and San Diego State, according to Cathedral Catholic head coach Sean Doyle.
"Other colleges have called and shown a lot of interest," added Doyle. "Notre Dame and Oklahoma are just a couple others that have also shown a lot of interest."
Although he started at defensive tackle last season, most colleges are projecting Pope to play offensive tackle at the next level.
"Cody is a big kid and for his size, he's got phenomenal feet," said Coach Doyle.
"He decided last year that he wanted to play college football and he's got an unbelievable work ethic. Cody is a natural; the sky is the limit for him."
Is Pope thinking about an early decision? "Unless one or two of his top schools offer, and I don't want to say who that is, he just wants to play his senior season and see how things go from there," Doyle said. "He knows he has got some great offers already."
While Pope has just recently developed into one of the top prep players in San Diego, Demetrius Sumler has been at it since his freshman year. The 5-foot-11, 220-pound running back as the opportunity to become San Diego's all-time leading rusher. He needs roughly 1,900 yards next fall to break Justin Green's record.
Sumler has already amassed 3,200 yards and 40 touchdowns in his high school career.
"Demetrius has very deceptive speed," Coach Doyle said. "I don't know if it's because of his size, but defensive players take bad angles on him. It looks like the tackler will get him for only a 20-yard gain. But he keeps going and blows right by them for a long one."
Colorado State has presented Sumler with a written offer. He is also drawing interest from Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Fresno State and Washington among others.
"You could say just about every Pac-10 school and all the Mountain West schools have shown interest in Demetrius," Doyle explained. "Utah, San Diego State and BYU are just a couple off the top of my head.
"Some of the schools that had offered Cody early like Idaho and Idaho State didn't offer Demetrius because they felt like they had no chance at him, so why bother."
Because of his 5-foot-10, 220-pound frame, colleges are looking at Sumler at both running back and fullback.
"Most are recruiting him right now as a running back," said Doyle. "Yes, he is a big kid but he's got pretty good moves for being a big kid."
Both Pope and Sumler are ranked by Rivals.com among the state's top 100 prospects.
Not to be forgotten is linebacker Ben Schwartz, who earned first-team all-league honors last fall. The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder is a sleeper on the rise according to Doyle.
"Cal was all over Ben early on and their linebackers coach said they were going to offer him but they decided to wait and see on him," he explained.
"He is a little undersized for the big Pac-10 schools but Ivy League schools would take him in two seconds. Ben had had every head Ivy League coach call him and he has the type of grades to get there."
"Ben is not the typical 6-foot-1 linebacker that they love to see," Doyle added. "He is a 4.7-forty kid so he doesn't have the speed to overcome the fact that he is 5-11. But Ben is a total downhill player that flies around and makes plays."
Cathedral Catholic competed in the San Diego State passing league tournament in June and performed well. They have a challenging non-league schedule next fall with games against Steele Canyon, Westview, Loyola (Los Angeles), Carlsbad and Monte Vista.