ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- One of the most highly discussed prospects on the West Coast knows little about trending topics. He has zero followers, but admirers to spare.

Unlike many of his peers, ESPN 150 athlete John "JuJu" Smith of Long Beach (Calif.) Poly is completely shut off from the social media grid. He doesn’t tweet, doesn’t share filtered photographs of his meals or document his every move on a profile.

And, really, if it weren’t for the demands of recruiting, the four-star prospect might not even own a phone.

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Heading into the 2012 season, the Culver City (Calif.) Centaurs were faced with two distinct question marks at cornerback.

It would be the first time sophomore Stanley Norman played the position after bouncing between linebacker, safety, running back and wide receiver during his career. And it would be junior Kevin Beacham's first time ever playing football, let alone cornerback.

One year later, those question marks have straightened themselves into exclamation points as Norman and Beacham prepare for the 2013 season as one of the top cornerback tandems in the region.

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If you know ESPN 150 offensive tackle Roderick Johnson (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central), then you know that nothing tends to bother him. Not the stress of being the No. 2 player in the state of Missouri. Not being a four-star athlete.

Not even his recruiting process -- one that seems to remix every day.

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Texas’ search for potential 2015 quarterback targets has taken Major Applewhite all the way out to California.

The Longhorns offensive coordinator has at least five West Coast quarterbacks on his radar right now and is visiting them this week. Kyle Kearns is glad to know he’s one.

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Every Wednesday, the WeAreSC staff will take a quick-hit look at some of the top recruits and storylines facing USC recruiting for the week.

This week’s targets: Assistant coach Ed Orgeron dropped by River Ridge (La.) John Curtis Christian over the weekend to see safety Mattrell McGraw, No. 2-rated receiver Malachi Dupre and four-star linebacker Kenny Young in their spring scrimmage. Assistant coach Mike Ekeler checked in with ESPN 150 linebackers Clifton Garrett (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) and Nyles Morgan (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee) at their respective schools on Monday, while three-star outside linebacker Michael Smith (Miami, Fla./Northwestern) said he also received a visit from USC. On Monday night, local receiver Brandon Burton (Gardena, Calif./Serra) became the first Class of 2016 prospect to land a Trojans scholarship offer.

Prospect performance: Last weekend’s Nike Football Training Camp in Oakland had a USC flavor to it. Five-star cornerback Adoree' Jackson (Gardena, Calif./Serra) shined in one-on-one drills, just a day after winning his section’s track and field title with a record-setting long jump of 25 feet. Jackson received an invitation to The Opening, as did fellow USC targets Joe Mixon, Michiah Quick and Adarius Pickett. Trojans defensive tackle commit Tashon Smallwood (Fresno, Calif./Central) also turned in an impressive performance in pass rushing drills. Fast-rising cornerback John Plattenburg (Corona, Calif./Centennial) and guard Kammy Delp (Pomona, Calif./Diamond Ranch), whom have garnered interest from USC assistant James Cregg, took home DB and OL MVP honors, respectively.

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Damien Mama (Bellflower, Calif./St. John Bosco) made himself invisible to college coaches for a short time this spring, which isn’t an easy thing for a 6-foot-4, 352-pound recruit -- as well as the No. 68 player overall and No. 3 offensive guard in the country -- to do.

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Five-star cornerback Adoree’ Jackson and four-star linebacker Dwight Williams are undoubtedly the headliners for an immensely talented Gardena (Calif.) Serra football team that won a state bowl game last year.

Class of 2015 prospects Rasheem Green and John Houston Jr., already national recruits, are next in line. After that, it appears 2016 receiver Brandon Burton will carry the torch for the Southern California powerhouse.

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Silence fell over the hundreds of athletes as they took a knee near the north end zone at Laney College. With the six-hour Nike Football Training Camp behind them, they nervously looked around in anticipation.

“And the defensive back MVP goes to…”

Would it be the favorite, five-star cornerback and ESPN 150 member Adoree’ Jackson (Gardena, Calif./Serra)? Would it be Stanford safety commit Brandon Simmons (Arlington, Texas/Timberview)? Or would Northern California based four-star prospect Adarius Pickett (El Cerrito, Calif./El Cerrito) defend his turf?

It was neither.

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- As expected, the 2014 class was terrific at the Oakland Nike Football Training Camp, as nine players bagged invitations to The Opening. But the event also provided a glimpse into the future, with several underclassmen standing out. The 2015 class was heavily represented, but a Class of 2017 prospect is already making noise as well.

Jacob Daniel
Fresno (Calif.) Clovis North | DT | 6-4, 300 | 2015

Defensive line coaches raved about Daniel after the big man was impressive in every drill on Sunday. Daniel already holds offers from several BCS programs, including Cal, Iowa, Oregon State and Wisconsin, but that’s likely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to schools that will eventually step into the picture.

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- The thought heading into the Oakland Nike Camp was that Laney College would be buzzing with some of the West’s top prospects on Sunday afternoon. And although two ESPN 150 prospects were on hand but did not participate, the camp still delivered in a big way.

Nine players received invitations to The Opening and a good deal more put themselves in good position to receive invites at a later date. As always, cutting the list to a top 10 wasn't an easy task, but several players separated themselves with some truly standout performances.

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Despite being one of the final stops in Nike Football Training Camp tour, Oakland certainly proved it was worth the wait. The event’s biggest impressions centered around a handful of ESPN 150 members, the region’s top-rated running back, an SEC-committed quarterback and performances by Northern California-based recruits, who definitely defended their turf.

Star power shined

Nine campers earned invites to The Opening, including ESPN 150 members Adoree' Jackson (Gardena, Calif./Serra), Michiah Quick (Fresno, Calif./Central), Joe Mixon (Oakley, Calif./Freedom) and Dalton Schultz (South Jordan, Utah/Bingham).

And while the big-name prospects proved themselves, there were also some under-the-radar athletes who had standout performances, as linebacker Joey Alfieri (Portland, Ore./Jesuit), quarterback Kyle Carta-Samuels (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep), lineman Kammy Delp (Pomona, Calif./Diamond Ranch), cornerback Adarius Pickett (El Cerrito, Calif./El Cerrito) and safety Brandon Simmons (Arlington, Texas/Timberview) received golden tickets.

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Quips go to Pitt.

That is the expression in Western Pennsylvania. The elite prospects from talent-rich Aliquippa (Pa.) High almost exclusively go to nearby Pittsburgh to star for the Panthers. Jonathan Baldwin, Tommie Campbell and Darrelle Revis are all NFL players who came through Aliquippa and then Pitt.

So four-star athlete and ESPN 150 member Dravon Henry feels the pressure to stay close to home. In fact, Henry is related to Revis and former NFL lineman Sean Gilbert, who also went the route of Aliquippa to Pitt.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Keller Chryst (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) has plenty of history to follow.

His grandfather, George Chryst, was a longtime high school football coach and the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. His father, Geep Chryst, is the quarterback coach of the San Francisco 49ers. His uncle, Paul Chryst, is the head coach at Pittsburgh. Another uncle, Rick Chryst, was the commissioner of the Mid-American Conference for 10 years. And if that wasn’t enough, Chryst was named after a football icon: Michael Keller Ditka, Jr.

Yet, with all the potential fanfare surrounding his family and upbringing, Keller, the No. 2 quarterback in the country, has found a way to stay off the grid, far removed from the usual media and recruiting attention that comes with being one of the nation’s top quarterback recruits.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The penultimate Elite 11 Regional brought some of the West region’s top quarterbacks out to the San Francisco 49ers practice facility on Friday evening. Though no quarterback earned MVP honors or walked away with an invitation to the Elite 11 Finals, RecruitingNation learned plenty about those in attendance.

A Milford man no more

Until Friday evening, ESPN 150 quarterback Keller Chryst (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) had been neither seen nor heard this spring in as large a setting as the Elite 11 provided. Chryst doesn’t participate in 7-on-7 tournaments and spends even less time speaking with the media, so Friday provided Chryst with an opportunity to make a statement, and he delivered. Though the 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback wasn’t completely pleased with his day, it was easy to see why several top programs have made him a priority in this class. Chryst was one of eight quarterbacks selected to compete in the final pressure-cooker drill and said after the camp that Alabama, Pittsburgh, Stanford and USC are the four schools he is focused on at the present, though he has no plans for which summer camps he will attend or when he will make a final decision.

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