brother

EastEnders star Kitty Castledine is about to take center stage as her character, Penny, hides a baby bombshell

EastEnders star Kitty Castledine is the sister of a famous footballer and they also have well-known parents.

The 24-year-old actress arrived on the BBC soap as Penny Branning in January 2024, taking over the role from Mia McKenna-Bruce, who appeared between January and April 2008.

Penny, the daughter of local copper Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), has since been caught up in a drugs smuggling plot, has caused a dangerous club crush, and enjoyed a brief romance with Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway).

Most recently, she found love with local businessman Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota), but before the romance could blossom, she found out she was pregnant, and confirmed that Vinny was the father.

In an unexpected twist, a midwife appointment soon revealed her dates didn’t match up, and her unborn baby is biologically Harry’s after they shared one night of passion, casting doubt over her relationship with Vinny.

Penny is yet to reveal the truth about the baby’s paternity as she moves in with Vinny and they set up a loving family home. Will the truth come out as Penny’s due date edges closer?

Away from Albert Square, Penny actress Kitty Castledine leads a much simpler life with her family in London.

She is the daughter of television star Lucy Alexander, who is famed for hosting popular daytime shows such as Homes Under the Hammer and A Place in the Sun.

Kitty’s father is ex-Premier League footballer Stewart Castledine, who played for Wimbledon for over 9 years. He also featured for Wycombe in the second tier.

Stewart has also appeared on television screens, hosting BBC One’s Big Strong Boys and Houses Behaving Badly.

Stewart and Lucy are said to have wed in 2000, during a ceremony in Richmond, London, after meeting through a mutual acquaintance.

They have two children, including Kitty and a son, Leo Castledine, 21, who is also a footballer and currently plays for Middlesbrough.

Who is Leo Castledine?

Leo is a midfielder for the Championship team Middlesbrough after joining the club in January 2026.

Prior to his current move, Leo was on loan at Huddersfield Town from Premier League side Chelsea, where he impressed, scoring 12 goals in 27 games for the Terriers.

“I’m absolutely over the moon to join what is a massive, massive club,” Leo explained about joining his new club. “It’s a really big step for me in my career, and I’m very excited to be here.

“There’s always been trust in young players at this club if they can perform, and I want to perform at my highest level”, reported BBC News.

Leo joined Chelsea as an Under-15 from AFC Wimbledon and worked his way up to make one substitute appearance for the first team, a Carabao Cup semi-final against Boro in January 2024. He has also worn the England shirt for the U19s five times.

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and iPlayer

HARPER Beckham shows she has her mother’s expensive taste in fashion.

Her outfit while watching brother Cruz perform at Reading Festival at the weekend was worth about £2,750.

The youngest of the Beckham children, 15, wore a £2,500 Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra necklace underneath her £130 jacket from mum Victoria’s collaboration with Gap.

She finished her look with a pair of £120 Hunter wellies.

Harper is also following in her mother’s footsteps with her own beauty business.

In July, The Sun revealed the teen’s skincare brand, Harlo By Harper, is due to launch next year.

READ MORE ON HARPER BECKHAM

MINI ME

Harper Beckham pays tribute to her ‘whole world’ mum Victoria as she rocks bikini

TUNING IN

Cruz Beckham dedicates song to little sister Harper at Reading and Leeds Festival

A trademark application included facial scrubs and body washes, as well as acne treatments, including medicated facial cleansers.

Harper changed her Instagram bio from “Your fav blonde,” to “entrepreneur” last week as she gears up to launch her products.

Victoria said of her daughter: “She came to me with two PowerPoint presentations.

“One about this brand that she wanted to create because she was struggling with her skin.

“She loves products, she loves formulas.

“You know, she’s, she’s even helped me select colours sometimes and I’ve been working on colour palettes.

“I mean, she’s been sitting on my lap taking part in beauty development meetings ever since she was little.

WASHINGTON — Natalie Harp has never been in the spotlight quite like this.

Before the 35-year-old White House aide made headlines for her close access to President Trump, much of her early life was spent in Southern California, where she was home-schooled and attended a mega-church on Sundays — a quiet upbringing that, her brother says, was defined by conservative values and Christian teachings.

Their mother taught them at home using educational materials written from a biblical worldview. The family would attend services regularly at Shadow Mountain Church in El Cajon, where pastors would deliver sermons like the one from a recent Sunday, calling on God to use its thousands of congregants “in a way that turns this world upside down.”

“We were raised with the idea that America was God’s gift to the world and it’s the only place that people really live in freedom,” Preston Harp, her brother, told The Times.

Years later, in 2019, Harp’s ascent into Trump’s orbit began, when she went on Fox News to credit a healthcare bill Trump signed into law with saving her from a rare form of cancer — a story that later caught the president’s attention.

As that relationship took hold, the California family bubble she’d been raised in was bursting behind the scenes, culminating with her father’s suicide in July 2020. A month later, Harp emerged on the national stage, introducing herself as a “formerly forgotten American from California” at the Republican National Convention, where she declared her devotion to Trump.

“I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you,” she said.

Natalie Harp speaks after being called onstage by President Trump during the Faith & Freedom Coalition 2019 Road To Majority Policy Conference in Washington on June 26, 2019.

(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Now, she spends her days working as a special assistant to Trump, a man she has described, in highly personal letters, as her “guardian and protector.” In those letters, published by the Daily Beast, she has thanked the president for “always being there” for her and alluded to a “promise” Trump made to her after she lost her dad.

Harp’s taxpayer-funded job, with its unmatched access to the president, mostly happens away from the public eye. She has been called the “human printer” because she follows Trump with a portable printer to provide Trump with hard copies of flattering news coverage or information the computer-averse president requires.

She also stays up late drafting social media posts with the president, the New York Times reported. Several of Trump’s Truth Social posts have generated controversy in recent months, including an AI-generated image showing him as Jesus in a white robe laying his hands on a sick man.

Those who know her describe her as detail-oriented and a “devoted staffer to the cause” whose tight-knit circle includes those closest to Trump, such as Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, and Karoline Leavitt, the White House’s former press secretary.

“Just like many of the administration officials, you become friends with your co-workers,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who talks to Harp on a weekly basis, said in an interview.

Harp is “almost always” with Wiles, Luna said. The congresswoman added that her relationship with the president is “100% professional,” and that any suggestion otherwise is an attempt to smear her.

“She’s been nothing but professional and an absolute killer when it comes to getting her job done,” Luna said. “I would kill to have someone like her on my team.”

To her brother, Harp’s integration in Trump’s inner circle is in line with her upbringing.

“My mom raised us as super conservative, and he’s everything that she taught us to respect,” he said.

The White House declined to comment.

A California native in Trump world

As a kid in the San Diego neighborhood of Carmel Valley, Harp played with old-fashioned dolls and spent a lot of time reading, her brother said. For school, their mother used a curriculum from Bob Jones University Press, whose material focused on “biblical worldview shaping,” according to its website.

The home in which Natalie Harp, an aide to President Trump, grew up in the Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego.

(Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)

“We start with God’s truth as the standard,” the website states. “Scripture serves as the blueprint for how we put together our textbooks so that every lesson begins with truth.”

Growing up, Harp spent most of her time with adults, especially her mother, and would rarely socialize with her peers, her brother recalled. Even at church, she would opt to sit with the adults instead of spending time with the youth group.

“There would be like skateboarding demos, there would be cool stuff going on, but my sister was just with all the grown-ups, and she preferred it,” he said.

Harp and her brother were close as young children but drifted apart as they got older. Preston Harp found an outlet skateboarding and surfing with friends, and Harp opted to stay close to home, he said.

At some point, their mother began policing their discussions, particularly as he started espousing more progressive beliefs, her brother recalled.

“I wasn’t really allowed to be in her life,” he said. “If we ever talked on the phone my mom was listening to everything we’d say, and they were talking on the phone together with me on speakerphone.”

Harp declined to comment for this story through a request sent to the White House. Her mother did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

An aerial view of Natalie Harp’s family’s home in the private gated community of Woodbridge Cove, in Irvine.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

In her mid-20s, Harp moved with her parents to Irvine to be closer to their father’s work at Biola University, a private Christian institution in La Mirada, southeast of Los Angeles. He worked as a professor at the school of business and later served as the executive director of the Office of Innovation, according to the university.

The family lived in a home adjacent to a man-made lake in Irvine’s Woodbridge neighborhood, a master-planned community known for its peaceful, family-friendly atmosphere.

Both Irvine and Carmel Valley are silos from the problems of the outside world, places where everything might seem perfect, even when it isn’t, her brother said.

“My mom likes living in bubbles,” he said.

Within a few years of the family’s move, in July 2020, Harp’s father, 61, died by suicide at their home. When Preston Harp arrived at the house, he said his mother wanted him to go along with the story that their father had died in his sleep. Preston refused, he said, not wanting to downplay his dad’s pain to keep up appearances. It was the start of a massive rift in the family.

“That was the last time I ever talked to my sister,” he said.

Entering the national stage

Harp has shared little about her upbringing publicly. However, she has spoken at length about medical issues she experienced starting in her mid-20s.

In 2020, she said during remarks at the Republican National Convention that five years earlier she was “the victim of a notoriously deadly medical error.”

“I survived, but only to be diagnosed with a rare and terminal bone cancer,” she said.

She said she was diagnosed with Stage 2 bone cancer. It was that experience that sparked her interest in entering the political arena.

“I just wanted to get better,” she said on the program. “I started tuning in for the first time into politics because I had never had a representative before. All my representatives were Democrats, so I thought, why should I care about politics?”

Two rounds of chemotherapy did not help and she was rejected from clinical trials, she said. But in 2018 Trump signed the Right to Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients to access certain experimental drugs and immunotherapy treatments that have not received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

“I am not dying from cancer anymore thanks to President Trump, I am living with cancer,” Harp said on the program.

The White House did not respond to a request seeking comment on the treatment she received.

Natalie Harp follows former President Trump as he boards his airplane after speaking at an event in Manchester, N.H., on April 27, 2023.

(Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

During Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, Harp’s role was to talk about the Right to Try Act, said Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary for Trump.

“I remember we would correspond over Twitter DMs, and she just seemed very excited to be helpful in any way,” Matthews said. At the time, it seemed Harp was trying to make inroads with staffers, she said.

“My role would not necessarily interact with her, but … I could tell that she was trying to initiate a connection,” she said.

Although it’s not clear who on the team found Harp, Matthews said she was “very eager” to help the campaign.

“They found this woman who was eloquent and well-spoken and all the things, but it did just come off to me like she really wanted to be part of Trump world,” Matthews said.

In intimate letters, Harp has explained her devotion to the 80-year-old president.

Natalie Harp listens as former President Trump speaks outside the courtroom during his trial on charges of covering up hush money payments, on April 30, 2024 in New York City.

(Curtis Means / Pool Photo)

In one letter, she writes that she is “unworthy” of Trump and reminisces about the times Trump called during her “Talkshow days,” a reference to her stint in 2021 hosting “The Real Story with Natalie Harp” on the right-wing One America News channel.

“We’d talk about everything and nothing,” she writes. “I want to get back to that synergy. We shouldn’t have to talk about work all the time!!”

She adds: “I always felt like an in-betweener, somewhere between Staff and those you enjoy talking to on the Plane or at Dinner, because that’s who I used to be to you when I was a ‘Talkshow Host’ (as much as I hated that actual job!)”

Ossoff’s ‘Natalie’ reference brings attention

The public attention on Harp sharpened this month when Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator from Georgia, told supporters in Atlanta that Trump wanted to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” rather than do the work of the presidency. The remarks came after it became public that Harp had been one of a select few who joined Trump on an alternate plane flying out of Turkey as a precaution amid a threat of attack by Iran.

President Trump and Natalie Harp, right, attend a dignified transfer for service members killed during operations in the Middle East, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on July 22.

(Lau Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)

Ossoff’s comment drew the ire of Trump allies, from Capitol Hill lawmakers to conservative influencers, with many of them blasting the comment as sexist and inappropriate.

Although the White House and Trump allies have fiercely defended Harp in public forums, and dismissed suggestions of an improper relationship, Trump has sidestepped questions about his aide.

“People can be very mean to successful, pretty women,” Luna said. “And that is what is happening to Natalie.”

In their book “Regime Change,” New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write that Trump has told staff that Harp is the only one who loves him as much as his wife and kids.

“All of you will go off and make money,” Trump would say. “She’ll never leave me.”

Although Trump worked closely with other executive assistants during his first administration, Matthews said his relationship with Harp appears to be “a different level of closeness.”

President Trump,right, accompanied by Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, left, and aide Natalie Harp, center, looks out the window of Marine One as it lands on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 18, 2025.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

“I think it’s because of the way she fawns all over him and the love notes,” she said. “I think he just really trusts her. So she’s been able to, I think, develop an even closer bond.”

Despite the recent controversy, Harp remained by the president’s side during public appearances last week.

At the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington on Aug. 23, Harp sat a few rows behind Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, chatting with the president’s son Eric. Days before that, she reportedly traveled with Trump to South Carolina for a campaign rally and to his northern Virginia golf club.

“She’s just all work,” Luna said. “She is one of the hardest workers and it is hard to find people who are like that.”

Natalie Harp looks on as President Trump visits the Mission Control Center at NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday.

(Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)

Ceballos reported from Washington, Fry from Irvine.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional or call 988. The nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Or text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.

Eight months have passed since Rob and Michele Reiner were killed and their youngest son was arrested and charged with murder, but the couple’s eldest son still feels he “will never understand why this happened.”

The children of film director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Reiner mostly have kept mum despite extensive coverage of the brutal stabbings of Dec. 14, 2025.

In a television interview with KABC-TV’s Marc Cota-Robles, Jake Reiner, the eldest son, described the aftermath of the slayings and the arrest of his brother, Nick, as a “living nightmare.”

“Nobody really understands what it’s like to go through something like that until you’re living it,” said Jake, 34. “It’s been eight months. It feels like eight years at the same time. And it also feels like eight minutes because every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality.”

Jake said he learned the night of their deaths that the Los Angeles Police Department was looking at Nick as a prime suspect. A grand jury indicted Nick last month on murder charges with special allegations of committing multiple murders and lying in wait, making him eligible for life without parole or the death penalty if convicted.

“He’s in jail,” Jake said. “It’s like, I physically lost my parents, and then Nick was arrested. Now it’s just me and Romy, and we have to navigate this by ourselves essentially.”

Asked whether he was surprised that Nick was suspected in the crime, Jake declined to answer. He also declined to discuss his brother’s attempt to use family trust money to fund his legal defense. Instead he discussed the anger he is feeling.

“It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was, how I didn’t get a say in what happened. I didn’t get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter,” Jake said. “I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me, that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all of this.”

He said he learned of his parents’ deaths while attending a celebration of life event for a high school friend at Union Station. His sister, Romy, tried to call him.

“I screened it because I thought, at the time, I’m in the middle of something, you know, I’ll call her back,” he recalled, “and then she called immediately again, and I knew at that point that something was wrong.

“Romy told me our dad was dead, and then she said, ‘I can’t find mom.’ I immediately went into shock.”

Investigators found the body of Rob Reiner in the master bedroom. Michele Reiner subsequently was found in the bedroom area as well.

Romy, 28, has not publicly commented.

Nick’s struggles with addiction and mental health were public knowledge. In 2015, he partnered with his father on the film “Being Charlie,” about a drug-addicted son, which Nick wrote and Rob directed. It was loosely based on Nick’s life.

Jake was no stranger to crime scenes — as a longtime television news reporter he said he witnessed plenty, but nothing could have prepared him for his parents’ home that night.

“As a reporter, I did it for 10 years; I came up on crime scenes all the time,” he said. “But when it’s your crime scene, a crime scene at your childhood home, it’s like the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen.”

Nick has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing is slated for Sept. 15, a day after his 33rd birthday.

“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out, ” Jake said. “My parents had unconditional love for all three of us. I can tell you they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him.”

Jake and Romy made their first public appearance together since the tragedy on Aug. 2 at Dodger Stadium, where they took part in the ceremonial first pitch. Dodger Stadium meant a great deal to their father.

“One of the great pleasures I have is walking into Dodger Stadium. It’s like I feel at peace,” Rob Reiner once said.

“He had season tickets for the Dodgers,” Jake said, “and we would go anywhere from three to four games a week, and it was just the greatest time with him.

“It was an emotional thing that we did. I don’t know if I really could take in the moment, because everything happened kind of fast, but I was really happy that we got to do that.”

When talking about the Gerhardt brothers, Hudson, a quarterback, and Bailen, a receiver, first-year Village Christian coach Rand Holdren says there’s never a boring moment when the two are together.

“I want to send them off to their room,” he joked about the brothers bickering with each other.

What brothers don’t occasionally raise their voices, and fight over food, gifts and clothes?

In Village Christian’s 34-0 win over Huntington Park last week, Hudson, a senior, completed 11 of 13 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Bailen, a junior, caught four passes for 91 yards and one touchdown. Of course, if Bailen ever drops a pass, big brother might give him a nasty look.

Holdren left Maranatha to take over the Village Christian program.

“The first day of spring practice, we had nine kids,” he said. “I quickly realized why they called me.”

He’s up to 25 players and hoping the Gerhardt brothers will continue to be entertaining in games and in huddles.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

As online speculation swirls around Brian Hickerson — an on-again, off-again boyfriend of Hayden Panettiere who was present when she was found in cardiac arrest — his brother is speaking out to tell their side of the story.

Zach Hickerson spoke with TMZ on Friday, almost a week after Panettiere died of an apparent overdose, and following days of increasing scrutiny over Brian’s involvement in her life.

“The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation,” Zach Hickerson said in a statement to the outlet. “And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.”

Internet would-be sleuths have popped up in Zach’s comments on social media this week, probing Brian’s behavior and previous conduct.

On Wednesday, Panettiere’s former West Hollywood neighbor Mia Terrazas told “Inside Edition” that she was “terrified” of Brian, and that the apartment complex at one point had signs posted warning passersby to call the police if anyone spotted him. On Thursday, Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, pointed blame for the actor’s death toward Brian.

But on Friday, Zach said that it was Brian who gave Panettiere a dose of Narcan — a medication that can quickly reverse or reduce the effects of an opioid overdose — after the brothers discovered she was unconscious at the Greenville, S.C., Airbnb where they were staying.

“I want to clarify my involvement in an effort to keep the focus on the fact that we lost one of the most precious individuals on this earth and to allow those that cared about her to mourn without additional noise, chaos, and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public,” he told TMZ.

Zach told the outlet that he made plans to get lunch and play indoor golf with his brother and the actor after church on Sunday morning. When he attempted unsuccessfully to reach them, he drove to the rental home and “knocked loudly, which apparently woke Brian up from a nap they were both taking on the pull-out couch bed in the living room.”

When they realized Panettiere was unconscious, “I immediately called 911 and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived. At that point we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life.”

According to a report from Greenville, S.C., police, Zach was “very emotional” as paramedics attempted to revive Panettiere, and Brian “did not become emotional” until paramedics declared that she was dead.

Over the course of Brian’s volatile relationship with the actor, he was arrested multiple times on suspicion of domestic violence against Panettiere. Those include in May 2019 in Los Angeles (charges were later dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t secure a material witness) and again on Valentine’s Day 2020 in Wyoming (misdemeanor battery charges were eventually dropped). Following an eight-count criminal indictment in July 2020 that covered multiple violent incidents between May 2019 and January 2020, Brian pleaded no contest in April 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

He was sentenced to 45 days in jail (but served 13 days due to credit for time served) along with four years of formal probation, mandatory domestic violence classes, and a five-year protective order.

Three days before Panettiere’s death, Brian attempted to expunge and reduce his past felony charges but was denied by a Los Angeles judge. He made the same request in July 2025, which was also denied.

“Hayden was one of my dearest and closest friends that I loved and cared about for the last 8 years,” Zach said in his statement to TMZ. “Out of respect for her loved ones, the speculation and sensationalism of her death needs to end until the facts can be released from the investigation.”

CRUZ Beckham left fans blindsided as he shared a throwback photo with his two brothers Romeo and Brooklyn.

In what at first appeared to be a regular post of recent snaps, Cruz included a photo of when he and his brothers were children, posing together while on holiday.

The photo of happier times was simply captured “Brothers” with a blue heart emoji.

This surprised his followers, given Brooklyn is currently estranged from the rest of the Beckhams amid their very public fall-out.

Brooklyn has not been pictured with the rest of the family since then – but Cruz’s inclusion of the childhood throwback set tongues wagging in the Instagram comments.

“Brothers forever Cruz!” one person penned, followed by another who wrote: “Precious memories forever!”

ICE GIRL

David and Victoria Beckham enjoy quality time with Harper, 15, & grab ice cream

block-lyn

Brooklyn and Nicola in new feud with comic as they are accused of ‘blocking her’

Elsewhere, Cruz’s sister-in-law Nicola Peltz also shared a series of snaps, captioning them “summer magic”.

Amid a slew of snaps featuring luxury homes and bouquets of flowers, was a picture of her husband Brooklyn, grinning happily.

Brooklyn declared in January that he was not speaking to his family, claiming they had tried to interfere with his marriage to Nicola, and that they “humiliated” him at their 2022 wedding.

He stated that he was not interested in reconnecting with mum and dad Victoria and David Beckham, and his siblings Cruz, Romeo and Harper Beckham were seemingly dragged into the feud as a result.

Just last week, fans believed Cruz had taken a swipe at Brooklyn in a TikTok post.

Cruz’s clip showed him cracking an egg into a pan, before removing and throwing away the shell.

He struggled to crack the egg, having to scoop out pieces of shell with his fingers.

Cruz captioned the post: “The shell is the best part.”

Meanwhile, the lyric “I wanna wear you down” from Cruz’s single Wear & Tear played over the video.

Cruz’s followers believed he was referencing aspiring chef Brooklyn’s own cooking videos.

This includes fans recently being left baffled with Brooklyn’s bizarre cooking hack on a yacht, when he used seawater to cook tomato pasta during a holiday with his wife.

Writing underneath Cruz’s video, one fan penned: “Second best cook in the family after ya dad….”

While another added: “It took me a minute, but this has to be a dig. The cooking and the song lyrics.”

Earlier this month, David and Victoria missed bumping into Brooklyn by minutes after the whole clan holidayed in St. Tropez separately.

The Beckhams enjoyed a summer break away in the South of France but estranged son Brooklyn was enjoying his own outing with wife Nicola Peltz just around the corner.

The clan have been split for over a year with Posh and Becks attempting to extend an olive branch on numerous occasions.

His NFL playing career is over, but Derek Carr is far from done with football.

UCLA announced this week that it has hired Carr as a special advisor to football coach Bob Chesney, and that the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback will assist with the Bruins’ offensive staff in game-planning strategy.

“Coach Chesney is a leader of men,” said Carr, who was at Dodger Stadium on Monday evening and was on the field before the game. “So many guys get hired just based on scheme. This is a guy who stands up in front of the room and leads.”

It might seem a bit random, Carr joining UCLA’s staff. He played at Fresno State, then with the Raiders in Oakland and Las Vegas before finishing his NFL career in New Orleans. But there’s a connection.

Darrick Yray, UCLA football’s general manager, formerly was an offensive assistant and assistant director of football operations at Fresno State. He and Carr got to know each other there.

After attending his first team meeting at UCLA, Carr texted Yray and said, “You’ve got a real one” in Chesney.

“You can feel his presence,” Carr said of Chesney, hired in December after his rise to coaching prominence at Holy Cross then James Madison. “You can feel the team respond to him. … It wasn’t so much what he said, it was how he said it. He was so demanding of the team, yet so encouraging.

“He can demand, demand, demand, but also love them at the same time, to the point where they’re like, `OK, Coach, whatever you want.’”

Carr played 11 NFL seasons, finishing with 41,245 yards passing and 257 touchdowns. He remains the Raiders’ all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions. He retired in May 2025.

Coaching was always in his plans. His brother, Darren, is head football coach at Bakersfield Christian High, and Derek helped coach the quarterbacks there last season. Their brother, David, the quarterback picked No. 1 overall by the expansion Houston Texans in 2002, is Bakersfield Christian’s offensive coordinator.

“I have so much knowledge and things built up that I just want to give to these kids,” Derek Carr said of his interest in coaching in high school and college. “Just like my brother did for me.

“When I got to high school, I was ahead. When I got to college, I was ahead. When I got to the NFL, I was ahead. Because my brother poured into my life. That’s what I feel I want to do for the next generation, too.”

Fourth in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Luke Gazzaniga, Santa Margarita tight end.

You’re unlikely to feel sympathy for 6-foot-4, 235-pound tight end Luke Gazzaniga, a senior at Santa Margarita High who enjoys the idea of running over tacklers after catching a pass or sending an opponent crashing to the ground with a bone-crushing block.

Except understand that he’s the smallest brother in his family. The others are 6-7 and 6-5, so imagine the little brother in the front yard doing the Oklahoma drill, a legendary one-on-one football drill from years ago that tested toughness via collisions.

“We’d literally just run at each other,” he said.

Some brothers play video games or collect baseball cards. The Gazzanigas were into seeing who would be the last one standing.

“It was fun,” Luke said. “I was quick when I was a little kid. I wouldn’t go down. I’ve had to fight for myself. I had to find my way to win.”

Their father, David, who played football at Dartmouth and became an orthopedic surgeon, welcomed the competition. If any of the boys came into the house before a game was over, Dad’s response was, “Suck it up and go back.”

“He taught us how to be tough,” Luke said.

You can sense the enjoyment Luke has on a football field. After he catches a pass, he looks up and gets excited if there’s a defender nearby.

“I love seeing people there,” he said. “I’m letting them know if you’re going to try to tackle me, it’s going to hurt you more than me. I’m glad someone thinks they can tackle me.”

Future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski has been the player he’s most admired, and Gazzaniga has been able to see pro players up close because his father worked as a physician with the Chargers. Luke got to hang out in the training room and on the field.

“They’re impressively big and impressively fast,” he said. “People were huge.”

During Santa Margarita’s run to the Southern Section Division 1 and Open Division state titles last season, Gazzaniga became an important offensive weapon over the middle, even though he suffered an ankle injury and missed six weeks. He caught 20 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns.

“God gave me the blessing to catch anything,” he said.

Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer used to take advantage of throwing to the tight end when playing at USC and in the NFL, and there’s no doubt Gazzaniga feels comfortable in the Eagles’ offensive schemes. Tight ends continue to gain attention at the highest levels.

“It’s a super important position,” Gazzaniga said. “People love looking at receivers and forget the tight end is almost the glue between passing and running. The Rams use three tight ends and there’s a bunch of big personnel types all over the league. I can envision myself being there one day and making an impact.”

Gazzaniga is committed to Kansas. He comes from a family of athletes. Two older sisters played water polo at USC, with Rachel now a candidate to play for the U.S. Olympic team in 2028. Brother John is a quarterback at Alabama. His mother is an avid mountain climber. John used to throw bullet passes to Luke growing up, which helped prepare him for any and all quarterbacks.

Thanksgiving always has produced an interesting dynamic with five tall, energetic kids circling for a turkey leg.

“It’s hard to know how much we eat,” Luke said.

Saturday: Vincent Shields, Murrieta Valley offensive lineman.

Tight ends to watch

Luke Gazzaniga, Santa Margarita, 6-4, 235, Sr.: Kansas commit makes big catches in traffic

JJ Haley, Corona del Mar, 6-3, 200, Jr.: The next top tight end from the tight end school

Max Markofski, Mission Viejo, 6-4, 230, Sr.: Arizona commit is known for his receiving skills

Hudson Ploog, Orange Lutheran, 6-5, 235, Sr. Nevada Las Vegas commit is like a sixth offensive lineman to clear defenders

Jaylin Smalls, Rancho Cucamonga, 6-4, 230, Jr.: This is the season he begins to show his talents