new quarterback

The Foothill League doesn’t have to take a back seat to any league when it comes to tradition and success, from producing state champions to being the league where Hall of Fame coaches Harry Welch and Mike Herrington once saw huge success.

All seven schools that are part of the William S. Hart Union High School District took part Saturday in the first Foothill League media day at Saugus High. There’s much to admire about the league, including that all seven schools have athletic trainers and six of the seven head coaches are also full-time teachers.

Hart, Canyon and Valencia have produced their share of NFL players. And this season, Valencia has the talent to make a run in Southern Section Division 2 or 3 with the return of running back Brian Bonner, a Washington commit, and quarterback Brady Bretthauer.

Coach Larry Muir is entering his 20th season as head coach and still teaching four classes of U.S. history each day. “He’s a lot nicer in the classroom,” Bretthauer joked. “He picks on the football player.”

Bretthauer also revealed how he motivates his linemen to block. “If I get sacked, no In-N-Out,” he said.

Even though Muir is challenged daily to balance his time and commitment from teaching to coaching football, Muir said he wouldn’t want it any other way. “I love being in the classroom,” he said. “I literally don’t feel I go to work. “

The rivalries in the league guarantee the sports-crazed Santa Clarita Valley weekly entertainment. About the only issue is a lack of stadiums. Canyon and Valencia have stadiums and College of the Canyons also hosts games.

“It’s playoffs every week,” Golden Valley coach Dan Kelley said. “There are no slouches.”

Golden Valley will have a four-year starter in lineman Evan Nye, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior.

Castaic is turning to junior Aidan Mojica, a former tight end, as its new quarterback. There’s a promising sophomore linebacker in Lucas Duryea, who will be eligible at the end of September after transferring from Chaminade.

West Ranch has a first-year head coach in TJ Yonkers. Its top returning defensive player is Max Piccolino, who had 15 1/2 sacks last season.

Carson Soria, a former receiver, is moving to quarterback for Canyon. He’s also the punter, so beware of trick plays.

Hart quarterback Jacob Paisano will be trying to get the ball to junior Matix Frithsmith in a variety ways, whether Frithsmith is playing running back or slot receiver. Two of Hart’s players are the sons of principal Jason D’Autremont.

Saugus has the son of Valencia principal Kullen Welch playing for them, which should make for an interesting game when those two schools play. Beckham Welch is an offensive lineman for the Centurions.

Saugus coach Jason Bornn, who organized the media day, wondered how many championships would be won if the talent in the area was concentrated at one or two schools rather than seven.

“If we only had one or two high schools, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco wouldn’t have a chance,” he said.

Tino Sunseri is spending the next two weeks in Costa Mesa while a large chunk of his heart resides on the East Coast.

That’s where the new UCLA offensive coordinator’s wife and 3-month-old son are living with one set of grandparents, allowing Tino to focus the best he can on training camp with the Bruins.

The first-time father is buoyed both by what he’s seeing with his team and reports about his infant, who giggled for the first time the other day. Santino Michael Sunseri Jr. already has a nickname — “We’re calling him Sonny, like ‘The Godfather,’ ” Tino cracked, referring to Santino “Sonny” Corleone from the movie — and curiously studies his father in FaceTime sessions.

“Right now,” Tino said Saturday morning, “he’s kind of giving me that look, like, ‘Hey, I know your voice, but who are you right here?’”

There’s also plenty of getting to know you between Sunseri and his new quarterback.

Nico Iamaleava enrolled in June after transferring from Tennessee, making this the fifth consecutive season that Sunseri will be working with a new quarterback. In 2021, Sunseri’s first season as quarterbacks coach at James Madison, veteran quarterback Cole Johnson led the Dukes to the semifinals of the Division I-AA playoffs.

A year later, Sunseri worked with Todd Centeio, a transfer from Colorado State who led James Madison to the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division title. In 2023, Sunseri and Jordan McCloud, a transfer from Arizona, helped the Dukes notch another division title.

Last season might have been Sunseri’s most impressive working with a newbie quarterback. Kurtis Rourke, a transfer from Ohio, led Indiana to a historic season that included an 11-2 record and appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Sunseri’s first impressions of Iamaleava align with the sort of immediate success he’s enjoyed with other quarterbacks.

“He’s a self-driven person,” Sunseri said. “He has a certain standard of how he wants to be able to operate each day. And the great thing about my past is I’ve been around a lot of guys that have the same kind of feel and thought process.

“So the only thing you’ve got to do with these guys is you’ve got to be able to give them the information, and you’ve got to keep being able to stimulate them to be able to make sure that every single day, there’s something that they’re being able to attack and chase, and there’s not one day that he hasn’t come in here that he’s not focused on being able to become the best player that he can be for UCLA.”

In the limited media viewing period Saturday, Iamaleava had more success on the ground than through the air, faking a handoff and cutting to his right for a touchdown run. The only pass he threw, intended for Ezavier Staples, was broken up by defensive back Jamir Benjamin in the end zone.

Iamaleava has impressed Sunseri with a relentless approach — whenever he’s not practicing or working out, he’s studying the offense.

“It’s infectious to him; he can’t get enough of it,” Sunseri said. “And when you have those kind of guys, you can start to be able to see how they can be able to develop, and now you can be able to start to be able to formulate a mindset and starting to be able to see where they think, how they think and start to be able to have it to where you can really understand how to coach them.”

Having such a condensed window to work with Iamaleava before the season opener against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl isn’t a concern to Sunseri.

“It’s not about us being able to install the offense,” Sunseri said, “it’s about being able to make sure that it’s not too much too fast to where he can be able to grasp it, because we’re not playing next week, we’re playing in three weeks — it’s still a ton of time for us to be able to utilize.”

Those wondering what UCLA’s offense will look like might have to wait until the season opener because Sunseri isn’t divulging much besides its goal to stretch a defense so that it must account for “every single blade of grass.” Sunseri did suggest that there will be an ample amount of running the football.

“Let me say this: We’re gonna be a physical football team,” said Sunseri, whose first coaching stops came as a quality control coach at Florida State and Tennessee and a graduate assistant at Alabama. “It’s where I’ve always been raised, coming from the SEC, you’ve got to run that ball, and me being a Nick Saban disciple, that’s just my thought process, right?”

A speedy duo

UCLA running back Jaivian Thomas carries the ball during preseason training in Costa Mesa on Friday.

(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)

Jaivian Thomas, the transfer running back from California, is so fast that his father called him “The Jet” growing up.

During informal sprints with his new team, Thomas said fellow running back Anthony Woods stayed with him step for step.

So does that make this a twin-jet offense?

“Ant got gas,” Thomas said of his teammate, “but I feel like I’m the fastest in the room.”

The hope is that alongside returners Jalen Berger and Anthony Frias II, the Bruins can spread their carries and wear down defenses. While Thomas and Woods are the speedsters of the group, Berger and Frias might feature slightly more power to their rushing styles.

Berger said he had fully recovered from the sprained ankle he suffered against Iowa last season that hindered him over the season’s final four games. Thomas was the Golden Bears’ leading rusher last season, averaging 6.3 yards per carry while gaining 644 yards and scoring seven touchdowns.

Coach DeShaun Foster called Thomas a threat to score every time he touched the ball. If all goes as planned, multiple running backs will cross the goal line while challenging defenses.

“It allows those guys to be able to stay fresh, and as those defenses align, they’re playing 40, 50, 60 snaps in the game, and you’re getting to the fourth quarter, those guys are a little worn out,” Sunseri said of playing a bevy of running backs. “So then whenever you put a guy in with fresh tires, then he could be able to have it to where he’s running through a couple of those tackles, maybe he’s able to continue to be able to play at a different speed than those [defensive] guys in the game.”

Let’s offer a preseason top-10 rankings in high school football for the City Section:

1. BIRMINGHAM: The Patriots have weaknesses (lack of a passing game), but a big offensive line, two transfer running backs and a big-play weapon in receiver Paul Turner make them the team to beat. They have a 49-game winning streak against City teams thanks to forfeit wins against Narbonne.

2. SAN PEDRO: Junior quarterback Seth Solorio takes over as the starter behind a veteran offensive line. There’s speed and kicker Dylan Moreno starts out as the most accurate in the City Section.

3. CARSON: A new coach but lots of talent. Quarterback Chris Fields will have plenty of weapons. The defense needs to prove itself.

4. GARFIELD: New coach Patrick Vargas learned from the retired Lorenzo Hernandez. Vargas might call a few more passes but has a top running back in Ceasar Reyes.

5. PALISADES: The passing combination of quarterback Jack Thomas throwing to Bishop Alemany transfer Demare Dezeurn is going to be fun to watch. Dezeurn is one of the fastest athletes in California.

Eagle Rock All-City quarterback Liam Pasten is 6 feet 1 and 145 pounds.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

6. EAGLE ROCK: The Northern League favorites return quarterback Liam Pasten, who passed for 3,600 yards as a junior. Their opening game against Kennedy should provide clues whether they are an Open Division team.

7. DORSEY: A new quarterback to team with receiver Deuce Johnson should benefit the Dons, who went 5-0 in the Coliseum League in a breakthrough last season.

8. KENNEDY: Valley Mission League favorites will rely on All-City quarterback Diego Montes.

9. BANNING: Must break in new quarterback but lots of players to build around, including linebacker Keshawn Galloway and defensive back Alonzo Ruiz.

10. VENICE: Quarterback Bennett Dome, defensive back Joshua Aaron and receiver Aaron Minter are standouts on a team capable of winning the Western League.