Santa Margarita quarterback Johnny Stanton has signed with Nebraska, the senior confirmed in a text message moments ago.
Stanton, an Elite 11 quarterback, is recovering well after a knee injury ended his season in September. He’s a big-time get for the Cornhuskers.
Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
Santa Margarita coach Harry Welch, left, gives quarterback Johnny Stanton a hand with the award Stanton received for being selected the National High School Coaches Association Player of the Month for September on Thursday. / ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Santa Margarita quarterback Johnny Stanton was awarded the National High School Coaches Association/GTM Sportswear athlete of the month for September on Thursday.
NHSCA communications director Jeff Fisher presented Stanton with the award in the school’s gym in front of the Eagles’ student body.
Stanton, a Nebraska commit, guided the Eagles to a 5-0 start before suffering a season-ending knee injury in a victory against St. Bonaventure of Ventura on Sept. 21.
In the Eagles’ first five games, the senior completed 59 of 88 passes (67 percent) for 949 yards and 11 TDs, and he rushed for 386 yards and eight TDs. He ended his high school career with nine school records.
Stanton had knee surgery on Sept. 28 and has started physical therapy.
“I’m excited to start getting my strength back,” Stanton said before the Eagles’ game against Servite last week. “(The surgery) went well.”
Santa Margarita is ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN and No. 4 by USA Today.
Please send football news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
Top-ranked Santa Margarita is scheduled to start junior Josh Canty (5-11, 178) at quarterback tonight against Servite in replace of the injured Johnny Stanton (knee), the Eagles announced.
Canty has two pass attempts on the season and has rushed for 61 yards on seven carries.
Santa Margarita reports that – in no particular order — sophomore Kyle Sweet, freshman Kevin “KJ” Costello, junior Grant Clancy and senior Connor O’Brien will serve as backups.
Santa Margarita quarterback Johnny Stanton suffered a knee injury during Friday’s game against St. Bonaventure of Ventura. / KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Quarterback Johnny Stanton of Santa Margarita’s top-ranked football team has suffered a torn ACL and will need surgery, Eagles coach Harry Welch said Saturday night.
Welch said he believes the Nebraska commit will miss the remainder of the season.
“He’s one of the best athletes I have ever known in 43 years of coaching, and he’s better human being than an athlete,” Welch said of the senior. “You don’t replace a Johnny Stanton.”
The All-County performer limped at times during the Eagles’ 35-27 victory against St. Bonaventure of Ventura on Friday but finished the game. Welch said he isn’t sure when Stanton suffered the injury. Stanton did come up limp after a QB draw run on Santa Margarita’s first series.
The Eagles (5-0), ranked No. 1 in the county and Pac-5 Division and No. 1 in the nation by ESPN, have a bye this week before opening the Trinity League against Servite (1-3) on Oct. 5.
“We’ll handle this about as well as anybody possibly could handle this,” Welch said. “(I) just feel so bad for Johnny and his teammates.”
Stanton (6-3, 220) had already passed for 949 and 11 TDs and rushed for 386 yards and eight TDs.
“He’s going to be absolutely fine and have an amazing college career,” Welch said.
Santa Margarita will now turn to junior Josh Canty (5-11, 178) or perhaps sophomore Kyle Sweet among others to play quarterback.
“I feel really, really good about the future. I’m just kind of devastated about what’s just happened,” Welch said.
More football news from the OCVarsity blog:
More than 400 votes were cast this month on the poll question: What O.C. football player should top OCVarsity’s annual Hot 100 list?
Santa Margarita defensive back/wide receiver Connor O’Brien edged quarterback Johnny Stanton in the voting but Stanton took the top spot in the Hot 100, which was released today.
Check out the Hot 100 and see how the other finalists fared.
Here are the latest standings from the poll:
1. Connor O’Brien
2. Johnny Stanton
3. Max Redfield
4. Conner Manning
5. Ed Tandy
6. Thomas Duarte
I’m hard at work on another edition of Orange County’s Hot 100 players to watch. It’s a fun but challenging task to forecast — hopefully all — of the top players to watch before the football season begins.
Who saw Josh Webb’s dramatics coming for Garden Grove in 2010? Who knew Conner Manning of El Toro would become the county’s first 4,000-yard passer in 2011?
What player should be ranked No. 1 in the county going into this season? That’s my question at the moment but feel free to send me or post your nominations for the Hot 100 players here (email: dalbano@ocregister.com).
Santa Margarita’s football team, featuring returning All-County quarterback Johnny Stanton, left, is No. 2 in USA Today’s preseason national rankings.
Miami Central of Miami, Fla. is No. 1 in those rankings. De La Salle of Concord is No. 4. Vista Murrieta is No. 22.
Santa Margarita was a CIF-Southern Section and CIF State Champion last year. The Eagles, with a plethora of returning starters, just might be ocvarsity.com’s preseason No. 1.
twitter.com/stevefryer
More football news from the OCVarsity blog:
Santa Margarita All-County quarterback Johnny Stanton (6-2, 205) committed to Nebraska on Monday morning, the senior-to-be confirmed moments ago in a text message.
The dual-threat quarterback visited the Lincoln campus in mid-June as part of a week-long visit of colleges. Nebraska, which runs a spread option offense, offered Stanton on June 14.
“It was the best for me,” he said of Nebraska in a text message. “I really felt good with the whole school and program.”
Stanton picked the Big Ten Cornhuskers over several offers in the Pac-12 along with Wisconsin, Air Force and San Diego State.
He had Pac-12 offers from Utah, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal and Washington.
In the end, he picked Nebraska over Wisconsin and Oregon.
Stanton is ranked fourth in the latest OCVarsity recruiting rankings for 2013. He is the sixth senior-to-be from Santa Margarita to commit to a Division 1 school.
Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
More recruiting news from the OCVarsity blog:
More football news from the OCVarsity blog:
Johnny Stanton’s week-long tour of colleges continued to reap rewards Thursday.
The Santa Margarita senior-to-be quarterback picked up scholarship offers from Oregon State and Nebraska, he said in a text message from Eugene, Oregon.
Earlier this week, Stanton was offered from Utah. He now has four Pac-12 offers: Cal and Washington also have offered the All-County performer.
Stanton started his week-long tour at UCLA on Sunday. He was expected to close out his tour of camps at Washington State on Friday but called it off because the Cougars’ received a commitment from another QB.
Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
Santa Margarita quarterback Johnny Stanton (6-2, 205) was offered by Utah on Monday, the senior-to-be said in a text message Tuesday morning.
Utah is the third Pac-12 team to offer Stanton, joining Cal and Washington.
Interestingly, in February, Utah signed the quarterback Stanton and Santa Margarita faced in the Pac-5 Division final: San Clemente’s Travis Wilson, who graduated early to enroll at Utah.
Stanton is in the midst of a week-long recruiting tour of colleges. He was scheduled to visit Utah on Monday and sent his text message today from Lincoln, Nebraska.
He also has offers from San Diego State and Air Force. Stanton currently sits sixth in the OCVarsity recruiting rankings for 2013.
Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com
Santa Margarita senior-to-be quarterback Johnny Stanton is taking an aggressive approach to his recruiting this week as the Eagles begin their dead period.
The All-County selection from 2011 plans to attend six college camps this week. Here was the schedule Stanton shared at the Air Strike passing tournament over the weekend:
Sunday: UCLA
Monday: Utah
Tuesday: Nebraska
LATEST OCVARSITY VIDEOS Media Partners :
KOCE |
MSNBC |
OCExcelsior |
Home Magazine |
Coast Magazine |
Preferred Destinations Magazine |
KPCC |
KMEX |
NguoiViet |
RSS Feed 
|
Contact us |
Privacy policy |
User agreement |
Corrections |
Career opportunities |
Advertise with us |
About us|
Archives |
Homes
Cars |
Jobs |
OC Single Scene |
California Lottery |
Register Insiders |
Register in Education |
Buy our Photos |
Feedback |
Local Businesses |
OC H.S. Sports
Slideshow: Hot Shots Overtime 1: Friday's Division 2 baseball games (5-17-13)
Slideshow: Hot Shots Overtime 2: Friday's Division 4 and 6 baseball games (5-17-13)
Slideshow: Hot Shots Overtime: CIF Track and Field Finals (5-18-13)
Slideshow: OCVarsity Hot Shots: Friday's baseball playoffs (5-17-13)
