Schools: Saddleback through Woodbridge 

SADDLEBACK – George Garcia.

SADDLEBACK VALLEY CHRISTIAN – No response.

SAGE HILL – No response.

SAN CLEMENTE – Graham Tenney, Duke Delancellotti, Dylan Reda, Steve Watts, Ben Gomez, Jack Anderson, Evan Jacobsen. No response.

SANTA ANA – Art Chavez, Alex Castrejon, Chris Ledesma.

SANTA ANA VALLEY –No response.

SANTA MARGARITA – A.J. Cruz, Gavin Escobar, Ryan World, Steven Steinmetz, Alex Reyes.

SANTIAGO – Paul Escamilla.

SEGERSTROM – Nicalaus Powell-Calhoun, Francisco Partida, Alfred Tanielu.

ST. MARGARET'S – David Mothander, Chasen Smith, Alex Brolick, Jeremy Baileys

ST. MICHAEL'S – No response.

TESORO – Robbie Picazo, Preston King, Scott Graves, Tanner Hodgdon, Brett Gudim, Josh Cabral, Evan Finkenberg, Jake Warden.

TRABUCO HILLS – J.J. Mayer, Justin Lasch, Aaron Henry, Kyle Pruitt, Tyler Logsdon, Curren Devlin, Chris Triona, Danny Arriola, Michael Marovick..

TUSTIN – Ameer Webb, Chris Robinson, Justin Tausaga, Taylor Richardson, Dillan Sommer.

UNIVERSITY – Bronson Taylor, Trumaine Smith, Omar Cook, Elliott Martin, Tyler Fletcher.

WESTMINSTER – Aaron Garbutt, Chris Ross, Christian Dunlap, Jenny Chapple, Louie Villa.

WOODBRIDGE – Joshua Tenove, James Hong.

RELATED LINKS:

Adam Albitar, RB/S, committed to Cornell

Josh Cabral, OG, committed to Navy

John Michael Davis, LB, signed with Boise St.

Evan Finkenberg, OL, signed with Arizona St.

Brett Gudim, commited to Air Force

Preston King, Ath., signed with San Diego St.

Robbie Picazo, preferred walkon at Stanford

Related recruiting links:

• Live UCLA and USC Signing Day updates
• Top 15 football recruits of past 15 years.
• Top 20 O.C. football recruits for Class of 2009.
• O.C. QB leads Fab 15 selections.
• O.C. recruiting insider.

King has quite a recruiting story. He wasn't receiving much recruiting interest in early December but things picked up for him late. The key turning point might have been receiving an preferred walk-on from USC.

Related recruiting links:

• Live UCLA and USC Signing Day updates
• Top 15 football recruits of past 15 years.
• Top 20 O.C. football recruits for Class of 2009.
• O.C. QB leads Fab 15 selections.
• O.C. recruiting insider.

So what will be the biggest story of the day?

I'll go with the future of Tesoro wide receiver recruit Preston King. He's a San Diego State lean but will he sign with the Aztecs and bypass his favorite college team, USC? How about Colorado and a teaming with former Tesoro star Scott McKnight? USC and Colorado have offered preferred walkons.

I also will be posting a video interview of Orange County's No. 1 prospect, Matt Barkley, who has already enrolled at USC.

I also will have some Junior College transfer news.

So stayed tuned or keep checking back here for the latest.

Related recruiting links:

• Live UCLA and USC Signing Day updates
• Top 15 football recruits of past 15 years.
• Top 20 O.C. football recruits for Class of 2009.
• O.C. QB leads Fab 15 selections.
• O.C. recruiting insider.

San Diego State jumped to the top of the board Wednesday by offering King a full scholarship. He was considering a weekend trip to either San Jose State or Boise State but will now visit San Diego State.

Last weekend, King visited Colorado, which has offered him a preferred walk-on spot. Remember, Colorado already has former Tesoro standout Scott McKnight on the roster.

And there is USC, which also has offered a preferred walk-on spot and is King's childhood favorite college program.

King's recruiting really has picked up. I wonder if there's more news to come before the weekend?

RELATED:

• Top 20 O.C. recruits for Class of 2009
• Football recruiting: 15 for 15
• OC'S top committed recruits
• Updated lists of Orange County's top football players
• More recruiting news

Orange County player selected
DB Preston King (Tesoro) 5-9, 175, Sr.

Other players selected
WR James Johnson (Valley Center) 6-1, 205, Sr.
WR Robert Woods (Serra, Gardena) 6-1, 185, Jr.
TE Morrell Presley (Carson) 6-4, 220, Sr.
OL Greg Capella (El Diamante, Visalia) 6-4, 320, Sr.
OL Kevin Danser (Bellarmine, San Jose) 6-4, 290, Sr.
OL Kevin Graf (Agoura, Agoura Hills) 6-6, 315, Sr.
OL Michael Philipp (Arroyo Valley, San Bernardino) 6-4, 300, Sr.
OL Brian Schwenke (Oceanside) 6-3, 270, Sr.
QB Cody Vaz (St. Mary’s, Stockton) 6-1, 190, Sr.
RB Usua Amanam (Bellarmine, San Jose) 5-9, 175, Sr.
RB Tyler Gaffney (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) 6-1, 215, Sr.
PK Roman Ferreira (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) 5-7, 145, Sr.

DL Talia Crichton (Lakewood) 6-4, 245, Sr.
DL Eddie Nuckols (Mission Hills, San Diego) 6-3, 280, Sr.
DL Iuta Tepa (Long Beach Poly) 6-2, 230, Sr.
LB Travis Brown (Clovis West, Fresno) 6-3, 225, Sr.
LB Vontaze Burfict (Centennial, Corona) 6-2, 235, Sr.
LB  Steven Fanua (Milpitas) 6-2, 215, Sr.
LB Eric Martin (Rancho Verde, Moreno Valley) 6-2, 230, Sr.
DB Patrick Hall (St. Bonaventure, Ventura) 6-1, 175, Sr.
DB T.J. McDonald (Edison, Fresno) 6-3, 210, Sr.
DB Byron Moore Jr. (Narbonne, Harbor City) 6-1, 185, Sr.
P Brent Keys (Simi Valley) 6-2, 200, Sr.

QB/DE James Boyd (Jordan, Los Angeles) 6-4, 225, Sr.
RB/LB Malcolm Jones (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) 6-0, 215, Jr.
QB/RB Ryan Kasdorf (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) 6-2, 190, Jr.
QB/RB/LB Kipeli Koniseti (Grant, Sacramento) 6-3, 220, Sr.
QB/RB Taylor Martinez (Centennial, Corona) 6-2, 190, Sr.
RB/DB Cierre Wood (Santa Clara, Oxnard) 6-1, 210, Sr.

RELATED:

• All-State second team
• All-State third team
• All-State juniors
• All-State sophomores

To me, King is this season's version of Hunter White, the former Edison star who eventually landed at Boise State. King is a little undersized (5-foot-10, 175 pounds), not a track star but would be an excellent recruit.

I think King projects best as a collegiate corner or perhaps a safety. I'd pick him at corner right now. King is super-athletic, possesses great instincts and hands and is very physical.

He has not blown me away with his speed like say a similarly-sized Ronnie Hillman of La Habra. But King seems fast enough. For the record, he is faster than White was for Edison.

I think King's recruiting will pick up after the season, especially if he looks good against Long Beach Poly in the Pac-5 title game. White had a strong surge to his recruiting following his senior season.

I believe one of the main reasons that King hasn't been offered a scholarship yet is his junior season. He wasn't anywhere near this established as an 11th-grader.

"It's all about what you do as a junior," Tesoro coach Brian Barnes said.

John turned out and waved in mock acknowledgement. They were chanting, of course, for John's son Brian, whose Titans were in the process of knocking off Mater Dei (read the game story) and advancing to Saturday night's semifinal against Orange Lutheran.

"Boy, if that doesn't make you proud," John said. "I saw a Coach Barnes For President sign down there. Brian's just got them playing with great energy and intensity."

Some of that energy and intensity came at the expense of John's Los Alamitos squad the week before, a ticklish situation for everyone. Brian said he waited a few days before calling his dad. (Read about the Tesoro-Los Alamitos game.)

"It wasn't too bad until the game started," John said. "It is what it is. They have some really good kids down there. That Preston King, he just has a great command of the game. He got in the huddle one time against Mater Dei and told them that if the quarterback held the ball long enough, he could beat his guy with a double move, and then he went out there and did it for a touchdown."

King, for his part, found himself lined up near the Los Al bench on one defensive play. "It was weird," he said. "I almost felt like going up to Coach Barnes and asking him what play they were running."

John said Brian did as good a job at Estancia, before Tesoro opened up.

"I saw their team when he got them together and thought, 'Our freshmen at Los Al could beat them,''' John said. "The next year Brian is 7-4 with them. That was a heck of a job, and now it's happening again. Orange Lutheran and Mater Dei played a close one, so there's no reason to believe this one won't be close, too."

It wasn’t all Barkley’s fault: I counted nine dropped balls for Mater Dei’s receivers in the game. Sure, QB Matt Barkley throws pretty hard but these were mostly catchable balls. Barkley’s first interception deflected off his receiver. Still, the USC commit also forced some throws that certainly hurt the Monarchs, too.

Biggest drive of the game: Tesoro’s scoring drive in the final 1:59 of the first half was a killer for Mater Dei. The Monarchs had cut their deficit to 24-21 but the Titans pushed their lead back to 10 on Zach Bevan’s touchdown catch with 25 seconds left. Even more frustrating for Mater Dei had to be that its defense forced a fumble on the opening possession of the second half that could have led to potentially a go-ahead score.

Unsung hero: Tesoro wide out Zach Bevan. On the Titans’ late scoring drive in the first half, he had four catches for 53 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown.

Unsung hero #2: Tesoro defensive coordinator Matt Poston. The Titans aggressive blitz packages compliment the talents of King and Gudim on the edge. Poston's unit also shows many different looks and plays a physical brand of defense.

Gutsy play calling: Tesoro coach Brian Barnes decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Monarchs’ 38 leading 17-14 late in the first half. Sure, the Titans were probably out of field goal range but a miss would have given Mater Dei excellent field position and perhaps the momentum to take the lead. Instead, Tesoro QB Robbie Picazo connected on a short, inside slant to Preston King for a score.

Curious play calling: On Mater Dei’s second possession of the second half, the Monarchs went 3-and-out with three pass attempts. Running back Jaron Hytche had two touchdown runs on his past three carries, so why not run him more? Hytche had only four carries in the second half. He had 13 for 97 yards in the first half.

Big penalty: Both teams committed very few penalties. But the Monarchs’ committed a personal foul on their final drive of the game that really hurt their chances. The penalty came after Barkley scrambled 17 yards to his 47 with 54 seconds left. That 15 yards penalty and that time run off the clock ended up being huge.

Classy ending: Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson went out of his way to congratulate Tesoro's Preston King for his play. King had two INTs to tie Brett Gudim for the team lead with nine. Combined with his offensive production, King is this year's Hunter White. He's the best football player in the county.

As I worked on my top-10 ballot for this week's county football poll, I gave some thought to Mater Dei's impressive run.

Since their loss to Edison, the Monarchs are 4-0 with convincing victories over Servite and last week, St. John Bosco. But I'm sticking with the Tesoro Titans and Preston King (left) as the county No. 1 heading into Week 10.

Tesoro plays explosive Dana Hills, and Mater Dei takes on nemesis Orange Lutheran.

Here's my vote:

1. Tesoro
2. Mater Dei
3. Servite
4. LosAl
5. Edison
6. Orange Lutheran
7. Mission Viejo
8. Fountain Valley
9. Newport Harbor
10. San Clemente