Rollinson: We’re riding his right arm

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Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said it before the season started and said it again after Friday’s game: ‘We’re riding his right arm for the next two years.’

Rollinson is walking straight into the lion’s den. He knows people want to know about his QB and he just goes right at them. Doesn’t shy away.

‘There’s no ... I mean, the kid has 24 games experience. I was questioned if I should start a freshman, and I rode through that. Last year people said, ‘Well, he’s only a sophomore.’ OK. There are no more excuses,’ Rollinson said. ‘This is his. The kid is talented. He’s a head-strong, mental kid that understands what we are trying to do and we’ve offered him the playbook and he can run it.’

Rollinson said it was unfair to compare Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley. I probably should have asked him unfair to who?

‘He [Barkley] already has two years experience, Matt took the helm as a junior. That story will be told later on, in Matt Barkley’s senior year, but the only similarity is that they are very cool in the pocket, they both study the football -- they know defensive football, they study the game plan -- and Matt Barkley has now developed the soft touch, the intermediate balls and obviously he can throw the deep ball just like Leinart.’

West Covina Coach Mike Maggiore raved after the game about Barkley’s vision.

‘He can read the field a little bit better,’ than last year, when the teams played each other, Maggiore said. ‘If there was an open kid, he found him. One day he’s going to go down ... I mean he’s going to have a very special career.’

In my opinion, he’s the best quarterback in Orange County. Probably in Southern California. I don’t know enough about the country to say the country, but he’s up there.

- Jaime Cárdenas