PREPS / ROB FERNAS : Pilot Coach Hoping Mills Is Not Just Another Run-of-the-Mill Lineman

According to several preseason publications, the South Bay’s top college football prospect is Naeem Mills, a 6-foot-4, 295-pound lineman for Banning High.

Super Prep magazine, usually a reliable source, rates Mills the 16th-best defensive lineman in the country and reports that USC has been recruiting him since he was a sophomore. He is also considering Michigan, Washington, UCLA, Colorado and Miami, according to Super Prep.

Mills runs the 40-yard dash in 5.0 seconds and has great coordination for a big man, but so far he has not made much of an impact at Banning. He opened last season at inside linebacker, but was demoted to part-time defensive lineman because he had trouble handling the duties of linebacker.

Banning Coach Joe Dominguez lists Mills as a probable starter on the offensive line, but he is not entirely sold on the touted senior.

“He may end up going both ways, or he may not be a starter,” Dominguez said. “Everybody is competing. If a kid who is 5-6 and 200 pounds ends up starting instead, it’s because that kid beat him out.

“But we think (Mills) is going to be great football player. He has great size and good strength and he moves around very well.”

The only other area player listed by Super Prep is Carson wide receiver Theron Hill, ranked 35th among prospects in the Far West. “Theron would be rated much higher if he were a better student,” the magazine reports.

Cal-Hi Sports lists three area seniors among the “Hot 100” in the state: Mills, Hill and Hawthorne defensive back Joe Latu. The publication lists two area players in a second grouping of 100 seniors--Redondo lineman Ryan Turner and Carson wide receiver Landy McCall.

McCall, however, no longer plays for Carson. He recently moved to Phoenix to live with his mother after playing with the Colts all summer.

“That is a blow,” Carson co-coach Marty Blankenship said. “We were expecting some really big things from him.”

Running back Joe McEwen, who was expected to be one of Bishop Montgomery’s top returning players, has left school because of academic problems and is now attending Carson, although he is ineligible to play football.

“He came over during the summer,” Blankenship said. “If he were eligible, hey, he may have come out and earned himself a starting spot.”

McEwen was Bishop Montgomery’s leading rusher last season as a junior. He gained 828 yards in 95 carries, an 8.7-yard average, and also was a threat as a kick returner. He led the Knights with seven touchdowns.

Bishop Montgomery Coach Steve Carroll said it will be tough to replace McEwen.

“Any time you lose a player of that caliber,” he said, “you get hurt one way or another.”

Two of the talented underclassmen in South Torrance’s football program are Eric and Chad Morton, brothers of USC wide receiver Johnnie Morton, a former South standout.

Eric, a junior, is scheduled to start at wide receiver for the Spartans. Chad is an incoming freshman, but has already earned praise from Coach Don Morrow.

“The little one is really going to be good,” Morrow said of Chad. “Eric is not quite as good an athlete as Johnnie, but he has good quickness. This is going to be a learning year for him.”

Johnnie Morton was USC’s leading receiver Monday in a 24-10 loss to Memphis State with five catches for 62 yards.

Morrow, the South coach, and Kerry Crabb, the new football coach at West Torrance, are familiar with each other from their college playing days.

Morrow, a former Aviation High standout, was a quarterback for Cal State Northridge and played against Crabb when he was a defensive back for Chico State.

Their first meeting as coaches is Oct. 18 at South.

Bill Lysle, the new football coach at Mira Costa, has been impressed with the work ethic of senior running back/linebacker Miguel Garcia.

How impressed?

“Miguel is the type of kid that goes out and dives on the grenade for you,” Lysle said. “If you have enough of these type of kids, they make your program go.”

First-year San Pedro Coach Michael Walsh says sophomore defensive back Bryant Thomas has the potential to become a great player.

“He’s an unbelievable hitter,” Walsh said. “He can drill a can of oil.”

The 6-2, 175-pound Thomas is expected to start at free safety and play a little at wide receiver.

There are few things that upset football coaches more than injuries to key players. Consider, then, how the coaches at Cantwell High in Montebello must have felt after the first day of practice in pads.

Three players went down with broken ankles, including the team’s starting running backs. Fullback Jesse Davila is out for the season and tailback Bobby Villar will miss several weeks, according to assistant Greg Gonzales.

The injuries won’t help Cantwell’s bid to unseat Mary Star as champion of the Santa Fe League.