ORANGE LEAGUE FOOTBALL PREVIEW : Valencia’s Draft Talks a Good Game, and Plays One, Too

PLACENTIA — Chris Draft loves to talk.

Just ask him.

“I talk all the time,” said Draft, Valencia High’s junior tailback and inside linebacker. “I talked so much during games last year that I about got thrown out a couple times.

“I don’t say anything on offense. I only talk on defense. I can’t even remember what I say when I’m out there. It’s nothing bad, just talk. It just gets you hyper, that’s all.”

How about this year?

“I can’t talk as much because I’ll be running the ball more,” he said. “Talking makes you tired, you know.”

Chris Draft loves to hit.

Just ask him.

“I like defense better than offense,” he said. “I hit hard. I like to go through people. That’s why I like to block on offense.”

Idle talk? Hardly.

All this talk comes from a guy who was only a sophomore on a senior-dominated team that won the Southern Section Division VI championship last season.

All this talk comes from a guy who led the team in tackles last season, averaging about eight a game, for a 14-0 team that outscored opponents, 511-83.

All this talk comes from a guy who has a 3.2 grade-point average and faces a schedule full of advanced-placement and honors courses this fall.

And all this talk comes from a guy who recovered three fumbles last season, and whose crushing hits have earned him a reputation throughout the Orange League.

“You think that because he was a sophomore, he would have been tentative out there, “ Brea-Olinda Coach Jon Looney said.

“But he stood out among all those kids on defense. He had some hits . His range is great and he’s aggressive getting to the ball. He’s always right there, on the ball or around it.”

Looney should know.

Draft, 6 feet and 195 pounds, dominated Brea-Olinda’s offense in a 50-17 Valencia victory last season.

He blocked a key field-goal attempt near the end of the first half, recovered a fumble and terrorized Wildcat quarterback Jason Luevanos, one of the best in Orange County.

“He was a force at linebacker,” Looney said. “He played like a good senior, and that’s not good news for us this year.”

Draft has two more seasons to impress league coaches before moving on to college.

He’s a lock as a Division I college prospect, already receiving interest from USC, Colorado, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, Utah State and San Diego State.

Draft hopes to draw more attention this season. He said he was overlooked somewhat last year, especially as a defensive player.

He bases his argument on the all-league team, selected by the coaches. He was upset that he was an honorable mention selection at linebacker and not a first-team pick.

“I want all-league this year,” Draft said. “And I want all-county and all-CIF.”

Draft was a tailback on Valencia’s 4-6 freshman team in 1990, gaining 1,200 yards and scoring 20 touchdowns.

“All we did was run sweeps and blasts,” Draft said. “It was hard because our fullback, Romaine Mills, would run up to the line and stop. He had a sore back by the end of the year because I kept running my helmet into his back.”

Said Tony Draft, Chris’ father: “It was a frustrating year for him. He not only had to run the ball, but was showing the kids how to block for him, too.”

Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo promoted Draft to the varsity the next season.

But Draft got little playing time in an offense dominated by returning seniors--running backs Willie Barnes and Ryan Roskelly, receivers Korey and Kevin Alexander and quarterback Marc O’Brien.

Many of Valencia’s games were blowouts, so Draft and other players rarely played an entire game.

If they had?

“It would have been ugly,” he said. “We were pounding teams bad, and we just played for a half. People were going home early from all our games. They would have gone home earlier if we had played the whole game. We would have broke 100 (points) on some teams.”

Still, Draft carried the ball about twice a game, but averaged eight yards per attempt.

“I just blocked last year,” Draft said. “It was fun doing the blast block on certain plays. I love putting linebackers on their back.”

Draft was just as physical on defense.

“I was a leader last year,” he said. “But no one saw it because of the other guys.

“I was the guy who would set the tone on defense. I was the one who wanted to hit the guy with the ball first. I wanted to hit him the hardest.”

Asked to rank his best hits, Draft recalls last season’s Savanna game, a 40-8 Valencia victory. He finished with 11 tackles, including a big hit on Rebel quarterback Brad Belanger on the first series of the game.

But Draft’s favorite hit came later.

“I hit him (Belanger) as we were going for the sideline and put him all the way out on the track,” Draft said.

Then, grinning, he added: “We had a game plan against Savanna. We were going to go do some hurtin’ .”

With a little work, Draft figures this year’s team could be one of Valencia’s best. It has to be. Or he’s in for some serious hurtin’ of his own.

“All the guys from last year’s team said they were going to come back and hurt me if I don’t give them back-to-back CIF titles,” Draft said.

He probably doesn’t need to worry.

After all, it was just talk.