Los Alamitos’ Carey Commits to Stanford : Football: Quarterback picks Cardinal over USC, California, Colorado, Washington State. He says he’ll sign in February.

Somewhat relieved and very excited, Los Alamitos High quarterback Tim Carey announced Wednesday that he has committed to play football next season at Stanford.

Carey, one of the nation’s most highly recruited players, committed to Stanford Coach Bill Walsh during a phone conversation Tuesday night.

Carey says he plans to sign with the Cardinal on the Feb. 3 national signing day.

“It wasn’t much of a shock,” Carey said of the scholarship offer. “But I’m real happy about it.”

Carey, 6 feet 4 and 175 pounds, chose Stanford over Washington State, USC, Colorado and California. He canceled a recruiting trip to Washington State next month, and plans to visit Stanford.

“If I wasn’t sure about the school, I would have gone ahead and made the trips to the other schools,” Carey said. “Stanford was my No. 1 choice, and it was just a matter of me getting accepted there.”

Carey’s 3.0 grade-point average and 1130 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test qualified for entry to Stanford.

His commitment is the first this season by an Orange County high school football player. Most players commit in December and January, but Carey said he couldn’t refuse Stanford’s offer.

“It’s the best academic school in the nation, and they have great coaching and a great football team,” he said.

Tim Carey, the quarterback’s father, said he was glad his son committed early.

“This way, it’s not a burden on him and he can concentrate on winning playoff games,” the elder Carey said. “He didn’t want to wait. We would hate to be jockeying for position (for a scholarship) on Jan. 28.”

Carey will lead the top-seeded Griffins against unseeded Arcadia in Southern Section Division II first-round game Friday night.

“It’s a relief for it to be over,” Carey said of the recruiting process. “It was fun to get all the phone calls from the coaches, and I enjoyed going to all the UCLA and USC games.”

After talking with Walsh, Carey said he wasn’t sure how much playing time he will get as a freshman or sophomore. Junior Steve Stenstrom, an El Toro High graduate, is the Cardinal starting quarterback.

“They don’t redshirt there,” Carey said. “I hope I can come in and make an impact in the next couple years.”

A transfer from Mater Dei, Carey has thrown for 4,973 yards in his two-year career at Los Alamitos, placing him ninth on the all-time county career passing chart.

Carey has completed 154 of 236 passes for 2,472 yards and 26 touchdowns this season. He led Los Alamitos to a 10-0 record, Coach John Barnes’ first undefeated regular season in 14 years at the school.

As a junior, Carey passed for 2,501 and 21 touchdowns, leading Los Alamitos to the Division III title.