Esperanza Defensive End Bryan Werner Chooses Stanford : Football: He is the third player from the county to commit to the Cardinal. Barnes narrows choices to Cal, Notre Dame.

Stanford landed its third Orange County football recruit this season when Esperanza defensive end Bryan Werner committed during a weekend visit.

Werner, 6 feet 5 and 246 pounds, chose Stanford over Cal, Washington and Notre Dame. He joins Los Alamitos quarterback Tim Carey and Rancho Alamitos linebacker Leon Vickers, who also plan to sign with the Cardinal on Feb. 3.

“It’s unreal what is happening up at Stanford,” Werner said. “They’ve turned it around. The coaches were talking about what a good recruiting class they’ve put together so far. Football has always been a step behind some of the other sports at Stanford. But now they’re bringing it up to par.

“And the academics are great there. There was no way I could turn it down.”

Werner, who has a 4.42 grade-point average, plans to enroll in Stanford’s undergraduate medical program. During Werner’s recruiting visit, Stanford coaches arranged for him to be in the operating room for an arthroscopic elbow surgery on one of the Cardinal women’s volleyball players.

“That was a bonus,” Werner said.

He said he also chose Stanford because he wanted to play for Cardinal Coach Bill Walsh.

“He’s a really down-to-earth guy,” Werner said of Walsh. “You would expect him to be full of himself because he has done so much. But he’s not that way at all.”

Add recruiting: Trabuco Hills quarterback Pat Barnes has narrowed his choices to Cal and Notre Dame. Irish recruiters were in the stands Friday night to watch Barnes play in a Pacific Coast League basketball game against Century.

Santa Margarita quarterback Sean O’Brien, who visited Arizona State during the weekend, has replaced a Jan. 22 trip to USC with a visit to Southern Methodist. The USC visit was scheduled when Larry Smith was the Trojan coach, and O’Brien said Sunday he isn’t sure if another one will be rescheduled.

Add Trojans: Sunny Hills linebacker Brian Willmer, on his visit to USC this past weekend: “It was a pretty good trip. The new coaching staff knows about as much as I do right now because they haven’t been there very long.”

Willmer met with Coach John Robinson and toured the campus with recruiting host and Trojan lineman Matt Keneley, a former Mission Viejo High standout.

“Robinson said one of his goals was to win the national title in the next four years,” Willmer said. “He talked a lot about what the university was like when he was there before, a lot about the school’s tradition.”

Notes

Edison High volleyball player Alicia Liniger has committed to California. Liniger, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker, chose Cal over Stanford, Duke and USC. . . . El Modena linebacker Ryan Holmes has visited Fresno State and has trips planned this month to Colorado State, Washington State and Washington. . . . Huntington Beach quarterback-defensive back Jon Wimbish has narrowed his choices to Princeton, UC Davis, Cornell and Santa Clara.