Taking the Next Step : Making the Leap From High School to College Can Be Tough for Even the Best Prep Player

Wednesday will be a day to remember for Santa Ana Valley running back Dwayne Cherrington.

Cherrington, the Century League’s offensive player of the year, is expected to sign a letter of intent to attend Colorado.

But the county’s two leading rushers, Costa Mesa’s Charles Chatman and Laguna Hills’ Brendan McGraw, didn’t receive the same attention from the high-profile Division I-A schools.

All three had outstanding senior seasons, but in the highly competitive battle for limited scholarships, recruiters look for much more than impressive statistics and press clippings.

Such is the less-than-exact science of recruiting, which reaches a high point Wednesday, the first day players can sign national letters of intent for football.

In high school, a star player is easy to spot. But finding those who can reach the next level can be tricky.

Glenn Parker never played football at Edison High, but played in four Super Bowls for the Buffalo Bills. Ray Pallares set the state rushing record at Valencia, but his career ended quietly in college.

Over the years, the county’s best athletes have taken widely varied paths to collegiate success. Sometimes they have hit dead ends. Each story is different.

Bouncing Around

Todd Gragnano’s is a cautionary tale. Anyone seeking success in college athletics would do well to learn from his experiences.

Five years ago next month, Gragnano signed a letter of intent to play quarterback for Nebraska. Today, three universities and two football teams later, Gragnano has given up football. He’s a junior at Chapman University, still at least a couple of semesters short of a degree.

“I would have been graduating from school this year,” Gragnano said. “I’ve been bouncing around trying to make something happen. It just kind of never worked out.

“It happens to tons of guys.”

In the beginning, Gragnano seemed like a sure thing. In three seasons, he led Los Alamitos to Southern Section title games twice and passed for 6,140 yards, then fifth best in section history. At 6 feet 2 and mobile, he was considered the best of a strong group of quarterbacks graduating from Orange County in 1990. El Toro’s Steve Stenstrom picked Stanford. Mater Dei’s Danny O’Neil chose Oregon.

“I could have gone anywhere--all these great throwing schools wanted me,” Gragnano said. “But I was 18 years old and wanted to be part of a national championship.

“I wanted to go to Nebraska.”

That was his first mistake: Picking a program where drop-back passing isn’t the first option.

After redshirting his first year, he got into several games in a mop-up role the next season. But the following spring, Coach Tom Osborne told him he didn’t have a future with the Huskers.

With Osborne’s help, Gragnano transferred to Louisville to play for Coach Howard Schnellenberger, who has a fine track record sending drop-back passers (Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar and Browning Nagle) to the NFL.

Gragnano never got to throw a pass at Louisville, even during practice. Apparently brought in as insurance, he found himself stuck behind several others. He finally approached Schnellenberger in spring practice. “He told me he was never going to give me a snap,” Gragnano said.

So Gragnano gave up football and returned to California to attend Long Beach State, until Chapman lured him out of early retirement to help start its Division III program last fall.

Despite having to take out loans and apply for financial aid to pay Chapman’s tuition, it seemed like a great way to salvage his college football career.

But a broken finger in the third game and another talented quarterback, Curtis Robinson, kept Gragnano on the bench most of the season.

He decided not to return for his senior season.

“I’ve had it,” he said. “It kind of fell through. I sat at Nebraska and that was my own doing, and I sat at Louisville and that was the coach’s doing. I sat here behind a guy who is one of the best option quarterbacks in the nation. Why he’s at Chapman I have no idea.”

There’s no bitterness in Gragnano. He forged many friendships playing college football.

“I don’t blame anybody. It’s over and now I’m going to head toward graduating. All throughout this whole football thing, (graduating) should have been the most important thing. But it’s tough. Football is very time consuming.”

New Beginnings

Some athletes are forced to attend community colleges because interest is lacking from four-year schools. Others, such as Marcellus Chrishon, are forced there because of academic deficiencies.

Chrishon, from Mission Viejo High, went to Saddleback College, where he became an All-American. As a sophomore in 1992, Chrishon led the nation in rushing with 1,864 yards and scored 26 touchdowns.

“I’m not sure he would have been recruited that much anyway,” Saddleback Coach Bill Cunerty said. “They looked at him and probably thought he was too small (5 feet 9, 170 pounds). . . . Thank goodness.”

Chrishon, with his academic problems cleared up, was recruited by several colleges including Hawaii, Nevada Las Vegas, and his eventual pick--Nevada. He was a two-year starter at Nevada and is hoping for a chance with an NFL team.

Scott Miller, who just finished his fourth season with the Miami Dolphins, has a slightly different story.

After attending El Toro, Miller was recruited by several colleges and planned to attend Arizona State. But when signing day came, the Sun Devils were out of scholarships. Miller had to scramble and decided on Saddleback.

In two seasons (1987-88), he had 138 catches for 2,274 yards, which resulted in several offers. Miller picked UCLA and was an honorable mention All-American as a senior.

As for Parker, who was 6 feet 5 and 265 pounds as a senior, it’s a safe bet that he didn’t know signing day existed when he was at Edison.

Parker said he was more interested in “going to the beach and taking it easy,” in high school. But after two seasons at Golden West, he earned a scholarship to Arizona, then was drafted by Buffalo.

“You can’t be discouraged if you don’t get a scholarship out of high school,” Cunerty said.

Big Man on Campus

Like Parker, Esperanza’s Brenden Stai had a big frame, one that Nebraska recruiters stumbled upon in 1989.

Cornhusker coaches came to recruit Esperanza defensive lineman Keith Navidi, who later signed and played at Washington.

“The Nebraska coaches first saw Brenden on film,” Esperanza football Coach Gary Meek said. “They asked me ‘Who is this guy?’ and I told them Brenden was still here at the school lifting weights with Navidi and (assistant Coach) Bill Pendleton.

“They wanted to meet him, so we go into the weight room and Brenden’s working out, with his shirt off. Brenden was 6 feet 4, about 250 pounds then, and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. They took one look at him and said, ‘We want this guy.’ ”

Now, everybody wants Stai.

Although Stai wasn’t recognized as one of the county’s five best high school offensive linemen in 1989--he was a second-team all-county selection--he has developed into a 6-5, 300-pound, All-American guard at Nebraska.

Some NFL experts rank Stai as the top guard in the draft.

Walk Away or Walk On?

Point guard David Beilstein had a big senior season in 1990-91, leading Tustin to State Division II and section Division II-AA boys’ basketball titles.

He was a first-team all-county selection who finished his career as the school’s career scoring leader. The 5-11 guard even received some scholarship offers, but after a brief try at the college game, Beilstein walked away.

Beilstein went to UCLA for academic reasons, but after talking to Coach Jim Harrick, he decided to try to play as a walk-on. Beilstein quickly saw he wouldn’t fit into the Bruins’ plans but he wanted to give basketball one last shot.

After completing the fall quarter at UCLA, Beilstein enrolled at UC Santa Barbara. He practiced with the Gauchos for two weeks, then quit the team.

“It didn’t take me that long to decide,” Beilstein said. “I didn’t want basketball to be the main focus of college. There were other things I wanted to do.”

By spring, Beilstein returned to UCLA where he is studying economics and on pace to graduate next year. The only basketball he plays is for recreation.

“Not many adults, let alone kids David’s age, have the maturity to give up something they love for the bigger picture,” said Paul Beilstein, David’s father.

Said Golden West men’s basketball Coach Tom McCluskey, who coached Beilstein at Tustin: “David got all he wanted out of it. He was a great high school player and now he’s going to be successful in whatever he does.”

Like Beilstein, Ray Pallares was a great high school athlete. Pallares, a running back at Valencia, rushed for a then state record 5,397 yards from 1983-85.

But college coaches, and even Pallares, knew he had limitations. The only scholarship offers the 5-11, 188-pound back received were from Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State--two schools that no longer have programs.

Pallares spent a redshirt season at Long Beach before he transferred to Fullerton College, where he played two seasons before quitting the sport.

“We had an outstanding line in my senior year (at Valencia),” Pallares said in 1990. “I was nothing more than a better-than-average player.”

Costa Mesa’s Binh Tran was another running back who piled up the yardage, helping the Mustangs reach the Division VIII championship game in 1993. Now at Orange Coast College, he isn’t playing football there.

“He was a tough, 160-pound kid who carried the ball 700-something times in his career and only fumbled once,” Costa Mesa Coach Myron Miller said. “And I’d give my right arm to have a Binh Tran every year.

“But people don’t realize how few people will make it at the next level. You’re lucky if one player in each league gets a Division I scholarship. That next step is a really big step.”

Who’s Next?

The current crop of high school seniors includes high-profile players who will be signing with high-profile programs: wide receiver Brad Melsby of Los Alamitos (UCLA), and offensive linemen Matt Motherway of Mater Dei (Stanford) and Brett Samperi of San Clemente (USC).

St. Margaret’s quarterback Bobby Masters was anything but high profile in high school. He played eight-man football and his team finished 2-5. But San Jose State still offered him a scholarship because it hopes the 6-3 1/2, 180-pound strong-armed senior will hone his skills and develop into a leader.

Among those likely to play for community colleges are Los Amigos defensive back Ape Tuato, a first-team all-county selection this season, and Valencia defensive back Jermaine Gray, a second-team all-county selection last season.

Even if others are at the end of their competitive athletic careers, they shouldn’t be disappointed.

“Nowadays, parents put too much pressure on these young people to perform, either to live out their dreams through the kids or to have bragging rights to their peers,” McCluskey said. “It’s quite amazing.”