Rivalry Comes to Pass for Quarterback Trio That May Be Unrivaled

Not since 1987, the year Todd Marinovich of Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, Bret Johnson of El Toro and Darian Hagan of Locke were high school All-Americans and went on to start at USC, UCLA and Colorado, respectively, has Southern California produced a quarterback trio as talented as the class of 1999.

On Wednesday, the first day for high school seniors to sign letters of intent for football, three quarterbacks--Kyle Boller of Newhall Hart, Chris Lewis of Long Beach Poly and J.P. Losman of Venice--signed with Pacific 10 Conference schools.

Boller will play for California, Lewis is headed for Stanford and Losman will attend UCLA. All were chosen to the Parade magazine All-American team.

Let the rivalry begin.

“It will be fun to see what happens,” Losman said. “We’ll play each other soon enough.”

“We all want to be the best,” Lewis said.

“I’m sure we’ll all be seeing each other,” Boller said. “It’s definitely going to be fun.”

Boller, selected the state player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports, set a state record with 4,841 passing yards and 59 touchdowns. Losman, the City Section co-player of the year, passed for 3,512 yards and 48 touchdowns. Lewis, The Times’ Glenn Davis Award winner as the top player in the Southland, had a state-record 107 touchdown passes in his career.

Losman finishes his finals Friday at Venice and plans to enroll at UCLA in April for the spring quarter so he can participate in spring practice. Boller intends to visit Berkeley during spring practice. Lewis will soon start learning the Stanford playbook.

“I’m glad they [Boller and Lewis] went to Pac-10 schools so if there’s any controversy who’s better, we’ll find out,” Losman said.

Woodland Hills-based PrepStar magazine rated Texas as having the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, with UCLA No. 2 and USC No. 10.

Texas’ class is topped by 6-foot-5, 215-pound All-American quarterback Chris Simms from Franklin Lakes, N.J. Simms is the son of former New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms.

It was an important day for UCLA Coach Bob Toledo and USC Coach Paul Hackett. Both strengthened their teams in specific areas.

“If you look at the best players in California by position, I think we got a lot,” Toledo said.

Toledo gained the most sought-after undecided recruit, outdueling USC for All-American tight end Mike Seidman of Westlake.

“It came down to Colorado, USC and UCLA,” Seidman said. “But when coach [Rick] Neuheisel left Colorado, it was down to UCLA and USC. My trip to USC was really fun, so that kind of pulled me toward them. But I thought about it, and I thought UCLA was the best choice.”

UCLA’s main focus was to improve its defense. Key recruits include linebacker Marcus Reese of San Jose Oak Grove and defensive backs Ricky Manning of Edison Fresno and Dashaun McCullough of Gardena Serra.

The Bruins signed five Parade All-Americans--Losman, Seidman, Reese and linemen Shane Lehmann of Corona and Bryce Bohlander of Keizer McNary, Ore.

In the last two years UCLA has recruited a group of offensive linemen few schools can match. Lehmann, 6-5 and 285 pounds, and Bohlander, 6-6 and 270, will join three prep All-Americans from last year’s class--Mike Saffer, Blake Worley and Scott Wiegand.

“In my opinion, we got the best lineman in California in Lehmann and probably the best lineman in the Northwest in Bohlander,” Toledo said.

USC focused on improving its speed and adding line depth. The speed will be supplied by defensive back Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly and receivers Kareem Kelly of Long Beach Poly and Marcell Allmond of Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, all of whom are defending state track champions.

“We felt we just had to get some guys who could fly,” Hackett said. “The premier speed people in Southern California decided to come [to USC].”

Lenny Vandermade, who helped lead Santa Ana Mater Dei to the Southern Section Division I title, is USC’s most accomplished offensive line recruit. He’s 6-5, 275 pounds and could start as a freshman. So could 6-3, 310-pound defensive tackle Bernard Riley of Los Alamitos. Riley was a Parade All-American.

The Trojans signed five offensive linemen, securing two of them late--6-7, 280-pound Eric Torres from Torrance Bishop Montgomery and 6-5, 260-pound Lucas MacKay from Hughson, Calif.

“These players fill many of our pressing needs,” Hackett said. “But the most impressive characteristic of this class is its overall speed.”

In the Pac-10, California had its best recruiting class this decade. Momentum built after Boller’s commitment on Jan. 17. The Bears beat out UCLA for defensive backs Atari Callen from Concord De La Salle and Nnamdi Asomugha from Narbonne.

Lewis, Rideaux and Kelly were among 10 players from Long Beach Poly to sign Wednesday, including seven with Division I-A programs. Other Poly signees were linebacker Dennis Link (UCLA), linebacker Larry Croom (Arizona), receiver Samie Parker (Oregon), tight end Jeremy Johnson (Fresno State), center Joe Veach (Portland State), running back David Word (Portland State) and cornerback Aaron Smith (Villanova).

Times staff writer Mike Terry contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SIGNINGS

USC

*--*

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. School Marcell Allmond WR 6-3 195 St. Paul Sagan Atuatasi DL 6-3 290 Los Alamitos Chad Cook TE 6-4 230 Portland Jesuit DeShaun Hill DB 6-0 190 Long Beach CC Aaron Graham LB 6-2 228 Bakersfield Norman Katnick OL 6-5 245 Santa Ana Foothill Kareem Kelly WR 6-1 187 Long Beach Poly Luke MacKay OL 6-5 250 Hughson Craig Mitchell DB 5-9 170 West L.A. CC Omar Nazel DL 6-4 220 Oakland Skyline David Newbury K 5-10 172 Navarro CC, Texas Troy Polamalu DB 5-11 192 Winston-Douglas, Ore. Chris Prosser LB 6-2 215 San Diego Morse Darrell Rideaux DB 5-9 160 Long Beach Poly Bernard Riley DL 6-3 310 Los Alamitos Jacob Rogers TE 6-6 235 Oxnard Markus Steele LB 6-4 230 Long Beach CC Nate Steinbacher OL 6-6 315 Esperanza Steve Stevenson WR 6-2 205 Charter Oak Eric Torres OL 6-5 310 Bishop Montgomery Lenny Vandermade OL 6-5 275 Mater Dei

*--*

UCLA

*--*

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. School David Ball DL 6-5 235 Dixon, Calif. Mat Ball DL 6-5 235 Dixon, Calif. Bryce Bohlander OL 6-7 270 Keizer McNary, Ore. Kevin Brant RB 5-11 180 Walter Johnson, Md. Asi Faoa LB 6-4 245 Magnolia Nathan Fikse K 5-11 175 Esperanza Akil Harris RB 6-1 190 Monrovia Blane Kezirian LB 6-6 235 El Camino Real Shane Lehmann OL 6-5 275 Corona Rodney Leisle DL 6-4 305 Bakersfield Ridgeview Dennis Link LB 6-3 200 Long Beach Poly J.P. Losman QB 6-3 185 Venice Ricky Manning DB 5-9 170 Fresno Edison DeShaun McCullough DB 5-11 185 Gardena Serra Jerry Owens WR 6-3 200 Hart Marcus Reese LB 6-1 210 San Jose Oak Grove Steve Sanchez DL 6-4 270 Visalia Mt. Whitney Mike Seidman TE 6-5 246 Westlake Ryan Smith WR 6-3 208 Flower Mound Marcus, Texas Ryan Wikert DB 6-2 180 Temecula Valley

*--*

Other signings, D6