Quarterbacks Standing Tall

A smorgasbord of notes, quotes and opinions from across Southern California:

College coaches who lose out on recruiting the state’s top senior quarterbacks shouldn’t worry. Two 6-foot-6 juniors with basketball backgrounds are emerging as intriguing quarterback prospects for 2003.

Tommy Grady of Huntington Beach Edison has thrown 97 passes without an interception in his first season on the varsity. Dominic Breazeale of Alhambra has passed for 822 yards and 14 touchdowns out of a wing-T attack, and his team is 11-1 with him as a starter.

Grady, in particular, has made the kind of dramatic improvement that draws college recruiters. He spent last season as quarterback of Edison’s junior varsity team. Over the summer, while bulking up from 185 to 208 pounds, he spent hours studying video with his brother, Jeff, a backup quarterback at Fresno State. Edison is 6-0 with Grady at quarterback. He has completed 65 of 97 passes for 1,232 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“His improvement is tremendous,” Coach Dave White said. “He’s growing into his body. We had hoped he could do this.”

Breazeale was 5-0 as a varsity starter as a sophomore last season--until he tore ligaments in his ankle playing in a pickup basketball game.

“The lesson was not to play basketball during football season,” he said.

He doesn’t turn 17 until August. He’s 215 pounds, and throws the ball accurately and powerfully on 15-yard outs.

Maybe more football coaches should be scanning their school’s basketball rosters.

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Junior linebacker Alain Karatepeyan is having an all-City season for Chatsworth. He has contributed nine sacks, forced four fumbles, blocked a punt, blocked a extra-point attempt and recovered a fumble for a touchdown.

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Two weeks ago, sophomore receiver Michael Bumpus of Culver City put together a memorable individual performance. Against Peninsula, he caught seven passes for 112 yards, rushed for 26 yards and two touchdowns, made 11 tackles, had an interception, knocked down two passes and completed a 34-yard pass.

“He’s just a great kid,” Coach Tom Salter said. “If he continues to work hard, he could be one of the best athletes to ever come through Culver City.”

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Quarterback Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks said he isn’t ready to reveal his college choice, but all signs point toward Brigham Young, especially after UCLA gave its final quarterback scholarship last week to Drew Olson from Piedmont High in the Bay Area. Matt Moore of Newhall Hart is the other high school quarterback who has committed to the Bruins.

Moore has been making UCLA Coach Bob Toledo look smart for offering him a scholarship after the first game of the season. He has led Hart to a 6-0 record while completing 61% of his passes.

“I hope he’s feeling good because I am,” Moore said.

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Nick Folk of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame kicked all 10 of his kickoffs into the end zone last week against North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake. This season, 34 of his 40 kickoffs have not been returned.

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The top-rated water polo teams in Southern Section Division I met last Saturday night, with top-ranked Harvard-Westlake defeating Long Beach Wilson, 9-7.

It was the Wolverines’ first victory over Wilson since 1991. Of the 30 players on Harvard-Westlake’s roster, only two are seniors.

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The City Section Rules Committee decided last week that three boys’ basketball players who transferred from Birmingham to Canoga Park will be restricted to playing junior varsity. Birmingham had accused the Hunters of recruiting the players.

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Baseball’s 10-run mercy rule is about to disappear. The National Federation has given each local sports association the option of using or not using the 10-run rule. The City Section is almost certain to discontinue it. The Southern Section will take a vote in January.

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Colorado Rockies’ third baseman Jeff Cirillo is chairman of a charity golf tournament Sunday at Cascades Golf Course in Sylmar in honor of Paul Sutton, the former Burbank Providence High athletic director and basketball coach who died of colon cancer two years ago.

Cirillo, a Providence graduate who has batted better than .300 in five of his eight major league seasons, credits Sutton with providing a positive influence in high school.

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Running back Tim Gregory of Hart will be sidelined at least six weeks after suffering a broken fibula against Valencia.

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The usual boys’ basketball powers such as Santa Ana Mater Dei and Villa Park, are looking strong, but beware of Canyon Springs in Moreno Valley, which has its most talented team in history, with 6-6 junior Richard Cobbs, 6-2 junior Tron Smith, 5-9 freshman Andre McGee and 6-7 senior Randy Adams.

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UCLA’s women’s basketball team has won a recruiting battle over Connecticut for point guard Nikki Blue from Bakersfield West High. She averaged 34 points last season.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.