Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park (left) shows intensity during junior season of 2024. At right is prolific receiver Noah Walker from Grossmont of El Cajon (now at Granite Hills). He’s back this season as well. Photos: Instagram.com & FOX5SanDiego.com.
We just went ahead and finished updating all individual state football records in the last few days. The most attention this season will be on Newbury Park’s Brady Smigiel moving toward the top of the all-time passing & total offense lists. And making it more impactful is that the players he may be passing on the all-time lists are all in the NFL. Go inside to see full list of all of those returning this season as seniors (one junior) who already are in our exclusive state records.
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After passing for 3,521 yards and 49 touchdowns during a 14-1 season last year at Newbury Park, Brady Smigiel has put himself in a prime position to break some big records during the 2025 season.
Smigiel, the son of head coach Joe Smigiel, has been a prolific starting quarterback since his freshman season. That, plus having teammates who have come through for him that has enabled plenty of playoff games beyond the regular season, has helped Brady amass 11,222 yards passing with 147 TD passes in three seasons.
So here’s where our 2024 Mr. Football State Player of the Year who has committed to Michigan ranks in the major career state record categories with his senior season still to be played:
Jayden Daniels started creating magic at Cajon of San Bernardino as a freshman. Photo: #D1Nation/@SportsRecruits.
Career Yards
Smigiel already is up to No. 15 all-time with his total of 11,222 yards. He only needs 36 yards to reach the No. 14 total. There’s only been six in state history to reach 13,000. The No. 4 total of 13,320 was set in 2019 by future Heisman Trophy winner and future NFL No. 1 draft pick Bryce Young of Mater Dei (who also shined for two years at Cathedral of Los Angeles before transferring to the Monarchs). The CIF Southern Section record of 14,007 yards set in 2018 by current NFL sensation Jayden Daniels when he was at Cajon of San Bernardino also seems quite reachable by Smigiel. Daniels’ total also is No. 2 in state history. The state record, however, probably is not reachable unless Brady throws for well past 5,000 yards. It was set at 16,775 yards in 2014 by current Cincinnati Bengals’ No. 2 QB Jake Browning of Folsom.
Career Touchdowns
The Ventura County record of 145 set in 2006 by Jimmy Clausen from Oaks Christian of Westlake Village was broken by Smigiel in his last game of last season. He added another TD pass in the Panthers’ 34-27 loss to Lincoln of San Diego in the CIF SoCal D1-AA regional final and his current total of 147 already stands at No. 7 in state history. It shouldn’t take long for Brady to pass both Bryce Young and J.T. Daniels (Mater Dei 2015-17) on the all-time list (who are tied at 152). Similar to career yards, the great Jayden Daniels also has the CIFSS record and the No. 2 total for the state for career TD passes with 170. That’s just 23 away for Smigiel. Browning also is far, far in front for career TD passes at 229. That’s another 59 TDs higher than Jayden Daniels’ total.
Total Offense
As big of a margin as there is for Jake Browning and others for career TD passes and career passing yards, the margin for Jayden Daniels for total offense over Browning and others is equally impressive. The Washington Redskins’ star had 17,406 yards during his four years at Cajon counting more than 3,500 yards rushing to his more than 14,000 passing yards for an overall total of 17,406. Browning’s No. 2 state total is 16,915. Smigiel has run for 669 yards and 18 TDs in his career so far for an overall total of 11,891 yards. There has only been four in state history with 15,000 or more and that’s a placement that for Brady seems quite reachable.
MORE RETURNEES FOR 2025 SEASON ALREADY
IN OUR EXCLUSIVE ALL-TIME STATE LISTS
(For season & career individual categories)
Khalil Abdul-Azziz (Orange Vista, Perris)
He started as a freshman in 2022 for a CIFSS divisional championship team and had more than 3,600 yards passing as a sophomore. Khalil slipped to 2,400 last year, which caused us to miss putting him into the state records at first glance. He’s now in and starts off his senior season with 8,320 yards and 91 TD passes in 37 games. He’ll likely be another member of the 10,000-yd, 100 TD club.
Wes Burford (Oakdale)
The 2024-25 State Athlete of the Year for D3 schools piled up 2,678 yards rushing in 13 games for the Mustangs last season.
Silas Christensen (Rancho Bernardo, San Diego)
He was one of two juniors last season who gained spots in our state records for returning kickoffs. Silas did it five times during the season for the Broncos, which also was one away from the San Diego Section record. He also had one punt return TD, but needed one more there to go on to the all-time list for most kick return scores (punts & kickoffs combined).
Jordan Crisp (Tulare)
The big totals for Crisp, a four-year starter, to look for is 11,258 career passing yards set in 2018 by Tulare’s Nathan Lamb and 95 career TD passes set in 2013 by Oscar Reyes (also of Tulare). Those are the school records. Crisp already is on the TD pass list with 86 and is just off of it for yards with 7,572.
Jack Cunningham (Ventura)
In 11 games last season for the Cougars, Cunningham went past 1,000 yards receiving but the number that got him into the state records was catching 92 passes.
Sands Dougherty of Morro Bay had the most yards passing in the state last season of any player who was not a senior with 4,441 yards. He also passed for 50 TDs. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Jelani Dippel (Central East, Fresno)
The sophomore starter for the then named Grizzlies (now named Bengals) helped them reach the CIF D1-A state final by passing for 3,515 yards and 41 touchdowns.
Sands Dougherty (Morro Bay)
It was a pleasure meeting Sands last May at the Elite 11 NorCal regional camp along with his father, Robert Dougherty, a QB we covered way back in the day from Mt. Whitney (Visalia). Sands passed for 4,441 yards and 50 TDs in 14 games last season. He also made the all-time state list with 5,349 total offense yards.
Josh Gonzales (Mission Hills, San Marcos)
Buoyed by grabbing five TD passes in a game twice last season at Escondido to make the all-time state single-game list, Gonzales had 21 TD catches for the season and made it for that one as well. His former team at Escondido didn’t make it into the playoffs so his 1,358 receiving yards in 10 regular season games also stood up for a record listing.
Zaiden Gravely (Kearny, San Diego)
He ranked as a top target last year for prolific QB Brodie Stump (now graduated) and has gained an all-time state listing for catching 87 passes in 11 games.
Anthony Harrington (Amador Valley, Pleasanton)
This returning senior wideout was the top target as a junior of graduated standout Tristan Tia. Harrington just made it on to the all-time state receiving yards list with 1,503 yards in 14 games.
Alex Lundsberg & Kellen Rommelfanger
(Canyon, Anaheim)
The Comanches only won three games last year, but some of them were in crazy scorefests such as 71-54 in a loss to Sonora of La Habra and 63-35 in a loss to El Toro. Lundsberg also had as many as 71 passes in one game. It all helped him pass for 3,646 yards and 43 TDs in 10 regular season games. Rommelfanger, also a junior, had 83 receptions in those 10 regular season games and that netted him a state record listing as well.
Ryder Lyons (Folsom)
The five-star BYU commit gained his first state record mentions during his sophomore year. For his junior year, Ryder gets in for throwing 46 TD passes in 13 games. He isn’t quite up onto the all-time list for career total offense TDs, but already has 122 with one to go and stands a good chance of moving up into the top five all-time for that category.
Kreet Makihele (San Marcos)
He’ll be a four-year starter for the Knights and got state record listings last season for 3,452 yards and 44 TD passes in 13 games. Look for Kreet to move up on several CIF San Diego Section all-time lists.
Max Medina (Patterson)
The four-year standout for the Tigers (who is a more highly regarded baseball prospect) already has a spot in the all-time lists for career TD passes with 92 and career yardage with 7,704. He can move quite high on both lists with a big senior season. Max also has 8,484 total offense yards and 102 total offense TDs so far in his career.
Jermaine Missouri (Rodriguez, Fairfield)
The lanky 6-foot-5, 200-pound junior was hurt and didn’t play when the Mustangs lost to Manteca in the opening round of the 2024 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D2 playoffs, but his 19 TD catches in 10 regular season games was still high enough for a state record listing.
Deagan Rose (Clovis)
We saw Deagan’s first game as a freshman starter for the Cougars in a tough matchup vs Long Beach Poly on a Thursday night. He hung in there against a fierce pass rush. It’s now three years later and Rose has passed for 8,041 yards entering his senior season. The Oregon State commit should be moving up on several Central Section and state career lists every week and 10,000 career yards seems very doable.
Joshua Suarez (Palmdale)
While Palmdale played 16 games last season en route to a CIF D5-A state title game loss to American Canyon, Suarez played 11 and in those 11 games he had 44 TD passes. He only played five games in the regular season.
Noah Walker (Granite Hills, El Cajon)
The Foothillers have become prolific with their passing game in the last few seasons. Graduated QB Tommy Donovan has been added to several all-time lists and so has Walker, who was slated to return to this season’s team as a senior but has transferred to Granite Hills. Noah had 114 catches for 1,590 yards and 26 TDs last season in 12 games.
Josiah Wilson (Kimball, Tracy)
This was the other junior last season besides San Diego Rancho Bernardo’s Silas Christensen who had five kickoff return TDs. That also was one short of his section record as Galt’s Kenny Green had six back in the 2000 season. Wilson also had one punt return TD last season.
Note:
These names are just the ones from last season who are currently in our state record lists who still have their senior seasons left to play (two seasons for one player). There’s probably three times that number for the seniors who graduated. These all-time state lists and state records don’t exist on any other website, publication or within the CIF. They were started, built and maintained from 1975 to 2004 by Cal-Hi Sports founder Nelson Tennis. He was working on record updates three days before he passed away from cancer in 2004.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
