TOP 25 For First 25 Years (1-10)

The state’s top two players in our TOP 25 from the First 25 Years of the 21st century are Jake Browning (left) of Folsom & Jayden Daniels from Cajon of San Bernardino. Both are shown in photos from high school years. Photos: Mark Tennis & YouTube.com.

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Since there were several well-produced lists of the NFL’s top 25 players for the first 25 years of the 21st century that were done before the current NFL season began, we are doing the same this week for California high school football.

Others may have already done this or may do it soon, but keep in mind that Cal-Hi Sports has been around since well before the 2000 season. Many other popular internet media groups weren’t around until later. And not only have we covered all of the players featured, most of them have been seen in games on the field in person.

Here’s some other criteria to consider.

First, this list is going by a player’s senior season and not their graduating class. No one from the 1999 season who graduated in 2000 is eligible and that means still the most impressive two-way player we’ve ever seen – De La Salle’s D.J. Williams, the 1999 Mr. Football State Player of the Year – is not eligible. Another in that class would be longtime New England Patriots offensive lineman Logan Mankins from Mariposa County (Mariposa).

Second, like some of our other all-time lists, we look for those who have high school success coupled with success later on. The high school part of it is more important, but there are some who set records between the 2000 and 2024 seasons who weren’t placed that high since they didn’t do enough later on. It’s not just NFL success, either, with the best example of that being Firebaugh’s Josh Allen, the reigning NFL MVP. Josh was a very good small town player, but he developed into being the MVP player he is later on in college and even after that.

Finally, players who just graduated from high school in 2025 or even the year before just haven’t done enough yet after high school to be considered on the same list with those from California who were high school standouts in the years we looked at and may be in the middle of Hall of Fame careers. The youngest player we ranked played in the 2021 season.

All 25 are written up below plus a list of others that were considered. It’s meant to be a feature to enjoy, but if one disagrees just make a comment so others can chime in.

(Players listed by their senior seasons they played and not graduating class)

1. Jake Browning (Folsom) 2014

To say that Jake got his first season out to a strong start at Folsom in 2012 as a sophomore would be an understatement. In his first game, Browning tied the state record with 10 touchdown passes in an easy win over Woodcreek of Roseville. He went on to set the current state records for career passing touchdowns with 229 and for career passing yards with 16,775.

Is he the best California high school quarterback we’ve seen? No, in fact, some would rank the current Bulldogs’ quarterback, Ryder Lyons, as a more complete prospect. But Browning would be among the best and he could carve out a defense with his recognition, mental acuity and other factors.

It’s the mind-numbing totals that Browning had at Folsom that are too much not to have him at the top of these rankings. He was blessed to have great pass catchers around him all three years and had a special relationship with offensive guru and co-head coach Troy Taylor at the time. Taylor later became a head coach at Sacramento State and Stanford.

In his senior year of 2014, Folsom (16-0) went to the CIF D1 state championship and routed Oceanside, 68-7, for the most points scored in a CIF state final. In the 16-0 season, Browning set the state and national record with 91 touchdown passes and it was a state record of 5,790 yards. He only threw seven interceptions. Browning had set the state record of 5,737 yards in his junior year. Folsom went 44-2 during Browning’s career with the only two losses coming in NorCal Open Division regional title games to De La Salle. Those Open Division regional title games have not been played since 2013 and were only played for a few seasons.

There also are QBs on this list who have become stars in the NFL (including the No. 2 player) and while Browning wouldn’t qualify as an NFL star he has earned a role as a key backup to star QB Joe Burrow on the Cincinnati Bengals’ roster. He’s playing as the starter as we’re writing this due to Joe’s unfortunate toe injury that required surgery. It’s not easy to do that by any stretch of the imagination and Browning had injuries to overcome after his first two years of college at Washington.

Former Stanford head coach Troy Taylor was co-head coach of Folsom’s legendary team in 2014. He and QB Jake Browning teamed up to create an offense unmatched in California history for passing yards and TDs. Photo: James K. Leash/SportStars.

2. Jayden Daniels (Cajon, San Bernardino) 2018

Why wouldn’t Jayden’s meteoric rise to NFL superstar status after his 2024 rookie season with the Washington Commanders affect these rankings? He also was the Heisman Trophy winner for 2023 at LSU and was the second pick overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Daniels’ high school impacts, especially on our exclusive all-time state record lists, also were huge. He was never a Mr. Football State Player of the Year, but was all-state more than once and was considered as a finalist for his senior year.

What set apart Daniels at Cajon is what partially sets him apart in the NFL and that’s his ability to use his long legs and sprinter speed to break off huge chunk plays as a rusher. It’s the passing part of his game that has really matured and improved in recent years (both at LSU and previously at Arizona State). Daniels played all four years of high school for the Cowboys and his combined passing and rushing yards of 17,406 yards for his career beat the total offense yards that Jake Browning had at Folsom four years earlier. Browning only rushed for a little more than 100 yards in his career while Jayden rushed for more than 3,500.

Daniels also set the still current state record for total offense yards in a season with 6,431 in 2017, which was his junior season. It helped that he and Cajon were able to play 16 games as a CIF Southern Section championship team and a team that went to a CIF state final. The only downer is that Serra of San Mateo was able to get a win over Daniels’ team in the D2-AA championship that year.

Cajon and Daniels lost in a CIFSS divisional title game in his senior year, but he still ended his four years with 14,007 yards passing and 170 touchdown passes. Those are still No. 2 in state history for both totals, although it is expected that Jayden’s CIFSS records will be surpassed this season by Newbury Park’s Brady Smigiel.

Bryce Young scrambles for yards for Mater Dei during game in senior year against Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas. Photo: Las Vegas Review-Journal.

We were first made aware of Bryce during his freshman year at Cathedral High in Los Angeles in 2016. The Phantoms had a senior that season, Andrew Tovar, who had passed for more than 3,700 yards the previous year and had nearly 10,000 for his career. But there was this freshman who was coming on and still getting valuable playing time. Young then took over as Cathedral’s starter the next season and passed for 3,431 yards and 41 touchdowns.

For the 2018 season, as Mater Dei was looking to fill its top QB position due to its 2017 starter, J.T. Daniels, reclassing and going to USC, Young made the move to the Monarchs. He took full advantage of the opportunity, taking over the offense and helped Mater Dei win the CIF Open Division state championship. He ended with 3,846 yards passing and 39 scores.

After being named State Junior Player of the Year, Young improved all facets of his game as a senior for the 2019 season. He threw for 4,528 yards and 58 touchdowns. He was not Mr. Football State Player of the Year because that season St. John Bosco’s D.J. Uiagalelei had a better outing in the CIF Southern Section D1 championship and had a big outing in the CIF Open Division state final. Young obviously has gone on to have a far superior college and pro career.

Bryce took over as the starter at Alabama for his sophomore year. He had 344 yards passing and four TDs in his first game (a win vs Miami) and set a school record with 559 yards in a win vs Arkansas. His huge season of 4,872 yards and 47 TDs was plenty enough to give him the votes needed to win the Heisman Trophy, which is the third won by a Mater Dei grad (John Huarte and Matt Leinert are the other two).

Young’s numbers were not as strong in the 2022 season, but he still passed for 3,328 yards and 32 TDs for the Crimson Tide and still finished in the top six for Heisman voting. Bryce also still gave up his senior year of college to declare for the NFL Draft and in April of 2023 he was the first pick, taken by the Carolina Panthers (and one spot ahead of buddy C.J. Stroud going to the Texans). He’s in his third season with Carolina in 2025 and it’s viewed as a big one for his development (and ability to land a massive contract extension).

4. Toby Gerhart (Norco) 2005

If Jake Browning has to be No. 1 among the quarterbacks for this feature because his career state records are so far ahead of anyone else, the same is true for Gerhart for the running backs

Toby burst on to the scene as a freshman as soon as he became old enough to be on the Norco varsity, which was led in those years by head coach Todd Gerhart, his father. As a sophomore in the 2003 season, Toby rushed for 3,085 yards in 11 games. He didn’t go over 3,000 as a junior, but as a senior he rampaged for 3,233 yards in 14 games. Gerhart also had 108 career touchdowns.

For the all-time state career records, Gerhart’s total of 9,662 yards set in 2005 not only is still the state record, but the second-best total of 8,745 yards is almost 1,000 yards behind him.

Some of Gerhart’s best outings were 426 yards rushing in a 35-21 win vs Santiago of Corona in 2003, 441 yards and six touchdowns in a 42-21 win vs. Corona Centennial and 45 carries for 462 yards and six TDs in a 43-36 triumph against La Sierra of Riverside.

As the valedictorian of his senior class, Toby had a wide array of college choices. The 2005 Mr. Football State Player of the Year eventually settled on Stanford. He told us he did not do the rotating hats like many players still do when announcing for a college because he thought it was disrespectful to the other coaches who recruited him.

At Stanford, it was a rough start for Gerhart. He was a backup as a freshman in 2006, then in 2007 he only played one game as the starter before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Toby made up for those seasons with the next two. He broke the school record as a junior with 1,136 yards rushing, which just set himself up for his senior season. Gerhart went way beyond his own school record with an NCAA leading 1,871 yards and he rushed for a national leading 28 touchdowns. Gerhart was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, but was second in voting to Alabama’s Mark Ingram by just 28 points. It is still the closest margin for any winner in the award’s 74-year history.

Following Stanford, Toby was a second round NFL Draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings. He also is one of those unique athletes who also was picked in more than one draft, which for him was baseball in 2009. Gerhart didn’t have a long NFL career, but had 531 yards rushing for the Vikings in 2011. He also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Najee Harris of Antioch was the 2015 Mr. Football State Player of the Year. The current NFL player still gives back a bunch to the Bay Area communities he came from. Photo: #D1Bound.com.

With his size, speed, power, and ability to break plays inside the tackle box or to the edge, Najee would rank as the best high school running back we’ve seen in California since 2000 and is up there among the best overall players we’ve ever seen (just not quite up to De La Salle’s D.J. Williams, who isn’t eligible for this list by one season since his senior year was in 1999).

In his first carry as a sophomore in the 2014 season, Harris broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown in a win vs Acalanes of Lafayette. A track and field hurdler (although hurdling is illegal in high school football), he had 2,263 yards rushing and 23 TDs in that sophomore season.

Harris’ junior season saw him rush for 396 yards and three TDs on just 22 carries plus he had two catches for 94 yards and two TDs in a big win over Milpitas. More big outings followed and that had many in the Bay Area thinking about a possible Antioch matchup with mighty De La Salle in the CIF North Coast Section playoffs. That was a season, though, in which both the Panthers and Foothill of Pleasanton were unbeaten so they had to play each other first in the NCS semifinals. Foothill’s 55-54 win ranks as one of the best games we’ve ever seen. Najee gave it his all with 39 carries for 390 yards and six touchdowns. He didn’t make it on what would have been a game-winning two-point conversion, however, so it was Foothill that got the chance to knock off De La Salle the following week (which didn’t happen).

At the end of that junior season, Najee had 2,744 yards rushing with 39 TDs. Everything that he did plus De La Salle winning the CIF Open Division state title (and Najee being the logical Bay Area Player of the Year) helped set it up for him to be Mr. Football State Player of the Year. Harris didn’t repeat as a senior despite rushing for 2,776 yards and 36 touchdowns, and that was partly due to Freedom of Oakley running back Ronnie Rivers also having a great season. Najee capped his career with 7,948 yards rushing and 99 touchdowns.

The University of Alabama won a heated recruiting battle to get Harris’ signature on a letter of intent. He finished up a four-year career with the Crimson Tide setting school records for career rushing yards and career touchdowns. In the 2021 NFL Draft, Najee was the 24th pick in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers and has since had four solid seasons in the NFL with the Steelers prior to the 2025 season in which he will be playing for the Los Angeles Chargers. Last Sunday, on Sept. 21, Harris suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon injury.

6. Tyron Smith (Rancho Verde, Moreno Valley) 2007

For this feature, we decided to list a top lineman within the top 10 and it’s going to be Tyron, who recently retired after being one of the top linemen in the NFL for 14 seasons.

We’ll never forget going to a Nike camp at USC during the spring of 2006, which was prior to Tyron’s junior season at Rancho Verde. He was an absolute beast and had the frame to add plenty more weight and the quick steps to go along with it. He was that good on that day and his recruiting blew up afterward. He was all-state underclass in 2006, then all-state and All-America for 2007.

Smith eventually signed with USC as well. By 2010, he was regarded as the best lineman on the West Coast by virtue of him winning the Morris Trophy. The following spring, Tyron was a first-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys.

In his 13 seasons playing with the Cowboys, Smith was named a Pro Bowler eight times, first team All-Pro five times and in 2020 he was honored on the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s.

7. Reggie Bush (Helix, La Mesa) 2002

The super-exciting Bush is a USC legend and considered one of the greatest college football players in history. He flashed the same style and skills as a running back for Helix during the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons.

There was one unbeaten team at Helix in 2001 that also included quarterback Alex Smith, later the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft from the University of Utah. Bush and Smith are the only high school teammates ever to be No. 1 and No. 2 in the draft, although they were in separate years.

We saw Bush play as a senior in a CIF San Diego Section championship game against Oceanside. The Highlanders were favored and were No. 2 ranked in the state, but lost to the Pirates on that night, 42-14. Despite the score, Bush was still impressive. He rushed for 144 yards on 13 carries, scored on a 91-yard kickoff return and had a 60-yard run off of a fake punt. Oceanside just put it all together on that night.

In his last four games for Helix, all playoff games, Bush racked up 764 yards on just 53 carries and scored 11 touchdowns. He wrapped up his career with 4,925 yards. He also was a track star at Helix with top times of 10.42 seconds in the 100 meters and 21.06 in the 200.

USC came next for Reggie and he was best known for all-purpose yards (which mixes in returns along with rushing and receiving). He was a freshman All-American in 2003, then in 2004 he led the Pac-12 in all-purpose yards with 2,330 yards and he was fifth in Heisman Trophy voting. The following season in 2005 it was Bush who captured the prestigious Heisman Trophy after leading the nation with 222.3 all-purpose yards per game. He vacated the award in 2010 due to receiving improper benefits at USC, but in 2024 he was reinstated as the winner to reflect more current rules about players receiving payments.

For the NFL part of it, as mentioned before, Reggie was the second pick overall in the first round in 2006 (Smith was the first pick in 2005) and went to the New Orleans Saints. He helped the Saints win their only Super Bowl in Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. He also was named an All-Pro punt returner in 2008. Bush completed his NFL career in 2017 and is now in broadcasting.

At De La Salle, Maurice Jones-Drew went by just Maurice Drew. He would later lead the NFL in rushing. Photo: Willie Eashman.

The first team all-state running backs for the 2002 season were Reggie Bush and Jones-Drew. One went on to win a Heisman Trophy. The other went on to lead the NFL in rushing.

Maurice in a way has become the one player to represent the best of the De La Salle legendary national record 151-game win streak under head coach Bob Ladouceur that started well before the 2000 season and extended to the first game of the 2004 season. He of course never lost as a Spartan player, but also experienced some of the most famous wins during the streak.

The Jones-Drew hyphenated last name came later when he was at UCLA, but at DLS he was a somewhat unknown junior in the 2001 season going by Maurice Drew prior to the Spartans’ titanic matchup with Long Beach Poly early that season that was the first ever showdown between teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation. In a 29-15 victory, it was MJD’s coming out party as he caught TD passes of 25 and 29 yards coming out of the backfield from QB Matt Gutierrez (one on a fourth down) and scored on TD runs of 17 and 22 yards. He rushed for almost 2,000 yards for the season despite not doing much (or being hidden from Poly scouts) in the early games and ended with 26 touchdowns.

In the 2002 season, not only did De La Salle beat Poly again, but that also was the year when the team went to Aloha Stadium in Honolulu where a crowd of 30,000 came to see if the local boys from St. Louis High could snap the national record streak. Drew and the Spartans were too much and posted a 31-21 triumph. He had 19 carries for 125 yards and one TD. The last TD for St. Louis on a 65-yard bomb late in the fourth quarter made the margin closer than what it was for most of the night. Maurice had similar senior season rushing, scoring and kick return stats.

As Jones-Drew at UCLA, Maurice led the Bruins in rushing for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons. Yes, he was undersized but ran with a low center of gravity that made it very hard to bring down. He quickly established himself as a top player at UCLA not just as a running back but also at punt returns. Jones-Drew set an NCAA record in 2005 with a 28.5 yard punt return average. He ended his college career for the Bruins with 2,503 yards rushing, 819 receiving, more than 1,400 on kick returns and 39 total touchdowns.

In the NFL, Jones-Drew was a second round pick in the 2006 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars and ended up playing for the Jags for eight seasons. He led the NFL in rushing in 2011 with 1,606 yards and had more than 1,000 yards in 2009 and 2010. He played his final season in 2014 with the Oakland Raiders.

MJD is now a well-known broadcaster for the NFL Network and is the color analyst for the L.A. Rams’ radio network. He also still serves as an assistant coach at De La Salle and his son, junior Duece Jones-Drew, is currently playing and starring for the Spartans.

9. Adoree’ Jackson (Serra, Gardena) 2013

We didn’t make it a prerequisite to be one of the 25 on this list to be Mr. Football, but it sure helped. Jackson was the winner for the 2013 season for his supreme talent on both sides of the ball. He had the “wow” factor as much as any player we’ve still ever seen.

Serra suffered its only loss in the CIF Western Division championship to a Chaminade (West Hills) squad that it had beaten earlier. Even in that game, Adoree’ had a dazzling 92-yard punt return touchdown plus a 93-yard kickoff return.

For that season, Jackson rushed for five TDs, had seven TDs on receptions, six TDs on kick returns plus three TDs on interceptions. One of his pick sixes was out of the end zone and looked to be about 102 yards.

Adoree’ also was a track standout at Serra, which he continued to do at USC. He was a Pac-12 champ in the long jump and almost reached 26 feet. At USC, he also kept returning kicks but in 2016 he received the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the nation’s top defensive back.

Jackson was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. He played four years for Tennessee and then played three seasons with the New York Giants. He’s currently playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.

10. Kayvon Thibodeaux (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) 2018

In addition to striving to place an offensive lineman in the top 10 of these rankings, we also looked seriously at getting a defensive lineman that high, especially a pass rusher. For high school accomplishments plus college plus NFL, Kayvon became an easy choice.

Thibodeaux actually began his prep career at Dorsey High in Los Angeles for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. He then transferred to Oaks Christian and immediately began terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. For his junior season in 2017, Kayvon racked up 20 sacks and 99 tackles in establishing himself as one of the top-ranked recruits for his class in the nation.

As a senior in the 2018 season, Thibodeaux had 18 sacks and 54 tackles but he played in three less games as Oaks Christian was eliminated earlier in the CIF Southern Section playoffs. For his career, including the two years at Dorsey plus games at Hawkins of Los Angeles, he had 54 sacks. That is still No. 11 on the all-time state list.

At Oregon, Kayvon was the 2019 Pac-12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year. He followed up in 2020 by winning the Morris Trophy and was MVP of the 2020 Pac-12 Championship Game. An ankle injury in the first game of the 2021 season caused Thibodeaux to miss games and he didn’t have the same totals. Still, he came out for the NFL Draft and was the fifth pick overall in the 2022 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.

In his first three NFL seasons with the Giants, Kayvon has 21.5 sacks with a season high of 11.5 in 2023. He also began the 2025 season with 127 tackles and six forced fumbles.

FOR PART 2 OF THIS FEATURE (11-25), CLICK HERE FOR GOLD CLUB POST.

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.