Future NFL No. 2 overall draft pick David Bailey from Mater Dei of Santa Ana is shown at left after playing in his first high school game as a sophomore. At right, he makes a tackle against Servite of Anaheim during 2022 season when he was State Defensive Player of the Year. Photos: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports & @MDFootball / X.com.
One year after Servite of Anaheim had teammates get picked inside the top eight in the first round of the NFL Draft, Trinity League rival Mater Dei of Santa Ana sees one of its own go at No. 2 in the 2026 draft. Rush end David Bailey also was on the same team as a sophomore in 2019 as 2023 No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Bryce Young. After three from last year, four from California were named this year in the first round. We have all of the historical feats documented in this post and have details on a fifth player with ties to the state who finished at a school in Florida.
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Prior to the start of the 2019 season, two-time defending CIF Open Division state champion Mater Dei of Santa Ana was opening the season against perennial power Centennial of Corona. In preparing for the game, one of the new players that was reportedly to be someone to watch was sophomore linebacker David Bailey.
Bailey would later miss games with injury, but he was noticed on that night and he was targeted as a player to approach afterward to get a photo. The senior quarterback for the Monarchs that night, and a favorite to be Mr. Football State Player of the Year, Bryce Young, was in fine form and led the team to a 42-12 victory.
That ended up not being a Mater Dei team that would win a third straight state title as the Monarchs fell to their arch-rivals from St. John Bosco (Bellflower) in the CIF Southern Section D1 title game after beating the Braves in the regular season. The State Player of the Year nod also went to Bosco’s D.J. Uiagalelei, who had big outings in the CIF Open Division final and in the win over Young and Mater Dei in the CIFSS final.
After Thursday night’s first round of the NFL Draft held in Pittsburgh, however, that 2019 Mater Dei team will now go down in history as having a No. 1 overall and a No. 2 overall pick. Young, of course, was the No. 1 pick by the Carolina Panthers in 2023 after winning the 2022 Heisman Trophy playing for Alabama. Bailey was the No. 2 selection overall this year as a rush end coming from Texas Tech University. He heard his name called in the green room and was the first player to come on to the stage in Pittsburgh since No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback from Indiana who also started for two years at Cal, heard his name called by the Las Vegas Raiders with family and friends at their home in Miami.
It’s not the same as Servite of Anaheim having teammates Mason Graham and Tetairoa McMillan being selected last year in the same draft in the first round at No. 5 and No. 8 overall. They were on a Friars’ team in 2021 that lost twice to Bailey and the Monarchs, 46-37 and 28-7. Bailey, the 2021 State Defensive Player of the Year, had 3.5 tackles for loss in the first game and 1.5 sacks in the second game.
Still, Young and Bailey were on the same team at Mater Dei in 2019. They should be regarded similarly as Helix of La Mesa having teammates that were No. 1 and No. 2 in back-to-back drafts and Galileo of San Francisco having teammates that were No. 1 and No. 3 in back-to-back drafts. In 2006, Helix grad Alex Smith was the No. 1 pick in the draft by the San Francisco 49ers. The next year, in 2007, Helix grad Reggie Bush went at No. 2 by the New Orleans Saints. In 1969, Galileo’s O.J. Simpson was the No. 1 pick by the Buffalo Bills and then the following year Galileo’s Al Cowlings was the No. 5 pick also by the Bills. Simpson and Cowlings also became infamous for the white Ford Bronco car chase on L.A. freeways in 1994.
Bailey went to Stanford after graduating from Mater Dei and headed to Texas Tech as a transfer for the 2025 season. He had a sensational season that included him getting 14.5 sacks, which was tied for the most sacks in the FBS that set him up for the draft.
The Other Three First-Rounders
It took awhile for the second player from California to be selected, but then there was a run of three out of eight for a final total this year of four.
Former State Junior Player of Year Makai Lemon (Los Alamitos) was selected at No. 20 in the first round and went to the Philadelphia Eagles. The choice of Lemon, a receiver, could signal that the Eagles are indeed going to trade All-Pro receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots.
Makai Lemon helped Los Alamitos to a No. 3 final state ranking in 2022. The Griffins also were the top-ranked public school team in the state. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Lemon may be the most physically aggressive receiver we’ve ever seen. His QB at time, Malachi Nelson, was higher rated, but Lemon was the best player on the field in all the games we saw. He caught 65 passes for 1,062 and 15 TDs and he had four interceptions on defense as a junior when he was first team all-state. Playing defense and returning kicks also was why he gained the top junior honor. Makai repeated the first-team all-state honor as a senior with 66 catches for 1,048 yards and 12 TDs.
With the NFL going with less time between picks this year, it was only a few minutes when the next California selection was made, and it was truly memorable. That’s because it was the 21st pick overall and was the only pick of the night being made by the hometown Steelers. As a crowd of more than 300,00 roared, Pittsburgh went for 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive tackle Max Iheanachor, a player from King/Drew of Los Angeles who seemed to be moving up various mock drafts everytime we checked in recent weeks.
Max is a great story since he played basketball and not football at King/Drew. He’s originally from Nigeria and didn’t come to Los Angeles until he was 13 years old. Our boys basketball editor, Ronnie Flores, remembers Iheanachor as an intriguing prospect. One of his AAU coaches thought football may be a good idea, so Max tried it when he attended East Los Angeles College. He obviously played it well, filled out his frame to well over 300 pounds and went to Arizona State as a top JUCO prospect in 2023. Now, he’ll head to the NFL as a first round draft pick.
The California total for the night wasn’t done yet, either. At No. 27 overall, the Miami Dolphins moved up to that position on a trade with the San Francisco 49ers. They wanted to snag defensive back Chris Johnson, a graduate from Roosevelt High in Eastvale and also from San Diego State. We had seen some mocks with Johnson late in the first round and others with him not included in the first round. The Dolphins is who it’s going to be for Johnson. He’s from the same high school as 2025 Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year Brayden Burries. Brayden is expected to declare for the 2026 NBA Draft after a stellar freshman season at Arizona, so Roosevelt could have a first-round draft pick this year in both football and basketball.
It should be noted that we do not count No. 10 overall first round pick Francis Mauigoa of the New York Giants as a California player despite him playing for one season at Aquinas of San Bernardino. Mauigoa was a freshman standout offensive lineman for the Falcons way back in 2019 (may be among the best frosh OLs we’ve ever seen) and played for a team that also had older brother Francisco at QB. The Falcons won the CIF Southern Section D5 title that season, then lost to Clayton Valley of Concord, 10-7, in the CIF D2-AA state final. Francis then left Aquinas to go back to Samoa and had to stay there due to COVID. He then went to IMG Academy in Florida and stayed in Florida for college at the University of Miami. He was a key anchor for last season’s team that played for the national title but lost to Indiana.
Mark Tennis is the editor and publisher of Cal-Hi Sports. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
