2025-26 Grid-Hoop All-State Team

This year’s Grid-Hoop All-State Team is a big one for us as it marks 40 years in which we’ve been doing these honors. The idea always has been to take a special look at those best football-basketball combo athletes, some of them who also shine in a third sport. Leading the 15-man group of top five teams is Grid-Hoop State Player of the Year Carlton Perrilliat from Salesian of Richmond. We also have a separate Gold Club post with many more Grid-Hoop athletes of distinction.

FOR EXPANDED GOLD CLUB LIST OF MANY MORE OF THE STATE’S TOP GRID-HOOP ATHLETES, CLICK HERE.

Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on Cal-Hi Sports. We will be posting plenty of preseason football content that also will be exclusive to Cal-Hi Sports and will be for Gold Club members only, including all-area, all-section, all-county preseason football teams. You can sign up for as low as $4.99 for one month.
To join our team CLICK HERE.

To go straight to our Gold Club archive of all previous 15-member Grid-Hoop All-State Teams, CLICK HERE.

To view our all-time Grid-Hoop State Player of the Year list going back to 1979-80, CLICK HERE.

The 2025-26 school year has been a memorable one for many big-time performances on the gridiron and on the hoops hardwood. COVID-19 is now a distant memory, but the effects of that time still linger. Simply put, there is money to be made in big-time NCAA athletics, namely football and men’s basketball, and players want to remain in college as long as possible. They are even suing the NCAA in order to.

Those lawsuits and the outcomes of it have an effect on high school basketball players, as the NCAA’s new D1 “5-for-5 rule” (which gives student athletes five seasons to complete five years of eligibility) has caused many high school class of 2022 graduates to sue for another season of eligibility. If those lawsuits work, college recruiters are going to go for the seasoned player over the high school recruit and that could leave many 2026 and 2027 graduates out in the cold, so to speak.

Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) being used as a proxy for payment has made the competition for a college scholarship more cutthroat and is a reason why football prospects and elite basketball players tend to concentrate on one sport (over the other) earlier than ever. Despite that, there is hope and optimism for the grid-hooper. Plenty of current and former pro athletes have gone to podcasts and social media to sing the virtues of playing multiple sports, so the word is getting across.

As one can see from the 15-man honor squad and athletes on distinction on our 40th annual Cal-Hi Sports Grid-Hoop All-State Team for the 2025-26 school year, there are still many talented athletes that play both basketball and football despite the rigors of the over-lapping seasonS and the pressure to attempt to earn a college scholarship. We haven’t produced an All-American in both sports at the same time in quite some time and realistically it’s not often in recent years that many of those honored to make the 30-man All-State Elite Basketball reserved for the state’s best regardless of class or CIF Division have even played football.

Still, there are some exceptions. That’s what separates senior wide receiver-small forward Carlton Perrilliat Jr. from Salesian of Richmond from the other 14 honors candidates on this year’s Grid-Hoop All-State team. This physical specimen who helped The Pride to the North Cost Section D5 semifinals in football and to the CIF Open title game in hoops is the only football player to earn All-State Elite team honors in hoops and today that springboards his selection as the 2025-26 Grid-Hoop State Player of the Year . Perrilliat was on the 15-man squad last school year. The other repeat first team choice is Brayden Stevenson of Tulare Union, who was given some POY consideration.

What separates Perrilliat from the pack is his impact on high level basketball games, as the vast majority of the Grid-Hoopers are more highly skilled and honored in football. Sure, Perrilliat averaged 11.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg, but you have to consider there are only two NorCal teams in recent seasons that have been able to stay even close to the CIF Southern Section open playoff teams and the Pride (along with San Francisco Riordan) are those two programs. Perrilliat was the second leading scorer for the second straight year on some of the most balanced and deepest teams we’ve seen in NorCal history. Salesian finished nationally ranked at 28-3 and ranked No. 4 in the state for the second consecutive season.

CIF open champ Sierra Canyon was head and shoulders the best team in the state and Perrilliat helped keep the Pride in the game that decided the state title with his strong drives and physical nature around the basket. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know his style of play on the hardwood is influenced by his play on the Gridiron. In front of a statewide audience, the Sacramento State Hornet finished with 27 points and seven rebounds. In football, Perrilliat was named second team all-state small schools for the second consecutive season as a wide receiver and will play football for the Hornets. There is no doubt Sac State basketball coach and former Sacramento Kings star Mike Bibby will give him a long look to help the basketball team if he has a chance to double up at the college level. There is little doubt Perrilliat is a scholarship level player in the Big West Conference, too.

The following 15 athletes are head and shoulders California’s best football basketball combo athletes and even though we annually lose qualified candidates who enroll early to participate in spring football, the group is strong and it’s a good sign for the future of combo athletes. Some of the top athletes who left for college early include two-time NorCal Player of the Year Ryder Lyons of Folsom (QB graduated early for BYU) and Samu Moala from Leuzinger of Lawndale (left for Texas A & M), while Jasen Womack from Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills chose to skip hoops for baseball and standout hooper Charlie Barajas from Cathedral Catholic in San Diego chose not to pay football as a senior.

Although some senior studs did leave early, we’re proud the following 15 athletes headline the 2025-26 Grid-Hoop All-State team.

Below is the complete Cal-Hi Sports Grid-Hoop All-State Team for the 2025-26 school year:

FIRST TEAM

Caden Jones (Crean Lutheran, Irvine) 6-3 Jr. QB/G

The promising signal-caller bounced back from an injury-plagued sophomore season on the gridiron to put up big numbers and earn a scholarship to Arizona. He earned first team all-state underclass honors, was all-state Medium Schools and all-CIFSS D2 after completing 74.8 percent of his passes for 3,044 yards and 30 TDs against one single interception. He used those smarts and cerebral play-making to make an impact on the basketball court for an even better team. Jones averaged 7 ppg and 4 apg for the CIFSS D1 champs. After getting acclimated and when it mattered most late in the season, Jones was even better averaging 10.3 ppg and playing terrific perimeter defense while drawing raves for his overall impact. He has committed to Arizona for football and we assume he’s finished with hoops.

Luke Lemke (Arcata) 6-2 Sr. QB/RB/F

After leading Arcata to a CIF D6-AA state football title as a junior with monster numbers in 15 games (2,761 yards passing, 1,826 yards rushing, 59 TDs accounted for), Lemke missed some time with injury as a senior, but still did enough damage to rush for 1,165 yards and 18 TDs while adding 921 yards passing and 7 TDs. He was named All-State Small Schools second team after finishing his career by accounting for 8,383 total yards. His versatility showed with a 431-yard, 7 TD rushing performance (including 71 yards passing) vs. McKinleyville, plus a school record 51 points in a basketball win over Fortuna. The versatile talent also played on a small schools all-state level as well in hoops, averaging 23.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 3.1 apg.

Paisios “Pai” Polamalu
(St. Augustine, San Diego) 5-10 Jr. DB/KR/G

The CIF San Diego Section has had a nice variety of Grid-Hoopers in recent seasons and Polamalu is a versatile talent and the section’s highest-graded grid-hooper this school year. He was named second team all-state for both Medium Schools and juniors after racking up 108 tackles, 10 pass breakups, 6 INTs, and two forced fumbles for the second place team in the Eastern League. On offense, he went for 1,530 yards rushing on 250 carries with 19 TDs and three more receiving. In hoops, Polamalu was an all-league performer and double-digit scoring threat for one of San Diego’s best basketball programs. The son of NFL Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu is already committed to Stanford for football.

Carlton Perrilliat Jr. (Salesian, Richmond) 6-5 Sr. WR/DB/F

The 2025-26 Grid-Hoop State Player of the Year finished his senior season of football with 49 receptions for 944 yards and 19 touchdowns. That gives the two-time small schools all-stater a two-year total of 105 receptions for 2,022 yards and 36 touchdown catches. He’s also a big-play performer on the hardwood and went over 1,000 career points in that signature performance vs. Sierra Canyon. Perrilliat is the Pride’s first ever Grid-Hoop POY and the first from a North Coast Section program going all the way to Eric Bamberger of Concord Ygnacio Valley for 1987-88. He’s also the first from the San Francisco Bay Area since Niamey Harris of San Francisco Mission for 2016-17.

Brayden Stevenson (Tulare Union) 5-9 Sr. WR/G

This repeat first teamer along with POY Carlton Perrilliat can be considered a close runner-up for top honors. He also continues Turlare’s great tradition of Grid-Hoopers after earning all-state medium schools honors on the Grid and all-state D4 honors in Hoops. A great broken field athlete who also excels in the return game, Stevenson’s 77 catches for 1,327 yards and 14 TDs will put him on the state’s all-time career receiving charts in all three categories: 246 receptions, 3,964 yards and 46 TDs in four years. In hoops, he’s Tulare Union’s all-time leading scorer after averaging 18.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.4 apg and 2.0 spg as a senior for a 31-5 team that won the CIF Central Section D3 title and advanced to the SoCal D4 title game. Stevenson finished with 1,943 career points and averaged 17.8 ppg for his outstanding career.

SECOND TEAM

Malachi Davis (McFarland) 6-3 Jr. QB/SG

All-State Division IV choice in hoops had a great season playing for father James Davis, averaging 26.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 6.2 apg, 4.2 spg and 2.3 bpg for a Central Section D4 semifinalist. As a junior dual threat QB with next level ability in football, Davis passed for 2,742 yards and 23 TDs and rushed for 966 yards and 13 TDs last season. He also has competed in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and triple jump for the McFarland track team.

Godschoice Eboigbodin (JSerra, San Juan Capistrano) 6-6 Jr. DE/LB/F

He was highly regarded as a hooper coming into high school, but his frame and athleticism and physical nature made him a natural football recruit. Once he took up the sport as a junior for the first time, the offers started pouring in and he’s now committed to UCLA as an EDGE rusher. In hoops, he was the Trinity League freshman of the year in 2023-24 and he continued to make a big impact in the rugged hoops league. In last year’s league tourney, he erupted for 46 points and 17 rebounds in a third place win over 11-time CIF state champion Mater Dei of Santa Ana. On the season, Eboigbodin averaged 10.3 ppg and 9.4 rpg for a team that finished as CIFSS D1 runner-up and ranked No. 15 in the state.

Jack Ellis
(St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma) 6-5 Sr. DE/TE/F

After nearly making third team in 2024-25, Ellis had an even better senior season after helping the football team to the CIF D4-AA state title as a junior and the D6-AA state crown as a sophomore. Ellis was a small schools all-state choice for the 2025 season after catching 33 passes for 458 yards and 7 TDs, while adding 29 tackles, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick on defense. On the hardwood, he averaged 15.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg and 1.7 spg while recording 13 double-doubles for a 23-11 club. He’ll next play tight end at San Diego State.

Demaje Riley (Tulare Union) 5-9 Jr. WR/G

The Tulare Grid-Hoop assembly line has two making the Top 10 this year, as Riley was a standout in both sports. A speedster on the track, Riley was all-state underclass second team after hauling in 72 receptions for 1,519 yards and 13 TDs while on defense he intercepted four passes and recovered three fumbles. Committed to Fresno State, Riley already has 185 receptions, 3,453 yards and 40 TDs in football with his senior season to go. Playing alongside repeat first teamer Brayden Stevenson on the hardwood, Riley was dominant in his own right, averaging 17.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.4 apg for a 31-5 team that advanced to the SoCal D4 title game.

Elyjah Staples (Marquez, Huntington Park) 6-3 Jr. DL/TE/F

One of the most versatile athletes in the L.A. City Section and already the best athlete in school history (Marquez opened in 2013), Staples has committed to Cal as a big end/tight end and can play a variety of positions. He’s collected a bevy of honors in both sports, including earning All-L.A. City D2 honors in hoops for the second consecutive season. Staples averaged 14.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg and 3.7 apg for the undefeated Southern League champs. In football, he can excel at many positions, as he was the All-L.A. City D1 Defensive Lineman of the Year as a sophomore and the All-L.A. City D1 Offensive Player of the Year in 2025. He had 62 solo tackles, nine sacks and three forced fumbles. On offense last season, he took it to another level with 35 receptions for 1,137 yards and 22 TDs.

THIRD TEAM

Lane Brown (Winters) 6-3 Sr. QB/F

All-State Small Schools terror led Winters to its first CIF state title last season, passing for 2,272 yards and 26 TDs, and accounted for four TDs in the CIF 6-A state title game victory over Morse of San Diego. For the season, Brown rushed for 2,279 yards and an additional 27 TDs, including 154 yards and 3 TDs vs. Morse. For the season, he accounted for 4,551 total yards and 53 TDs (both Northern Section records) and is one of the few players in state history to pass and rush for over 2,000 yards each in a single season. After all the celebration of the state title in football, Brown hit the hardwood and averaged 8.1 ppg and 9.1 rpg.

Jace Cannon (Serra, San Mateo) 6-5 Jr. TE/F

As the 2025 football season kept unfolding, Cannon was emerging as another top-notch college bound tight end for the Padres. He wound up with third Team All-State Underclass honors with 29 receptions for 569 yards and 3 TDs. Since then, Jace’s emergence as a tight end has only grown. He received numerous offers and has committed to USC. In basketball, Cannon gained all-WCAL honorable mention in hoops and had several double-double games vs. rugged competition.

Ryan Clifton
(Calaveras, San Andreas) 5-9 Sr. DB/WR/G

A Co-MVP in the Mother Lode League on the Grid, Clifton helped Calaveras win the CIF D5-A state title by rushing for 600 yards and 11 TDs and grabbing five interceptions (2 returned for TDs) on defense. In basketball, despite missing 10 games because of the football run, he averaged 12 ppg this season. Ryan also netted 1,175 career points and 219 three-pointers despite having to recover from two hip surgeries in six months and mourn the loss of his father, former Calaveras hoop coach Kraig Clifton, who died of cancer in Sept. 2024.

Benji Makelela
(Capistrano Valley Christian, SJ Capistrano) 6-7 Sr. OL/DL/F

We’ve always liked to look for those big offensive linemen in football who have shown to be outstanding players on the hardwood. We found one with Benji. He weighs 280 pounds and has signed to play offensive line at Washington State after previously committing to Iowa State. The native of the Democratic Republic of Congo also played defensive line and had 23 tackles with four sacks last season. On the basketball court, Makelela earned All-Academy League honors with season averages of 12.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

Darnell Miller (Santee, Los Angeles) 5-11 Sr. RB/G

It’s not great competition, but Miller’s totals and production in the two sports can’t be overlooked. He was All-LA City D5 in hoops (19.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and All-L.A. City D3 Player of the Year on the Grid after rushing for a L.A. City Section high 3,296 yards and scoring 43 TDs and 258 points. He was an honorable mention Medium Schools All-State choice with those prolific numbers, which included a reported section single-game record 502 yards on 33 carries with five TDs vs. L.A. Jefferson.

Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores