Tyrone Sauls, Stefan McClure, Beau Reilly and Travis Bernard commit

By Bill Dickens Jan 28, 2011, 2:34pm

San Diego Section produces four quality recruits who make verbal commitments.

Multi-talented Christian (El Cajon, Calif.) senior Tyrone Sauls virtually had his choice of colleges eager to pitch him a scholarship. No less than five schools put their intentions on the dotted line, but Sauls has accepted the offer from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Naval Academy was a close second, followed by Oregon, San Diego State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Others expressing interest included Stanford, Washington, UCLA, Colorado State, Colorado and Harvard. In the past week Air Force Academy head coach Troy Calhoun and Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo both made visits to Sauls' home.

Sauls registered more than 100 tackles as linebacker for the Patriots. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior also rushed for 1,759 yards and 29 touchdowns on offense, including a CIF San Diego Section record-tying seven touchdowns in a single game.

STEFAN McCLURE VERBALS TO CAL
The CIF-SDS Defensive player of the Year, Stefan McClure of Vista (Calif.), has accepted a football scholarship offer to Cal.



The 5-foot-11, 173-pound defensive back made the announcement from the Vista campus on Thursday. He said he plans to sign a national letter of intent on Wednesday, which is National Signing Day for football.

McClure, who helped lead Vista to the CIF-SDS Division I championship, made 46 tackles and intercepted four passes. Doubling as a receiver on offense, McClure caught 58 passes for 1,317 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"They said I would be at corner, but I could try to play a little offense," said McClure, who plans to start classes at Cal in June. "They said I could play some receiver. We'll see. They're pretty open to it. They came to me with the idea of playing some offense."

In addition to Cal, McClure said his other finalists were Oregon State, San Diego State, Michigan, UCLA, and Boise State.

"Seeing the school, walking around campus. I got a good vibe being at the (Cal-Oregon football) game. It just felt like a place I could go and be successful at. I got to see a packed house, a good environment with No. 1 Oregon."

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Vista coach Dan Williams said he thought UCLA was the front-runner, but when Cal hired new defensive backs coach Ashley Ambrose, the Bears became the front-runner.



"This is a lifetime decision," McClure told the North County Times. "I have no regrets, no what-ifs."

VALLEY CENTER PAIR MAKE VERBAL COMMITMENTS
Six-foot-5 Valley Center (Calif.) quarterback Beau Reilly has made an oral commitment to play college football at Colorado State. Reilly passed for 1,953 yards and rushed for 395 in leading the Jaguars to the Valley League title and the CIF San Diego Section Division IV championship game.

Also, Valley Center running back Travis Bernard has heard it his whole athletic life – "You're too small."

Granted, at 5-foot-8, 180 pounds Bernard is not a college recruiting magnet. Yet, Bernard, the CIF-SDS Offensive Player of the Year, has accepted a scholarship to Football Championship Subdivision school Northern Colorado.

"They said size didn't matter," Bernard told the North County Times. "That's all I needed to hear."

Bernard rushed for 2,798 yards on 313 carries, averaging 8.9 yards a carry in 2010. He scored 36 rushing touchdowns and totaled 39 for the season.



Bernard said he finally chose Northern Colorado -- located in Greeley, Colo., about 50 miles north of Denver -- over Portland State and South Dakota. He canceled a trip this weekend to Weber State.