De La Salle football to meet Utah power, Alabama-bound Najee Harris

De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), the reigning national football champion according to the MaxPreps computer rankings, will play defending Utah 4A state champion East (Salt Lake City, Utah) and perhaps the nation's top recruit from the Class of 2017 it was just announced at the Spartans' year-end banquet Sunday night.

The Spartans, who lose most of their top players to graduation including 4-star standouts Devin Asiasi and Boss Tagaloa, will host East in Week 3 of the season.

East (11-2), ranked 159th nationally, return 5-foot-8, 200-pound running back Jaylen Warren who averaged almost 200 yards rushing per game.

De La Salle will see the nation's top running back Najee Harris the following week when the Spartans host Antioch (Calif.), which finished 12-1 last season. Harris, a 6-foot-2, 222-pound Alabama commit, was a first-team MaxPreps All-American after rushing for 2.744 yards and 37 touchdowns.



There's a possibility the Spartans could also see Antioch and Harris in the North Coast Section Division I playoffs.

The rest of the nonleague schedule features Serra (San Mateo, Calif.), Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) and James Logan (Union City, Calif.).

Though De La Salle, the two-time defending state Open Division champion, loses plenty to graduation, the Spartans will return a stable of talented running backs led by current sophomore Kairee Robinson and Jonathan Hackett and all-around athlete Isaiah Randle will likely move to quarterback.