Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young of Alabama and Georgia backup JT Daniels are former
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) quarterbacks who were MaxPreps National Players of the Year. Today their college teams play for the College Football Playoff National Championship in Indianapolis.
The two not only represent their alma mater proudly, but continue a long and impressive legacy of Mater Dei quarterbacks, most of whom stayed close to home after high school. Young and Daniel broke the mold, the first two to quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.
Young continued an unprecedented tradition by becoming the
third player from one high school to win the Heisman Trophy. Mater Dei broke a tie of two with Wilson (Dallas) with most Heisman winners.
Here are thumbnail glances of notable Mater Dei quarterbacks over the years, starting with the two who could quite possibly decide tonight's matchup, a rematch not only of the SEC title game on Dec. 4 but also the 2018 national title game. Both of those previous meetings went to Alabama.
There likely will be another noteworthy Mater Dei quarterback added to the list. Last week,
Elijah Brown was selected the MaxPreps
Sophomore of the Year after
he completed 74 percent of his throws for 2,581 yards and 30 touchdowns
while leading the Monarchs to another national championship.
JT Daniels threw for 152 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions in three seasons for Bruce Rollinson's team.
File photo by Louis Lopez
As
a junior, Young replaced Daniels as the Mater Dei quarterback after
transferring from Cathedral (Los Angeles). In 52 high school
starts, he threw 13,250 yards while completing 70 percent of his attempts for 152 touchdowns against 21 interceptions. He
also rushed for 1,084 career yards and 26 touchdowns. In two seasons at
Mater Dei, he accounted for 9,657 yards and 111 touchdowns and as a
senior he was selected the national Co-Player of the Year along with St.
John Bosco quarterback
DJ Uiagalelei, who is now at Clemson. Young was 26-2 as a Mater Dei starter.
Like
in high school, Young replaced an award winner at
Alabama, taking over for 2020 Manning Award winner Mac Jones. After
throwing 22 passes as a freshman, Young looked a lot like he did as
a dominating prep this season, breaking Jones' single-season Alabama
records with 4,503 passing yards and 46 touchdowns. His 559 yards passing
in a Nov. 20 game against Arkansas also broke a school record.
The 2017 MaxPreps National Player of the Year threw for 12,014 yards and 152 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions in a brilliant three-year career that was cut short by a season when he reclassified as a senior to enroll at USC. He couldn't have done more his final season as a junior while leading the Monarchs to a 15-0 season and MaxPreps national championship. Considering Mater Dei outscored opponents 724-229 and never trailed, many believe it was one of the greatest high school teams in history. The Monarchs were 38-4 when Daniels started.
A five-star recruit, Daniels became the second true freshman at USC to start a season opener at quarterback. He threw for 2,672 yards and 14 touchdowns his first season before tearing his ACL the first game of his sophomore year. With the emergence of Kedon Slovis, Daniels entered the NCAA transfer portal in April of 2020 and moved on to Georgia. Over two seasons, he has played in nine games (seven as starter) and completed 70 percent of his throws for 1,952 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Matt Barkley | 2005-08 | USCOnly the second freshman to ever start at quarterback at Mater Dei, Barkley played in 45 games during his four-year career, throwing for 9,471 yards and 79 touchdowns. He was the
Gatorade National Male Athlete of the Year in 2007, his junior season, and rated the top college prospect from the Class of 2009. He was the first true freshman to ever start a season opener at USC, where he threw for 12,327 career yards and 116 touchdowns, both still No. 1 in school history. He finished sixth in the Heisman as a junior, was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013 and has played with 10 teams.
Matt Barkley started four seasons for the Monarchs.
File photo by Kirby Lee
After backing up Matt Leinart for a season, the late Brennan completed 68 percent of his passes as a senior and 16 touchdowns, earning all-league honors. He bypassed a scholarship offer to Utah State to attend Worcester (Mass.) Academy where in seven games he threw for 1,707 yards and 15 touchdowns. After stops at Colorado and Saddleback College, he eventually caught fire in a big way at Hawaii, breaking numerous NCAA passing records under June Jones' wide-open run-and-shoot attack. When Brennan graduated, he was fourth in NCAA history for career TD passes (131) and sixth in passing yards (1,4193). He finished sixth in the Heisman voting as a junior and third as a senior. A sixth-round pick of Washington in the 2008, Brennan played three seasons in the NFL before brief stints in three other professional leagues. Brennan passed away at the age of 37 in May 2021.
Matt Leinart | 1999-2000 | USC After earning All-Serra League Offensive MVP honors as a junior (2,400 passing yards), Leinart was a Parade All-American as a senior, while completing 192 of 309 for 2,870 yards and 28 touchdowns. At USC, he was the second Monarch to take home the Heisman while leading the Trojans to a national championship in 2004. In three seasons he threw for 10,693 yards and 99 touchdowns, which rank third and second, respectively in school history. A first-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2006 NFL Draft, Leinart threw for 4,065 career yards and 15 touchdowns in seven seasons primarily as a backup.
Todd Marinovich | 1984-1985 | USC
The first freshman to ever start at quarterback for the Monarchs, Marinovich threw for 4,358 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons before transferring to Capistrano Valley. The transfer was rare in that era and made headlines of the
Los Angeles Times. He finished with 9,914 career passing yards — then an Orange County record — and was a Parade All-American his senior season before under-achieving college and NFL careers. A first-round pick of the Raiders in 1991, Marinovich threw for less than 1,400 career yards and eight touchdowns in the NFL.
John Huarte | 1959-60 | Notre Dame
Finding numbers on Huarte at Mater Dei is difficult, but he was good enough to secure a scholarship to Notre Dame, where he largely sat the bench for three seasons. As a senior in 1964, under new coach Ara Parseghian, Huarte blossomed, throwing for 2,062 yards while leading the Irish to a 9-1 season and a national championship. Huarte was selected an All-American and took home the Heisman, the first Hispanic athlete ever to do so. He played in eight NFL seasons with five teams and won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970.
