With the start of high school football season less than two months away, now’s a good time to start getting familiar with the intriguing new names that are expected to take on high-profile roles in the Trinity League.
Let’s start with General Booty.
Booty transferred to JSerra from Cornerstone Christian School in San Antonio, Texas over the spring and he’s expected to take over as starting quarterback for the Lions this season.
Booty, who will be a junior in the fall, brings a strong resume, highlighted by his familiar last name.
His father, Abram Booty, set national high school records for career receiving yards (5,867), receptions (302) and touchdowns (83) while playing from Evangel Christian in Shreveport, Louisiana from 1993 to 1996.
Abram later starred at LSU for two seasons.
Booty’s uncles, John David and Josh Booty, were successful quarterbacks.
John David led USC to Rose Bowl victories in 2007 and 2008, and set a Rose Bowl record with seven touchdown passes in his two appearances.
John was a record-breaking quarterback at Evangel Christian and a first-round major-league draft pick of the Florida Marlins after his senior year in 1994. He played five years of minor-league baseball before returning to the football field and joining LSU as a 24-year-old freshman.
On his mother’s side of the family, Booty’s uncle is Joe Ferguson, an NFL quarterback for four different teams from 1973-90.
“General has a blood line that you need to follow closely,” former Houston head coach John Jenkins told 247Sports.
Over at Santa Margarita, the Eagles are breaking in a new quarterback as well after Peter Costelli transferred to Mission Viejo.
Costelli had a successful sophomore season at Santa Margarita after transferring from St. John Bosco, but transferred about a month after Rich Fisher was dismissed as head coach after three seasons.
A month after Costelli departed, the Eagles welcomed incoming junior quarterback Colt Fulton, who played part time last season at Corona Centennial.
Whichever quarterback wins the starting job at Santa Margarita, he’ll have one of the top receivers in the state in Isaac Jernagin who transferred to Santa Margarita from Bakersfield High School.
Jernagin’s superior play at Bakersfield helped him generate scholarship offers from schools such as USC, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Arizona State.
Isaac’s younger brother, Ian, is also a talented receiver with offers from Nevada and Arizona.
The Eagles, who hired Brent Vieselmeyer as their third head coach since 2014, lost two other key starters from last season’s 3-7 team, however.
Offensive lineman Brody Crane and tight end Gary Morrison transferred to JSerra in January, shortly before Fisher was dismissed.
Noah Fifita isn’t a newcomer at Servite, but his name is still mostly unknown.
He mostly played on the freshman team for the Friars last season, but seems to be the odds-on-favorite to take over as the starting quarterback for the varsity this fall.
Fifita showed a glimpse of what he can do when he entered against Orange Lutheran in the final minutes last October and threw two long touchdown passes as Servite cut a 28-3 deficit to 28-20.
“We do think the future is bright at Servite, that’s for sure,” Servite coach Troy Thomas said.
Fifita hasn’t started a varsity game yet, but already has a scholarship from Idaho State.
Fifita’s uncle, Steve Fifita, is the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Idaho State.