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Fall practice for the 2025 high school football season kicked off Monday. But for many teams, the sessions extend the internal competition from the summer.
Especially for quarterbacks.
Here are Orange County’s top quarterback storylines to watch in fall practice:
1. Orange Lutheran: The Lancers have three candidates competing for their starting spot: freshman Ezrah Brown, junior Reagan Toki and senior Jared Juliano.
Notably, Brown is the brother of former Mater Dei quarterback and O.C. offensive player of the year Elijah Brown, now the starting QB at Stanford.
“Those three are competing and it’s exciting,” Orange Lutheran coach Rod Sherman said. “We’re really pleased with how they’ve come along.”
Interestingly, Orange Lutheran will not scrimmage before its season-opener in Florida against Northwestern of Miami on Aug. 23.
2. Mater Dei: The eligibility of JSerra transfer Ryan Hopkins is being closely followed, and understandably so. The Wisconsin commit looked sharp over the summer, and the Monarchs are No. 1 in multiple, national preseason rankings.
In the winter, Hopkins was listed by the CIF-SS as a sitout transfer. The section now lists the senior’s transfer as “processing.”
In summer passing competition, Hopkins often shared time with junior Furian Inferrera.
“They’re both just still competing,” Mater Dei coach Raul Lara said at the Long Beach Poly passing tournament. “We’re going to wait probably all the way until it’s time to make a decision.”
3. San Clemente: Well-known for producing quarterbacks, the Tritons also have a competition. San Clemente featured senior Luke Hardy and junior Eiler King when it won the Brave 8 passing tournament at St. John Bosco in late June.
“TBD” coach Jaime Ortiz said in a recent update about the Tritons’ quarterback job.
4. Yorba Linda: Juniors Noah Trujillo (6-2, 185) and Colin O’Connor (5-11,175) are competing for the starting position but both are expected to play this season, Mustangs coach Jeff Bailey said.
O’Connor is a transfer from Servite.
“They’re both doing an awesome job, working their tails off,” the coach said. “One thing with having two (QBs), I can do more things, that’s for sure.”
5. Dana Hills: The Dolphins could have their best team under Tony Henney. They’ve also had a QB competition since the spring, the coach said.
The duel is between sophomore Carter Anderson and senior Tommy Moro, Henney said.
6. Servite: The Friars are encouraged by the progress of junior transfer Kale Murphy from Mission Viejo, coach Chris Reinert said. But like many of Orange County’s top programs, Servite believes in competition.
The Friars also like the development of several other quarterbacks and have welcomed back sophomore Tyler Gonzalez, who had been at Capistrano Valley in the offseason.
7. Newport Harbor: Senior Jake Meer (6-0, 170) is the returning starter, and elevated his game at the South County passing tournament.
The Sailors’ quarterback room also includes JSerra transfer Jordan Spigarelli, a 6-foot-3 junior who will observe the sitout period, Newport Harbor coach Matt Burns said.
8. Northwood: First-year coach Erik Terry mentioned three candidates to watch but on Friday, a new name emerged. Former Crean Lutheran QB Dylan D’Epifanio (6-3, 180) stated that he has enrolled at the school.
The sophomore started for the injured Caden Jones last season as a freshman.
Northwood’s quarterback room also includes senior Noah Green, junior Caden Jacobs and sophomore Jourdan Garcia.
9. Troy: The Warriors, the defending Iota League champion, have a three-way competition between senior Andrew Acuna, junior Chase Kolbach and junior transfer Mason Mays of Whittier Christian, Troy coach Michael Echaves said.
