Camren McDonald of Long Beach Poly, the top tight end in the Class of 2018 in Southern California, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, decided to make his college decision early to concentrate on the upcoming season. McDonald gave his verbal to USC late last month. He was the Jackrabbits’ leading receiver in 2016 and should benefit this year from having the area’s No. 1 QB in Matt Corral tossing him the ball.
Editor’s note: for our purposes, we consider Southern California to be the CIF-Southern Section and LA City Section.
I AM OFFICIALLY COMMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA..#FightOn ✌?❤️? pic.twitter.com/LEaelJ6JCT
— Camm? (@CaamMcd) June 26, 2017
McDonald, who is considered a 4-star college prospect is rated the 13th best tight end in the nation, according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings.
Colony’s Michael Ezeike is No. 2 in the area, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings and the 17th best overall at the position in the nation. Ezeike currently has 19 offers — Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, California, Colorado, Fresno State, Hawaii, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Oregon State, San Jose State, Texas A&M, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington State and Wyoming.
Ezeike led Colony in receiving last year with 49 catches for 764 yards and ten touchdowns. The 6-5, 210 pound Ezeike, who is of Nigerian descent, caught my eye at The Opening’s LA Regional with his ability to go and get the ball.
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San Clemente’s Chris Kane is listed as the No. 3 tight end in the CIF Southern and LA City Sections. According to MaxPreps’s 2016 stats, Kane caught 28 passes, five for touchdowns. He currently has offers from Air Force, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Sacramento State Weber State and Wyoming.
Congrats to 2018 6’5 225 TE Chris Kane who picked up an offer from Air Force tonight. Just the beginning for Mr. Kane! #onetownoneteam ??? pic.twitter.com/jnGvQdI9cL
— Triton Football (@Tritonfootball) June 4, 2017
Santa Margarita tight end Jake Peters is No. 4 in the area in the 247Sports’ composite rankings. Peter, who offers from Hawaii and Washington, missed his entire junior year while rehabbing an injury to his achilles. At 6-5, 236 pounds, Peters has prototypical tight end size.
With Peters on the sidelines last year, 6-5, 230 pound John McCarten was able to step-in and make a name for himself with the Eagles. McCarten, who is No. 7 in the area’s composite rankings and recently committed to Fresno State, gives Santa Margarita head coach Rich Fisher a nice problem of trying to figure-out how to use both of his talented tight ends.
COMMITTED. pic.twitter.com/Fdvfo3yE2c
— John McCartan (@johnmccartan9) July 10, 2017
Dorsey High’s Isaiah Smalls is the No. 5 tight end in the area. Smalls, who holds offers from Arizona, California, Florida A&M, Fresno State, Ohio, Oregon Purdue and Utah State, averaged over 18 yards per catch last year with five touchdowns.
No. 6 on the local list at TE is Corona del Mar’s TaeVeon Le, who hold college offers from Air Force, Colorado State, Harvard, Iowa State, Princeton and Yale. Le led the Sea Kings with 78 catches last season. He averaged 16.6 yards per grab with 22 touchdowns.
The top-rated tight end in the Class of 2019 is Orange Lutheran’s Ethan Rae. Rae, who already has 12 college scholarship offers, transferred to OLu from Servite. Last season with the Friars, Rae caught 13 balls for an average of 14.8 yards per catch with two touchdowns.
What a blessing to be named the #1 Tight End in California/West Coast. Thank you! @scoutrecruiting pic.twitter.com/JLm5BQ3ydn
— Ethan Rae (@Rae__Ethan) June 27, 2017
Class of 2018 Tight Ends in CIF Southern & LA City Sections by 247Sports Composite Rankings
No. 1 Camren McDonald – Long Beach Poly – USC
No. 2 Michael Ezeike – Colony – Uncommitted
No. 3 Chris Kane – San Clemente – Uncommitted
No. 4 Jake Peters – Santa Margarita – Uncommitted
No. 5 Isaiah Smalls – Dorsey – Uncommitted
No. 6 Tae Le – Corona del Mar – Uncommitted
No. 7 John McCartan – Santa Margarita – Fresno State
