Poly players dominate list of top prospects

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

Dick Lascola has been supplying scouting reports regarding the nation's top prep football prospects to Division I colleges for more than 25 years.

But as Wednesday's national signing day for high school recruits approaches, the head of the Fallbrook, Calif.-based Scouting Evaluation Association says he can't remember seeing a team as talented as last fall's Long Beach (Calif.) Poly squad.

"Maybe some of the old Banning teams in the 1970s might have had close to the overall talent, but probably not," Lascola said. "Poly has always had a couple of highly regarded kids each year, but they've had a phenomenal amount of talent come through the school in the last few years. I don't care where they're coming from, any college coach who is recruiting the state of California will stop off at Long Beach Poly.

"They'd be nuts if they didn't."

With as many as a dozen Division I prospects dotting the roster, the Jackrabbits dominate the fourth edition of the Las Vegas Sun Super 11 football team, which picks the top 11 prep football prospects in the western United States.

Five of the top eight vote getters hail from Poly. By comparison, the other 12 states represented in the survey, including Nevada, combined to produce just one first team pick, defensive lineman Loren Howard of Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro High School.

Heading the list is 6-foot-6, 235-pound tight end Marcedes Lewis, who has verbally committed to UCLA. Lewis is the second Poly player in four years to top the Super 11 voting. Wide receiver Kareem Kelly, the 1999 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and already the fifth-leading receiver in USC history, topped the inaugural Super 11 list in 1999.

Lewis, who played quarterback as a freshman at Poly before switching to tight end, has been timed at 4.6 in the 40-yard dash and has a 36-inch vertical leap. Although most schools project him as a tight end, one college coach who voted said he wouldn't be surprised to see him play wide receiver at the next level.

"Marcedes has a chance to be a dominating wide receiver in the NFL," said the coach, who can't be identified because of NCAA recruiting rules. "If someone uses him right, he'll be very difficult to stop. He could be a tight end, but he does have the speed and mobility to play wide receiver. And with that size, he'd create a lot of matchup problems for cornerbacks."

"(UCLA) is talking about letting me play both positions," Lewis said. "I think they plan on maybe lining me up in the slot some. I just want to go in and learn how to play both wide receiver and tight end. I'm going to work very hard and just see what happens."

Lewis also starred at defensive end for the Jackrabbits and brought comparisons to another former Poly star, Willie McGinest, now of the New England Patriots. Like McGinest, Lewis also stars at center on Poly's nationally ranked basketball squad and plans on playing both sports in college.

"I like playing offense better," said Lewis, who started on three consecutive CIF Southern Section Division I championship squads, about the possibility of playing defensive end in college. "That's where I want to play in college."

Added one Pac-10 coach: "I think the kid is the best athlete in the state of California this year. I mean, he could play wide receiver or tight end or defensive end and special teams right now. What is scary is that he weighs 235 pounds and he still looks pretty skinny. With a couple of years in the weight room, he could be 255 and still quick enough to play wide receiver."

Said another scout: "He's in the same class athletically as a Tony Gonzalez (Chiefs), only he's two inches taller."

Despite all his ability, Lewis found himself doing more blocking than catching for a Poly team that also had one of the nation's top running backs in Super 11 first-team pick Herschel Dennis, and an offensive line anchored by Super 11 first-team selection Winston Justice. Lewis had 44 receptions for 701 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior.

"We only threw about 15 passes a game," Lewis said. "It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if I had gone to a school where they throw the ball all the time. I would have really blown up there."

Still, as a key contributer on a Poly team that went 39-1-1 the last three seasons (Poly lost only to the nation's No. 1 rated team, Concord De La Salle, 29-15, this year), Lewis did more than enough to get noticed.

"My goal is to go to the league (NFL)," Lewis said. "If I work hard and can stay healthy, I think that's something that could be a possibility.""

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