Oakland Tribune: Top of the crop headed for USC

Monte Vista's McAllister voted top East Bay football prospect by college recruiters

By Mike Lefkow

Ever since he was a junior, perhaps before that, Monte Vista High star Drew McAllister was kind of expected to continue his football career at Cal.   He was a quarterback. His parents had gone there. His father, Ken, played football for the Bears under coach Mike White, lettering in 1976 and'77.  Cal coach Jeff Tedford's sons played football at Monte Vista.   But Drew McAllister had other plans. After narrowing his list of offers to five schools — Arizona, Cal, Oregon, USC, Washington — the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder picked the Trojans.

McAllister stands tall as this year's top Cream of the Crop prospect. He didn't run away with the balloting, receiving six of 12 first-place votes from assistant coaches from the Big 12, Mountain West, Pac-10 and Western Athletic conferences who participated in the 26th annual survey. But McAllister won comfortably.

McAllister said USC and Cal both offered him at safety. Arizona, Oregon and Washington were willing to let him play quarterback.  McAllister explained that both of his parents are from Southern California and attended Cal, so he decided to reverse the process. "I have family down there," he said.   This marks the first time since De La Salle receiver Cameron Colvin picked Oregon in 2004 that Cal hasn't received an oral commitment from the East Bay's top prospect. Letter- of-intent day, the first day oral commits become binding, is Feb. 6.

While Cal apparently will make do without the Crop's top prospect, getting an oral commitment from Little should help Tedford sleep at night.   "He's a very good football player," a Big 12 recruiter said.  Little also is a very good student, sporting a 4.0 GPA, according to Castlemont coach James Barnes.  Little was recruited to Cal as a safety but could develop into a defensive end or tight end. The feeling among coaches surveyed for this year's Crop is that he probably doesn't have the speed to be a wide receiver in the Pac-10.

Even in a class that isn't as deep as usual, cutting to 20 was a chore. The toughest player to leave off was Oakland Tech's Myles Crawford-Harris.  "He has pretty good instincts, good ball skills, and he moves decently," a WAC coach said. "He is a good player."  Others hanging in until the final cut were Concord tight end Kevin Galindo, offensive lineman Blake Lebeau (James Logan) and Gabriel Hampton (Hercules), and San Ramon Valley linebacker Harmon Bruno.

Galindo is drawing   attention from several schools including Washington State, Lebeau has orally committed to Montana, Hampton has an offer from Southern University in Louisiana, and Bruno has been invited to walk on at Oregon.  

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