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On Sunday, a very big kid will make a very big announcement.
Fairfax High center Renardo Sidney is widely considered one of the 10 best high school prospects in the nation. He first started to generate attention as an eighth-grader while living in Mississippi. As a 6-11 senior, Sidney has led Fairfax to a No. 2 seeding in the City Section Division I playoffs.
USC was on Sidney's short list, and Trojans coach Tim Floyd was spotted at the Fairfax-Westchester game a month ago. But, as of today, it looks like USC is out of contention.
UCLA is still a top choice -- assuming he can make the grades. Sidney hasn't taken the SAT. Even if he announces for the Bruins, he'll still have to pass the test.
Arizona State and Virginia also are possible destinations. Some online scouting services list Texas, Nevada Las Vegas and Mississippi State as long shots.
Sunday's announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Fairfax High.
-- Adam Rose
Photo: Fairfax's Renardo Sidney dunks against Westchester last month. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times.
It's the final week for high school football recruiting before next Wednesday's signing day, and this is the week USC Coach Pete Carroll usually earns his big bucks while serving as the male version of Kyra Sedgwick from TNT's "The Closer."
In other words, Carroll is great at closing the deal on top prospects who haven't made their decision, and this weekend, USC is hosting perhaps the No. 1 linebacker prospect in the nation in Manti Te'o from Honolulu Punahou.
It's a huge advantage that USC gets Te'o's last recruiting visit, and it would be stunning if Carroll doesn't do what he does best -- convince Te'o that USC is the place for him. Te'o is also considering UCLA and Notre Dame.
-- Eric Sondheimer
Photo: Manti Te'o of Honolulu, right, is one of the top prospects in the nation. Here he runs for a touchdown in a game last November. Credit: Jonathan Bello / Honolulu Advertiser
In a post yesterday, The Times' Eric Sondheimer wrote about the awards handed out by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters.
That included awards for Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton and Rory Markus.
What Sondheimer hadn't mentioned is that he too won an award from the group -- the Prep Sports Award. Ben Bolch, who attended the awards luncheon, blogs about it on Varsity Times Insider.
-- Debbie Goffa
 On Sunday, ESPN will televise the Under Armour High School All-America High School football game from the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando at 5 p.m. PT.
USC and UCLA fans will be able to see several players who have committed to their teams.
For the Trojans, playing on the White team: Santa Ana Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley; Calhoun (S.C.) County wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey; and Agoura High offensive lineman Kevin Graf.
For the Bruins, also playing on the White team: Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos quarterback Richard Brehaut; Carson High receiver Morrell Presley; and Kapolei, Hawaii, offensive lineman Stan Hasiak.
According to the ESPN recruiting information, several players from both the White team and the Black team are still considering USC and/or UCLA: Salt Lake City Cottonwood offensive lineman John Martinez has USC and UCLA as well as Louisiana State, Ohio State and Oklahoma on his list; Pleasant Grove (Utah) Timpview offensive lineman Xavier Su'a Filo lists USC and UCLA plus Notre Dame, Brigham Young and Louisiana State; Scottsdale (Arizona) Saguaro defensive lineman Corey Adams has USC, Arizona State, Nebraska and Ohio State; Honolulu Punahou linebacker Manti Te'o has UCLA, USC and Notre Dame, Stanford and Brigham Young; Sanford (Fla.) Seminole wide receiver Andre Debose names Florida, Louisiana State, Miami, Georgia and USC; Wheaton (Md.) Good Counsel linebacker Jelani Jenkins has USC plus Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami and Stanford; Miami Gulliver Prep linebacker Frankie Telfort is down to USC and Florida; Sanford (Fla.) Seminole defensive back Ray Ray Armstrong is considering USC, Florida State, Florida, Louisiana State and Miami.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: Mater Dei's Matt Barkley. Credit: Kirby Lee / US Presswire
Southern California is enjoying a nice dose of football weather this week, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The CIF state football championship bowl games are being played this weekend.
Two games are on tap tonight at the Home Depot Center, so stop by Varsity Times Insider for the latest game updates and commentary.
Three-time Southern Section champion San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret's (14-0) plays Hamilton City Hamilton (10-2) in the first-ever CIF State Small Schools Bowl at 4:30 p.m.
Corona Centennial (14-0) will play Concord De La Salle (12-1) for the CIF State Division I title in a rematch of last year's game at 8 p.m.
Also, each of tonight's games, as well as Saturday's games, will be broadcast live by Prime Ticket.
-- Austin Knoblauch
Photo: San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret's warms up prior to a Friday afternoon CIF game at Home Depot Center. Credit: Austin Knoblauch / Los Angeles Times
UCLA just confirmed what Chris Foster reported a little while ago: Carson High's Morrell Presley is already enrolled at Westwood and should be ready for spring practice.
Pressley, rated the No. 1 tight end in the nation by Scout.com and ESPN.com, graduated from high school early and was anxious to begin his college career. He had first committed to USC but switched this week.
"I am obviously thrilled with Morrell’s decision," UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel said in a statement. "He is a quality young man with tremendous upside as an athlete. Morrell personifies the new-age tight end. He is physical, so he can mix it up, yet agile enough to create mismatches with opponent defenses. He will love UCLA."
-- Debbie Goffa
 Morrell Presley, the Carson High tight end who surprisingly switched his commitment from USC to UCLA this week, wasted no time enrolling at Westwood and should be ready for spring practice, a source close to the program said Thursday.
Presley's unexpected decision reversed a trend in which the Bruins lost commitments in recent years and lent credence to Coach Rick Neuheisel's insistence that he and his staff would score a few upsets between the end of the season and national signing day.
The 6-4, 215-pound Presley also represents some good news in the wake of a 4-8 finish, the Bruins losing in the cross-town rivalry game for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
Presley graduated high school early, allowing for his timely start at UCLA. Rivals.com ranks him as the third-best tight end prospect in the nation. Watch the video of Presley on Varsity Times Insider.
-- Chris Foster
Photo: Morrell Presley, who first committed to USC. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times
 I realize the Lakers' 16-2 start and Sean Avery's recent antics can be distracting, but don't forget there are a bunch of high school football playoff games tonight. You'll definitely want to stop by the Varsity Times Insider tonight for updates and scores from games around the Southland.
Eric Sondheimer will be sending in updates from the City Section Championship Division semifinal showdown between L.A. Crenshaw and Harbor City Narbonne and I'll be live blogging from the other semifinal game between Woodland Hills Taft and San Pedro.
Mark Medina will be blogging from Manhattan Beach, as Mira Costa attempts to block Palmdale from its second consecutive Western Division title appearance. We'll also have updates from the Northern Division semifinal between Ventura St. Bonaventure and Saugus thanks to my colleague, Steve Galluzzo.
Also, be sure to check out Ben Bolch's preview on all of this weekend's big semifinal matchups.
-- Austin Knoblauch
Photo: St. Bonaventure running back Patrick Hall breaks off a run against L.A. Jordan on Sept. 18. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
It's the Southern Section playoffs and we are at six of tonight's games. Keep track with updates on Varsity Times Insider.
Eric Sondheimer will be at Mission Viejo, where the Diablos host Los Angeles Loyola. He will file updates to the Varsity Times blog throughout the game, which starts at 7:30.
Austin Knoblauch will be blogging live on Varsity Times from the Los Alamitos at Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro game, and his first reports will start around 7 p.m.
Ben Bolch will be at Cerritos College, where Anaheim Servite takes on Lakewood beginning at 7:30. He'll have quarter-by-quarter updates.
Kevin Baxter is covering Ventura at Valencia, and will be filing updates from the field.
Mark Medina, who previewed the Westlake Village Westlake at Oxnard game, will be doing quarter-by-quarter updates tonight on Varsity Times.
And last but not least Sean Ceglinsky is at the Thousand Oaks-Santa Barbara game.
-- Debbie Goffa
 
The city of Calabasas must be the place to reside for former NBA players because the local high school basketball team boasts several sons of basketball-playing fathers.
Mark Jackson Jr., a 6-foot-3 junior, is the son of the ex-NBA player and network announcer. Mitch Richmond's son, Phillip, is a sophomore on the Calabasas JV team. Evan Smith, a 6-7 senior who will sign with USC on Wednesday, is the son of former UCLA basketball player Gavin Smith.
The fathers and their friends -- Reggie Miller and Gary Grant -- are expected to take on the Calabasas High varsity in an exhibition game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
I'm predicting the sons are going to leave their fathers and friends huffing and puffing and begging to leave the court.
-- Eric Sondheimer
Photo at left: Mitch Richmond, seen here in 2002 when he played for the Lakers. Credit: Andy Bernstein / Getty Images
Photo at right: Mark Jackson, seen here with the ball in 1999 going up against the New York Knicks' Chris Childs. Credit: Brent Smith / Reuters
So the Dodgers, usually tight-lipped when it comes to negotiations with players, decide to announce Wednesday that they hsf offered Manny Ramirez a contract that will make him the second-highest-paid player in baseball history.
This sounds like an attempt to win the fans over to their side by showing they made every effort to sign him, but in the end he rejected them. Of course, their every effort to sign him includes offering a short deal that they know he will reject. It would be better just to come out and say that Ramirez will cost too much, and a lengthy contract for him just isn't worth the risk.
Now that the big election this week is over (Who won, anyway? I haven't heard anything about it.) don't forget to vote in the "Greatest L.A. Lakers of all time" balloting. Just send your picks, in order, of the top 10 L.A. Lakers of all time to houston.mitchell@latimes.com. First place will receive 12 points, second place nine, on down to one point for 10th place. About 200 ballots have already been received, well below the 812 received in the "greatest L.A. Dodgers of all time" balloting.
Whomever you choose must have played most of their career in L.A., not Minneapolis.
And finally, the greatest high school football game ending of all time, made especially great by the announcers. You'll want to stay with this one until the end:
-- Houston Mitchell
For two hours on Monday night, John Elway (pictured above at his Hall of Fame selection announcement on Jan. 31, 2004) was interviewed in the gym at his alma mater, Granada Hills High, as part of a taping for a new ESPN series, "Homecoming," with Rick Reilly doing the interviewing.
Before former football teammates, former coaches, family and friends, Elway explored his past and produced laughter and admiration for his days as a quarterback at Granada Hills, Stanford and with the Denver Broncos.
Elway revealed the shocking information that during his senior year at Granada Hills in 1979, a college coach offered him a car as a recruiting incentive.
"The same guy offered to have an affair with my mom -- my dad," he said, referring to Jack Elway, then the coach at San Jose State.
Elway talked about The Play -- the kickoff return in the 1982 Stanford-Cal game in which California won by using a series of laterals. Former Stanford coach Paul Wiggin was in the audience Monday and said, "What can you do? It's history. It happened."
Elway talked about The Drive -- the game-winning drive in the 1987 AFC championship game against the Cleveland Browns that started at the Denver two-yard line, and how "I hear from every Cleveland fan I ever run into."
He talked about why he retired from football in 1999, mentioning that he feared playing in the Super Bowl in the rain and that shortly after beating the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII, it poured. "It was a sign from God -- you're done," he said.
The cameras caught him successfully making a drop kick on the Granada Hills field and hitting the crossbar with a 30-yard pass at the age of 48.
Asked what would be his secret dream job, Elway replied, "Own an NFL franchise in Los Angeles."
-- Eric Sondheimer
Photo credit: Marc Serota / Reuters
 Mission Viejo High School football Coach Bob Johnson is feeling very proud these days as he sits back on Saturdays and watches his numerous ex-players on TV during the college football season.
On Saturday afternoon, former Mission Viejo quarterback Mark Sanchez was starting for USC against Arizona State. On Saturday night, former Mission Viejo offensive lineman Jeff Baca of UCLA was trying to block former Mission Viejo defensive end Nick Reed of Oregon as former Mission Viejo running back Chane Moline carried the ball for the Bruins.
"It's a lot of fun," Johnson said.
-- Eric Sondheimer
Photo: Nick Reed of Oregon watches over his ex-Mission Viejo teammate, quarterback Mark Sanchez of USC. Credit: Mark Avery / Associated Press.
 Go to Hawaii.
That's what USC football Coach Pete Carroll did last week after his used-to-be-top-ranked Trojans were upset by 25 1/2-point underdog Oregon State on Sept. 25.
But he wasn't vacationing.
Carroll and USC linebackers coach Ken Norton were on the recruiting trail to take a look at Punahou High linebacker Manti Te'o, whose team was playing at Aloha Stadium last Friday night.
Carroll surely liked what he saw. Te'o made 10 tackles as Punahou limited Kamehameha High runners to only 49 yards in 29 carries in a 28-6 victory.
Wonder how many times Carroll and Norton thought, "We could have used this guy against Jacquizz Rodgers!"
-- Mike Hiserman
Photo: USC coach Pete Carroll speaks at news conference on Sept. 23 Credit: Kirby Lee / Image of Sport-US Presswire
Teaching ethical behavior to high school athletes should be a high priority for any coach or school official, and it's obviously important to the administrators who control the purse strings of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In his most-recent column, Eric Sondheimer reports that LAUSD spent $194,030 this past year in a contract with the Josephson Institute in a campaign to teach sportsmanship and other positive character traits to athletes, coaches and administrators.
You might have heard somewhere the Josephson Institute's motto: "Character Counts."
Yeah, and costs, too.
-- Mike Hiserman
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