Elite 11 Los Angeles Regional Standouts

My knee jerk reactions from attending the 2025 Elite 11 Los Angeles regional

I am freshly sunburnt and have returned back from my first in-person recruiting showcase: the Elite 11 Los Angeles regional at Mira Costa high school in Manhattan Beach, CA. It was a lot of fun to get to see all the recruits as live in the flesh humans not just names on my computer screen, and I got to make some connections with some folks. I was not able to collect much hard data from the event but I will do my best to get the official times and measurements in the coming days. In the meantime, I’ll share who I thought stood out from my vantage point.

For those of you that read my post on the prospects I was excited to see at the Regional, I am sorry to report that none of the recruits in that post actually attended the event. According to other writers at the event there is a major 7v7 camp going on this weekend, so none of the top recruits I listed in that post were able to attend. This allowed the event attendees to put their focus towards the west coast’s second tier of prospects as well as some talented underclassmen.

The consensus opinion amongst writers at the event was that none of the 2026 QBs who showed up particularly stood out. The two highest rated QBs - Oscar Rios and Clemson commit Tait Reynolds - had solid performances and were the best passers but did not separate themselves out strongly from the bunch. Many at the event thought 3 stars Brady Palmer and Ryan Hopkins, the latter of which ran a 4.61 40, did as well as Rios and Reynolds, but I did not get a chance to watch them as closely. I will say Reynolds looked the most physically ready to play college football, and Rios will need to put on weight before he sees the field at the next level. No 2026 QBs in attendance were invited to the Elite 11 finals.

An under the radar QB 2026 prospect who stood out was Oak Hills’ Jacob Webster. He is a top 100 baseball prospect who is currently committed to be a two-way play (short stop and pitcher) at UC Santa Barbara. According to his dad he pitches in the low 90s, which matches up with the top velocity of 89 on his Perfect Game page. During the event todays he looked like a fluid athlete with a live arm. One more experienced writer/scout described him as raw but agreed that he looked good and should expect more offers coming in soon. He would like to play both baseball and football in college, but currently only has a confirmed football offer from Jacksonville State.

One of the best part about going to events like this is that you’re able to get an early look at young prospects before they get a full media cycle as elite prospects. There were three Class of 2028 prospects that stood out to me: QB Trey Towns Jr., QB Ayden Edwards, and WR/DB Ace Leutele. Players that young will change so much before they go to college that it doesn’t make much sense to scout them too closely. So at that age you’re looking to see how much more they’d have to grow, how smooth of an athlete they are, and how strong their arm is for QBs.

Towns and Edwards pass all those tests with flying colors. They are both tall (by my eye at least 6’1), their movements are fluid and effortless, and they both have strong arms with quick releases. Towns in particular was commented upon by other participants’ parents and my fellow writers as looking legit. Leutele was extremely impressive and the most fluid non-QB underclassman at the regional. He started at safety as a freshman at Mater Dei and tied for the team lead in interceptions with 3. As a receiver, he displayed soft hands and an ease moving through his routes. He would then flip to defensive back for some 1-on-1 reps where he was as natural flipping his hips and staying on top of his receivers as anyone else at the camp.

Aside from Leutele who I had keyed as a player of interest before the event, I found it difficult to focus on any particular wide receiver or defensive back. Their on-field drills were limited to either routes on air or 1-on-1s as previously mentioned. I was focusing on the QBs during the routes on air and my attention was split during the 1-on-1s, so I didn’t take in as much as I would have liked. Even so, the two highest rated defensive backs at the regional - USC commit Brandon Lockhart and Madden Riordan - were the class of the event at those positions. I don’t recall either losing a 1-on-1 that I watched.

Not many trench and front 7 players were at the regional. By my count only 42 players who play RB, OL, DL, or LB were invited compared to 60 QBs alone. Of those few players only a couple caught my attention. San Diego State commit OT Malik White showed the requisite size to play at the next level. Shaun Scott worked out as a LB and also was necessarily big and fluid. If you want to have a dark horse prospect - EDGE Sarrel Howard of Inglewood high had some solid reps where he was able to showcase a strong burst off the line of scrimmage.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe so that you can receive emails updating you upon every post and share this with others who you think might enjoy. This is a free newsletter, but if you are feeling so generous you can buy me a coffee. If you want more data please check out my recruiting dashboards shiny app.