Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey is all smiles during the Heisman Trophy festivities on Dec. 11. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
NEW YORK — Generational comparisons are tricky, especially when it comes to sports. When trying to figure out exactly what encompasses the meaning of “best ever,” there tends to be a lot of “ifs” and “buts.”
That’s why a lot of people may not agree with me on this: Christian McCaffrey, now a sophomore star at Stanford, is the best high school football product that Colorado has ever seen.
Whoa, whoa whoa, some of you might say. It’s too early in his career to make such a bold statement. That may be the case, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not true.
Even without the Heisman Trophy.
McCaffrey finished second in Heisman voting, earning 1,539 votes to the 1,832 points received by Alabama’s Derrick Henry, who came away with the award.
Alabama’s Derrick Henry topped Christian McCaffrey for the Heisman Trophy. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Henry ran for 1,986 yards on 339 carries while McCaffrey ran for 1,847 on 319. They’re yards per carry were nearly identical. But McCaffrey amassed 3,496 all-purpose yards. Henry finished the year with 2,083.
But it was Henry walking away with the hardware.
But no matter. McCaffrey doesn’t need a Heisman to show just how special he is. This week, McCaffrey became just the fifth Colorado high school product to be named a Heisman finalist. And he should’ve won it. But as we found out this week, the East Coast and SEC bias is real.
That can’t take away what McCaffrey means to his team at Stanford, and to the history of Colorado high school football.
A little over 18 months after graduating from Valor Christian High School, McCaffrey owns the record for all-purpose yards in a single season. He took the 27-year-old record from Barry Sanders.
By the way, Sanders was awarded the Heisman Trophy for his efforts.
But, in his short time at the college level, McCaffrey has already reached heights that no other Colorado product has ascended to. He has a record that is arguably the toughest single-season mark to break.
He should be the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy next season.
At this point, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has to salivating at the many ways he could utilize McCaffrey.
“People at the next level look for talented football players,” McCaffrey said before Saturday’s ceremony.
That was certainly the case in high school, as well. McCaffrey initially balked at playing for the Cardinal because that’s where his parents went. He wanted to be his own. What helped McCaffrey get to Stanford was hearing what coach David Shaw had in store for him.
“The coaches talk and they talk to you about how they’re going use you coming out of high school,” McCaffrey said. “All you can do is listen.”
Well, listen then execute exactly what they had in mind.
McCaffrey has proven to be more than just a one-trick pony. He racked up 1,847 yards as runner, 540 yards as a receiver and 1,042 yards as a returner.
Even if you took away his returning yards, McCaffrey still totaled 304 more yards from scrimmage than Henry. He can do it all. But he does it for his team and never for himself. It was never his goal to win the Heisman, he wanted to win football games.
“That’s not something you think about when he’s talking to you,” McCaffrey said. “You really have to focus on each day. When you start thinking about getting here (to New York), you start to not focus on the team and the team aspects of the game.”
And that’s where his attention will turn. Stanford plays Iowa in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The Heisman process is over and the season will go on. Which can only mean we get one more chance to see how truly special McCaffrey is on the football field.
Christian McCaffrey figures to be the favorite to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Valor alum Christian McCaffrey (center) fell short in his Heisman Trophy bid. Alabama’s Derrick Henry (left) won the award. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
NEW YORK — Former Valor Christian running back Christian McCaffrey fell just short in his quest for the 2015 Heisman Trophy.
Alabama’s Derrick Henry was voted as the top football player in the country. McCaffrey, a sophomore at Stanford, finished second, and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson finished third.
Henry totaled 1,832 points, ahead of McCaffrey’s 1,539. Watson finished with 1,165 points. Henry also had the most first-place votes with 378, McCaffrey had 290 and Watson had 148.
McCaffrey did win the far-west vote by a large margin — he had 333 points to Henry’s 282 — but that’s not surprising considering that is the highest concentration of voters who took the time to watch him play.
The fact that McCaffrey plays on the West Coast may have hurt his chances. He was the MVP of the Pac-12 Championship Game, when he amassed 461 all-purpose yards, but prior to that game, 16 percent of the Heisman voters had already turned in their ballot.
No Colorado native, or Colorado high school football player, has ever won the Heisman Trophy. There have now been three runner-ups, including Byron “Whizzer” White of CU in 1937 and Mitchell’s Terry Miller, of Oklahoma State, in 1977. And McCaffrey.
At Stanford this year, McCaffrey set the single-season record for all-purpose yards with 3,496. That includes 1,847 rushing yards on 319 carries, giving him an average of 5.8 yards per rush.
His Heisman candidacy rose exponentially during the 2015 season, and climbed to a fever pitch after the Pac-12 Championship Game win against USC.
All the while, the support from his home state of Colorado continued to build. Valor Christian held an on-campus watch party for the announcement on Saturday that hundreds of people attended.
Christian McCaffrey. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“I feel so much support from back home,” McCaffrey said on Friday, “and that’s one of the coolest things in the world for me.”
Then, on Monday, he was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
It was the culmination of an incredible season in which McCaffrey helped lead Stanford to an 11-2 season in 2015 with his all-around talents. That season will finish with an appearance in the Rose Bowl against Iowa on Jan. 1, 2016.
As a result, the awards rolled in.
Last week, McCaffrey was named a first-team Academic All-American. On Wednesday, he won the Paul Hornung Award, given to college football’s most versatile player.
“I call Christian, ‘Mr. Do-It-All,’” Alabama’s Henry said on Saturday.
None of this is too surprising to those who watched him play at Valor Christian from 2009-13. The only major difference now is that his level of play has captivated an entire country instead of just an entire state.
At Valor, McCaffrey set the Colorado high school record for career all-purpose yards when he amassed 8,839. He helped lead the Eagles to four consecutive state championships. He finished his career second in career points (848), touchdowns (141), and receiving touchdowns (46).
He was a two-time Gatorade player of the year. He was the CHSAANow Class 5A player of the year as a senior. In his four seasons, Valor Christian won four state championships.
And that’s only his football accomplishments. McCaffrey also starred in basketball, and qualified for the state track meet.
McCaffrey moved on to Stanford in the fall of 2014, but his high school career, though still fresh, has started to ascend to an “all-time great” status.
During the fall of 2015, McCaffrey transformed into Colorado’s Christian McCaffrey. He was the state’s representative — yes, for high school football primarily, but also for athletics as a whole.
McCaffrey’s two younger brothers, Dylan and Luke, play for Valor Christian’s football team, which won the 5A championship last weekend. Dylan is the starting quarterback, and is emerging as a major Division I prospect as a junior.
Christian McCaffrey, pictured during his high school days at Valor Christian. (Mark Adams)
McCaffrey’s oldest brother, Max, is in his senior season as a wide receiver at Duke. He helped Valor win championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
McCaffrey would have become the youngest player to win the award. As it is, he will return to Stanford for his junior year in which he figures to be an early favorite in the 2016 Heisman race.
“I can work on everything,” McCaffrey said, adding that his Stanford coach David Shaw “always talks about being the most complete back you can be, and that comes with strength, speed, physicality and film study. Just getting better in every aspect. You’re never perfect, so there’s a lot of room for improvement that I’m excited to take on.”
The Valor alum said he enjoyed his time in New York as a finalist.
“I’m just trying to relish it all and take it all in because this is not guaranteed and going through this is pretty special,” McCaffrey said on Saturday.
He added that the Heisman Trophy didn’t even come onto his radar until he was announced as a finalist on Monday.
“Once you start worrying about all that — specific goals, and stats — that’s when things start to crumble,” McCaffrey said. “Football’s a team game, it takes everybody buying in to have success, and individual success comes from team success.”
[divider]
Colorado products as Heisman finalists
A history of Colorado high school football alumni in Heisman Trophy voting.
1937. Byron “Whizzer” White, of CU, finishes second. He played at the now-closed Wellington HS.
1961. Lakewood’s Joe Romig, at CU, finishes sixth.
1976. Mitchell’s Terry Miller, of Oklahoma State finishes fourth.
1977. Miller, Colorado’s only two-time finalist, finishes second.
2012. Loveland’s Collin Klein, at Kansas State, finishes third.
2015. Valor Christian’s Christian McCaffrey, of Stanford, finishes second.
NEW YORK — Christian McCaffrey, the 2014 Valor Christian graduate who is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy this season, says he appreciates the support from fans in Colorado.
NEW YORK — If you closed your eyes, you could hear when he touched the ball. The crowd would hush, then quietly rise together in anticipation of what was about to happen.
But if you kept them open, as most of the thousands who watched him over the course of four years did, you would sit in wonder.
Christian McCaffrey always stood out on the field during his high school football days in Colorado while starring at Valor Christian. By the time he was a sophomore, he was a household name. Thirty-two total touchdowns will do that. As a junior, McCaffrey scored another 41, and did it while sitting out the fourth quarter of most games.
As a senior, well, there wasn’t a high school football fan in the state who didn’t want to catch a glimpse of him. He was, and remains, one of the best players the state has ever produced.
Now, here, in the center of the college football universe — for at least the next two days — McCaffrey is once again standing out. Only this time, the audience is slightly larger.
McCaffrey, a sophomore at Stanford who took the country by storm during the 2015 college football season, is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy along with Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. According to CHSAANow research, McCaffrey will become just the fifth product of a Colorado high school to finish in the top six in Heisman voting since the award was started in 1935.
What’s more: McCaffrey has a very good shot at becoming the state’s first winner when it is announced on Saturday. Two Colorado products have finished second, but none have ever won the trophy, which honors college football’s best player.
“It’s hit me a little bit. It’s so surreal,” McCaffrey said on Friday, when he met with the media in Times Square. “There’s so much, and this week is so hectic, but I’m just trying to enjoy it and relish the moment. If that were to happen, that’d be an extremely emotional moment for me, that’s for sure.”
Christian McCaffrey. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
This season, McCaffrey set the NCAA record for all-purpose yardage with 3,496. That’s not exactly a new thing. He also owns the Colorado high school record for all purpose yardage in a career with 8,839.
Said Alabama’s Henry: “He’s just so versatile.”
In fact, on Wednesday, McCaffrey won the Paul Hornung Award, given annually to the college football’s most versatile player.
Asked if he thought the fact that he also plays special teams might give him the edge in this year’s Heisman vote, McCaffrey said he hoped it would.
“I definitely think versatility is something that makes playing the game harder,” McCaffrey said.
Around Colorado in recent weeks and months, support of his Heisman campaign has massed behind McCaffrey. Players who played against him are lining up behind him. Shoot, coaches who didn’t even coach against him are riveted.
McCaffrey has felt it.
“That’s home for me, and I feel so much support from back home, and that’s one of the coolest things in the world for me,” McCaffrey said. “To see everyone back home supporting me and sending nice texts and shooting me up is such a blessing. I can’t thank the state of Colorado enough for being so great.”
Notes
Asked about being the son of an NFL player in former Broncos, Giants and 49ers wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, Christian said: “He’s been so awesome and supportive and just teaching me how everything works and how to approach the game and how to approach life in general. I think it’s definitely been an advantage for me.”
The 2015 Heisman Trophy winner will be announced Saturday at 6 p.m. MST on ESPN.
Valor Christian alum Christian McCaffrey, now a sophomore at Stanford, pictured with fellow Heisman finalists Derrick Henry of Alabama (left) and Deshaun Watson of Clemson. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
NEW YORK — After landing at LaGuardia Airport, the Heisman Trophy finalists sat in 90 minutes of traffic. But that wasn’t going to take the smile off Christian McCaffery’s face.
But that’s not what has a smile constantly plastered across McCaffery’s face. He’s smiling because he’s enjoying every second of this experience. And why wouldn’t he? He’s had fun making opposing defenses look silly all season long, and now he gets an all-expense trip to one of the greatest cities on the planet in recognition of that.
Stanford and former Valor Christian running back Christian McCaffrey talks with the media in New York Friday. More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“It’s unbelievable,” McCaffrey said of New York City. “I’ve never seen so many high buildings in my life. I think the airport was nine miles away, but we sat in an hour-and-a-half of traffic, but you don’t even realize it’s an hour-and-a-half because you’re just people watching and looking at all the cool things.”
For a day, Ed McCaffery’s second-oldest son can take all the time they want to observe everything that the Big Apple has to offer. Because when Saturday night rolls around, all eyes will be on him, as well as Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson.
But when taking a look at the numbers, McCaffrey has to be the favorite.
Right?
After all, when the regular season was all said and done, he had amassed 35 football fields worth of yardage, a number matched by no one.
“The game happens so fast and you don’t realize what’s going on until after,” he said. “You play Saturday, get your body right on Sunday and then you’re back at it Monday, so you don’t have a lot of time to recap until it kind of starts winding down. So it’s hit me a little bit, but all the yards I got, that’s not all me. It definitely takes 10 other guys on the field, doing their job to make my job easy.”
But it’s not the 10 other guys that get to pose with the Heisman Trophy while overlooking Times Square. And as he wanders back in from the patio at the New York Marriott Marquis, his parents are waiting for him.
McCaffrey smoothly gives his dad a fist bump rather than a hug. The gesture is simple, but meaningful. This is McCaffrey’s moment to seize.
As deserving as all three players might be of the award, McCaffrey is a competitor. That’s easy to see from the way he plays on the field. So naturally it will transition into this week and this moment that could be the defining point of his young college football career.
“It’s so surreal and there’s so much and this week is so hectic,” McCaffrey said. “I’m just trying to enjoy it and relish the moment. If (I were to win) it’ll be an emotional moment for me, that’s for sure.”
McCaffrey, now a sophomore star at Stanford, will head to New York City for the award ceremony on Saturday. He joins Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson as finalists.
The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the top player in college football. And McCaffrey certainly fits that description. He leads all Division I players with 3,496 all-purpose yards, breaking the record of 3,250 set by Barry Sanders in 1988.
The sophomore has done it all for Stanford this season, with 1,847 yards rushing, 540 receiving, and 1,109 in the return game. He has accounted for 15 total touchdowns this season, including two passing scores.
In a lot of ways, it mirrors what he did during his high school career at Valor Christian, where he was a four-year starter.
To this day, McCaffrey still holds state record for all-purpose yards in a career with 8,839. He’s also second in career points (848), touchdowns (141), and receiving touchdowns (46).
At Valor, where he was running back, slot receiver, defensive back and punter, he helped the Eagles to four state championships in his career, and was the CHSAANow Class 5A player of the year as a senior. He was also named the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2012 and 2013.
But McCaffrey didn’t limit himself to football. He averaged 11.1 points and 2.5 assists per game as a four-year varsity player for the school’s basketball team. He also participated on the track team, and routinely qualified for the state meet.
This season’s award will be the 81st in Heisman history. The Heisman Trophy ceremony will be broadcast on ESPN at 6 p.m. Saturday.
No product of a Colorado high school has ever won the Heisman Trophy, though Loveland graduate Collin Klein was a finalist for the award in 2012 while at Kansas State. He finished third.
The closest a Colorado product has ever come to winning the trophy is a runner-up finish — twice.
Byron “Whizzer” White finished second in voting in 1937, the third year of the award. White played at the now-closed Wellington High School, and later became a Supreme Court Justice. He was inducted in the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1998.
Then, in 1977, Mitchell graduate Terry Miller was second to Earl Campbell while at Oklahoma State. Miller was also fourth in 1976.
Colorado lineman Joe Romig was sixth in the voting in 1961. He graduated from Lakewood. He was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1993.
Stanford is set to play in the Rose Bowl against Iowa on Jan. 1, 2016 after winning the Pac-12 Championship Game against USC last weekend. McCaffrey was named the MVP of that game after amassing 461 all-purpose yards.
On Saturday, Valor Christian won the sixth football championship in school history, beating Pomona to win Class 5A. The team was led by quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, Christian’s younger brother. And Luke McCaffrey, another brother, was a freshman on the varsity team.
The trio’s oldest brother, Max, helped Valor Christian win state titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011. A wide receiver, he will finish his senior season at Duke after the New Era Pinstripe bowl on Dec. 26.
The boys are the sons of Lisa and Ed McCaffrey, who met while in college at Stanford. Lisa played soccer, and Ed played football. Ed went on to play for the Broncos, the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants over 13 seasons.
Missy Franklin, the dynamic swimming standout who graduated from Regis Jesuit in 2013, was named the Best Female College Athlete at the 2015 ESPY Awards on Wednesday night.
She was unable to attend the award ceremony, but posted a video thanking for her award on Twitter:
Wish more than anything I could have been at the ESPY's tonight. This is what was happening instead!😫🚘 Broken car! pic.twitter.com/yonQRlHVxq
— Missy Franklin Johnson (@missyfranklin) July 16, 2015
Franklin just finished her sophomore season at Cal, where she won three individual NCAA titles — the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestle and 200-yard backstroke — and helped the Bears to the NCAA title. After the season, Franklin was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year, NCAA Swimmer of the Year, and also won the Honda Cup as the top female collegiate athlete.
Franklin has since turned pro.
This is Franklin’s second ESPY. After her performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London — where she won four gold medals and a bronze as a junior in high school — she won the 2013 ESPY for Best Female Olympic Athlete.
At Regis, she led the Raiders to state titles as a sophomore and a senior, and runner-up finishes as a freshman and junior. She broke numerous state records, and still holds individual state records for the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 200 IM and 100 backstroke, as well as a team records in the 400 freestyle relay.
Mark Melancon, a 2003 graduate of Golden, made his second appearance in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Cincinnati.
Melancon, a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, came on in the top of the eighth inning with the National League trailing 6-2.
He struck out the Yankees Brett Gardner, and the Blue Jays’ Russell Martin, before giving up a home run to Brian Dozier of the Twins. Melancon then got the Tigers’ Jose Iglesias to ground out to end the inning.
“It’s so neat. It gives me goosebumps just watching everybody and being a part of it. And, man, it’s — what talent. It’s just cool,” Melancon told MLB.com after the game. “(There were) just some special moments this time. It got to sink in. I really got to enjoy two days here. It still went extremely fast and busy, but good times all the way around.”
Melancon was also an All-Star in 2013, again with the Pirates, but did not appear in the game, which was hosted by the Mets in New York.
Only 12 products of Colorado high schools have ever been selected to play in the All-Star Game, according to Baseball-Reference.com. This season, Melancon became the seventh Colorado product to be selected to multiple All-Star Games.
Great American Ball Park, site of the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. (Photo: shan213/Flickr)
So far in 2015, he is 1-1 with a 1.47 ERA and also has 29 saves. Last season, Melancon had a career-high 33 saves, to go along with a 1.90 ERA.
At Golden, Melancon was a two-sport star in baseball and football. He helped the Demons win the 2003 baseball title in Class 4A. Out of high school, he was picked in the 30th round of the MLB Draft by the Dodgers.
But Melancon opted instead to play college baseball, and he went on to star at Arizona, where he set the school’s single-season record for saves.
He spent three seasons with the Wildcats, and the Yankees then drafted him in the ninth round of the 2006 MLB Draft. He debuted in New York during the 2009 season.
Melancon was traded to Houston during the 2010 season, and was an Astro through 2011, when he had 20 saves. He was traded to the Red Sox after 2011, and only saw five chances to save games in 2012.
The Red Sox traded Melancon to the Pirates prior to the 2013 season, where he has since flourished. Through two-and-a-half seasons in Pittsburgh, Melancon has 78 saves, and a 1.61 ERA in 185 innings pitched. He’s also struck out 172 batters to just 27 walks.
In seven MLB seasons, the 30-year-old Melancon has 99 saves with a 2.74 ERA. He has 311 career strikeouts to 83 walks, and is 17-15.
Devon Wills of Colorado Academy (2002) and Lucy Dikeou of Kent Denver (2012) both made the 36-player roster, which was formed out of a three-day, 108-player tryout at Johns Hopkins. They are the lone representatives to hail west of the Mississippi River.
The national team will prepare for the 2017 Lacrosse Women’s World Cup in England next July. Prior to that, the squad will be trimmed to 18 players.
Wills, a goalie, has played in two World Cups (2009 and 2013), and won two gold medals. She is considered one of the best goalies in the world, and is now an assistant coach at USC.
Wills, who went on to play and graduate from Dartmouth in 2006, was inducted into the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2014.
At Colorado Academy, Wills helped the Mustangs win a state title in 2000. It was the Mustangs’ lone championship in the sport until this season, when they beat Cherry Creek.
Dikeou, meanwhile, was one of just nine current collegiate players to make the cut to the national team.
She’ll be a senior at Stanford in the fall. Last season, Dikeou led Stanford in goals (48), points (63), groundballs (34), draw controls (54), turnovers forced (24) and free-position goals (13). The Cardinal reached the NCAA tournament, but lost in the first round.
At Kent Denver, Dikeou was a standout in both field hockey and lacrosse. She helped the Sun Devils to two field hockey championships (2009 and 2011).
Fifteen more local products were picked on Wednesday as the MLB Draft concluded on its final day.
Though quiet for the first few rounds on Wednesday, things soon picked up. In consecutive picks in the 23rd round, locals were selected.
Monarch’s Logan Soole went to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first pick in the 23rd round (No. 676 overall). One selection later, Palmer Ridge alum Steven Leonard was taken by the Colorado Rockies at No. 677 overall.
Mullen alum Sam Haggerty went in the 24th round to Cleveland. Then, Douglas County graduate Tyler Servais was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 27th round.
Two more went in the 29th round: Mullen alum Seth Davis to the New York Mets at No. 869 overall, and then Ralston Valley graduate Ben Yokley at No. 881 to St. Louis.
A round later, the 30th, Valor Christian alum Greg Popylisen was taken by Minnesota. In the 33rd round, Legacy’s Wyatt Cross was selected by the Rockies. In that same round, Eaglecrest alum Braxton Lorenzini was picked by San Diego.
The Rockies also picked Fairview’s Ryan Madden in the 35th round. Later in that round, Chaparral alum Jordan Serena was selected by the Angels.
In the 37th round, Mountain Vista’s Marc Mumper was selected by the Rockies. Later in the 37th, Regis Jesuit’s Matt Schmidt was picked by the New York Yankees. Two rounds after that, Schmidt’s teammate, Brent Schwarz, was selected by the Rockies.
It brought the three-day draft total to 20 local selections, including five on Tuesday. Of those, six were picked by the Rockies.
Soole, the 2015 graduate who is committed to Southern Illinois, was picked as a center fielder. He hit .518 with 22 RBIs and two home runs last season. He helped lead Monarch to the Final 8.
But Soole didn’t only star at the plate. He was also 6-1 with a 0.77 ERA in 45 2/3 innings, striking out 73 against just 12 walks.
Soole is just the second Monarch player to be selected straight out of high school. John Ray was picked in the 41st round by the Braves in 2003.
Steven Leonard, Palmer Ridge (2011)
A pick after Soole, Leonard went to the Rockies. It was their second local selection of the draft — they also took Rocky Mountain center fielder Cole Anderson in the tenth round.
Leonard, a 2011 Palmer Ridge grad, is now a redshirt sophomore at Campbell University in North Carolina. He spent 2012 and 2013 at Iowa Western Community College, where he helped the Reivers win a national championship.
A catcher, Leonard hit .328 with two home runs and 22 RBIs at Campbell last season.
Sam Haggerty, Mullen (2012)
Haggerty, a second baseman now at New Mexico, went to Cleveland in the 24th round with the No. 724 overall selection.
Haggerty graduated from Mullen in 2012, where he also played basketball.
He just completed his junior season at New Mexico. He hit .311 with a home run and 13 RBI in 29 games, and also stole six bases.
Tyler Servais, Douglas County (2011)
Servais, the Douglas County product who graduated in 2011, was picked by the Tigers in the 27th round. He was also selected out of high school, going in the 36th round to the Rockies.
A senior catcher at Princeton, he hit .200 with a home run and three RBIs this season. Behind the plate, Servais caught 10 of 45 runners attempting to steal.
Seth Davis, Mullen (2011)
Davis, the Mets’ 29th-round pick, graduated from Mullen in 2011. A left-handed pitcher, he is now a senior at Augustana (Ill.).
Last season, he was 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 65 2/3 innings. Davis struck out 92 against 12 walks.
Ben Yokley, Ralston Valley (2011)
Yokley also went in the 29th round, to the St. Louis Cardinals. He is a 2011 graduate of Ralston Valley.
The right-handed pitcher just finished his senior season at Air Force, where he was 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in 34 innings spread out over 27 appearances. Yokley had 45 strikeouts to 25 walks.
Greg Popylisen, Valor Christian (2013)
Popylisen was a 30th-round pick of the Twins. He graduated from Valor Christian in 2013, and has been at El Paso Community College. The sophomore is committed to New Mexico State.
He is the first graduate of Valor Christian to be selected in the MLB Draft.
At Valor, Popylisen starred in both baseball and track. In fact, there was a day during the 4A baseball tournament where he had to hustle from the state track meet, which was going on at the same time a few blocks away, to one of Valor’s games.
Popylisen hit .364 with and 16 RBIs at El Paso last season, and also had 23 steals along with 38 runs scored.
Wyatt Cross, Legacy (2015)
Cross, the Legacy catcher who graduate this spring, became the third local product to be selected by the Rockies in the 33rd round. He is a North Carolina commit.
Though he played behind the plate, Cross didn’t hit at all last season due to a back injury. As a junior, he hit .302 with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Cross is the third Legacy product to be drafted straight out of high school, following Lucas Gilbreath last season (36th round to the Rockies), and Kevin Walter in 2010 (26th round to the Phillies).
Braxton Lorenzini, Eaglecrest (2013)
Lorenzini, the 2013 Eaglecrest graduate, went to the San Diego Padres in the 33rd round. He is a right-handed pitcher at West Hills (Calif.) who spent a medical redshirt year at Central Christian in Kansas in 2014.
Lorenzini was 1-7 with a save and a 4.30 ERA at West Hills last season.
Ryan Madden, Fairview (2015)
Ryan Madden, left. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Madden, a 2015 graduate, added to the long line of draftees for Fairview when the Rockies took him in the 35th round. He became the fifth Knight to be selected straight out of high school.
An Oklahoma commit, Madden starred this season. He was 7-2 with a 1.41 ERA and struck out 65 batters to 10 walks this season.
But Madden also tied for the Class 5A lead with seven home runs at the plate, and hit .446 with 29 RBIs.
Madden had his season end in the district rounds when he took a scary comebacker to his face. He has recovered well, and is pitching again in a summer league.
Jordan Serena, Chaparral (2011)
Serena, the 2011 Chaparral grad, also went in the 35th round. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected him.
Last season, Serena, a senior center fielder, hit .319 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases.
Marc Mumper, Mountain Vista (2015)
Mumper, a shortstop who is committed to Grand Canyon (Ariz.), led the Golden Eagles to the 5A Final 4 this season.
The 2015 graduate hit .356 with two home runs and 22 RBIs this season, and was a key figure for Mountain Vista.
Matt Schmidt, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schmidt graduated from Regis Jesuit this spring. A Texas commit, he was picked by the Yankees in the 37th round.
The third baseman hit .257 with four home runs and 17 RBIs this season.
He was the 13th Raider to be selected straight out of high school.
Brent Schwarz, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schwarz, a right-handed pitcher, is also a 2015 graduate of Regis Jesuit.
He is committed to Rice. Schwarz was 3-4 with a 1.48 ERA in 52 innings this season. He struck out 65 against 26 walks.
On the heels of Schmidt’s selection, Schwarz became Regis Jesuit’s 14th selection straight from high school. It was the third consecutive draft that Regis has had two players selected.
