Sacramento State ranks in FCS preseason top 10 teams

Bouncing around the regions in a forward lean: Sacramento State’s football team is already ranking high. The MLB Draft looks to have a big Sacramento influence. And some high-school hoopers are on the move.

Hornets are hot: Sacramento State aims for a Big Sky Conference football threepeat with a host of returners. The Hornets are preseason ranked No. 10 by HeroSports.com, among others, in part because the two-quarterback system that flourished last fall is back in Jake Dunniway and Asher O’Hara, as are running back Cameron Skattebo, receiver Pierre Williams and All-America tight end Marshel Martin. Defense? The Hornets landed a linebacker/rush end stopper in one-time four-star prospect Ayodele Adeoye through the transfer portal. He played four seasons for the Texas Longhorns.

UCD field upgrade: UC Davis will have a fast field as the Aggies aim for their third FCS playoff berth since 2018. The school is laying down a new field turf on Jim Sochor Field. Sochor carved out a Hall of Fame career coaching UCD from 1970-88, with visions of his scarf dancing in the wind as he patrolled the grass-field sideline. UCD is preseason ranked 25th by HeroSports and will have an interesting quarterback battle as last season’s starter, Hunter Rodrigues, has moved on to pursue a career in firefighting.

Tattersall from Cal to UCD: UCD will feature a strong defense that will include Cal transfer Evan Tattersall, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker from Granite Bay High School. Five of his seven career starts were in 2021. Cal hosts UCD in an opener. Tattersall won’t need much to be motivated.

Mico locked in at CRC: It won’t become official through the Los Rios Community College District until mid July, but Don Mico is locked in as the baseball coach at Cosumnes River College. This was a no-brainer move for one of the classy guys in the business. Mico was a longtime assistant at CRC under Hall of Fame coach Tony Bloomfield and replaced him starting with the 2018 season. It took this long for him to become the official lead guy. With Mico as a volunteer assistant doing a lot of everything, CRC in 2012 won the state championship without the benefit of playing a single home game, or practicing at home, due to facilities upgrades.

MLB local haul? The Major League Baseball Draft runs July 17-19 and could include three locals in the top rounds. Two seem likely to be first-round picks in Arizona catcher Daniel Susac of Jesuit and Oregon State ace Cooper Hjerpe, who went 11-1 this season. Hjerpe once tossed three successive no-hitter while starting at Woodland High. The wild card is Malcolm Moore. The star catcher for McClatchy High was this region’s most heavily scouted prospect but he also has eyes on attending Stanford. Either way, a good life.

The last time this region had two first-rounders in the same draft was 2016, when power pitcher Matt Manning of Sheldon went to Detroit and switch-hitting slugging outfielder Dylan Carlson of Elk Grove went to St. Louis.

On the move: We’re proponents of high school student-athletes staying put, but kids do come and go. Bee All-Metro guards Kevin Haupt and Kiku Parker will suit up for different schools this fall and winter. Haupt, a point guard who averaged 28.1 points for Oakmont last season, is headed to Jesuit, where he will work alongside the region’s top player this coming season in the 6-foot-7 Andrej Stojakvovic. Parker, the powerfully built and smooth floor leader for El Camino, is now at Grant, the two-time Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champions.

Both guards left in part due to coaching turnover at their previous schools.

Demps opportunity: Cody Demps, the versatile leader from his Pleasant Grove High and Sacramento State days, is on the 2022 USA Men’s Basketball World Cup qualifying roster. Some day, when he’s all grown up, he’d make a fine coach.

Optimist football return? The days of high school all-star football showcase games are dying a slow death. The Optimist All-Star Game in Sacramento was a fixture since the 1950s but there hasn’t been a game since 2019, mainly due to COVID-19 issues and precautions, and it won’t be played this summer. Event coordinator Jay Erhart said it will return Jan. 21.

The 45th Lions All-Star game was played Saturday night at Shasta College, an eight-man game followed by 11-man action, after it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. Long live the all-star games. It’s not about recruiting opportunities. It’s about finishing out a prep career for charity with rivals that suddenly become teammates.