LA City Section's top football players to watch in 2023

Washington commit Peyton Waters (the City's reigning Player of the Year) is looking to lead Birmingham to a fourth straight City Section Open Division title. He's among the top players to watch this 2023 season.

Tarek Fattal | Aug 14, 2023

Times have changed.

The Los Angeles City Section used to be home to the best high school football in the country. Some might recall the 1970s San Fernando High teams with Anthony Davis and later Charles White. White went on to win the Heisman Trophy at USC.

For the next thirty years or so, public schools were atop the athletic food chain in prep sports, especially City schools.

Even up until the early 2000s, City football had its marquee programs. Woodland Hills Taft and Lake Balboa Birmingham were SoCal powers, taking down top CIF Southern Section teams. Harbor City Narbonne might've been the last to move the needle when it came to intersectional battles. The 2012 Gauchos were ranked the 7th-best City Section team of all time by Cal-Hi Sports in 2013.

Nowadays, the private schools seem to run the roost. But that doesn't mean the City Section doesn't possess talent.

Here are the top football players to watch in 2023.

(Player listed in alphabetical order by last name)

RB - Jaylin Burt, North Hollywood, Jr.: Burt rushed for 1,720 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Huskies as a sophomore, clipping an average of 156 yards per game on the ground.

QB - Devon Conroy, Taft, Sr.: The Toreadors will look to Conroy to command the huddle under new head coach Fred Emmerson

RB - Damian Cornejo, Garfield, Sr.: Cornejo was the cornerstone for Garfield's City Section Open Division final appearance, rushing for 1,791 yards and 27 touchdowns.

QB - Eduardo Cuevas, Franklin, Jr.: Cuevas led the Panthers to a 10-0 regular season as a sophomore with 2,190 passing yards and 22 touchdowns tosses.

RB/LB - Pete Eneliko, San Pedro, Jr.: Eneliko is the next-man-up for the Pirates, who earned the No. 1 seed in the City's Open Division playoffs last year.

LB/RB - Daniel Guzman, Cleveland, Sr.: The City's leading tackler (198) returns for a Cavs program that could make a run at the Division I City title.

RB/DB - Alonzo Fuentes-Gutierrez, Kennedy, Sr.: Kennedy coach Troy Cassidy expects Fuentes-Gutierrez to lead the defending City Section Division II champions in 2023.

WR/DB - Kory Hall, Cleveland, Sr.: Hall is a Colorado State commit who tallied 1,041 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns last fall. Big, physical wideout at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds.

LB/RB - Mark Iheanachor, Narbonne, Jr.: Listed at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, this backer is primed for a breakout, All-City selection-type season.

LB/RB - Jerry Misaalefua, Carson, Sr.: The two-way standout ran for just under 1,000 yards and tallied 112 tackles last season.

DL/OL - Chinedu Onyeagoro, King/Drew, Jr.: The biggest disruptor in the City Section, and one of the most recruited. Onyeagoro had 17 sacks as a sophomore and will enter his junior season 6-foot-3, 235-pound, 4-star recruit.

RB/LB - Isaiah Rameau, Chatsworth, Sr.: Rameau ran for 2,434 yards in 12 games last year. Defenses would load up the box and it still didn't matter.

TE/DE - Jake Shirley, El Camino Real, Sr.: Shirley is a big target at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds at tight end and will cause issues coming off the edge defensively.

RB/DB - Darrell Stanley, Granada Hills, Jr.: Stanley will be the featured back after running for 1,291 yards and 19 scores as a sophomore. Also had 35 tackles and four interceptions as defensive back.

OL/DL - Oliver Taylor, Granada Hills, Sr.: Taylor recorded nine sacks last season for the defending City Section Division I champions. Taylor is listed at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds.

WR/DB - Peyton Waters, Birmingham, Sr.: Waters does it all. The Washington commit totaled 1,077 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns while also tacking on 11 more TDs on the ground. The reigning City Section Open Division champion is hoping to lead Birmingham to a fourth straight City title.

Published Aug 14, 2023

TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.