California powerhouse Mater Dei starting freshman Elijah Brown at QB

Mater Dei has long been one of the most dominant high school football programs in California and churns out elite talent on a yearly basis.

Could Elijah Brown be the next Mater Dei product to rise to stardom? There is a good chance that is the case, as Mater Dei is rolling with Brown as its starting quarterback in his freshman year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s very rare that a freshman strolls into Mater Dei and seizes the starting quarterback gig, but Brown has managed to pull it off. Senior Miller Moss was supposed to be Mater Dei’s starting quarterback this season, but with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing California’s high school football season to the spring, Moss opted to enroll early at USC. That left the door open for Brown to win the job in a competition with incoming junior transfer Emmett Brown, who has Power 5 offers to his name.

Brown joins Matt Barkley, Georgia quarterback and former five-star recruit J.T. Daniels and Todd Marinovich as the fourth freshman to start under center for Mater Dei. He is set to make his first career start against JSerra Catholic on Friday.

“There’s a lot of mystery in that we have heard about this kid for a while but have yet to really see him throw and be active in actual games,” 247Sports’ Greg Biggins said. “It’s going to be fascinating.”