USA TODAY High School Sports‘ Friday Night Notes is a weekly high school football recruiting recap that looks at the latest news from around the country—from the Class of 2023 to ’24 and beyond.
Friday evening Santa Ana, California, will be the site of the biggest high school football game of the season. For the first time in three years, the top-two schools in the country will meet on the field, as reigning national champion and No. 1 ranked school Mater Dei hosts No. 2 St. John Bosco.
Tickets for the game are a hot item on the resale market, and for a good reason. Together these teams have dozens of highly-ranked recruits for the class of 2023 and into the future – some of whom may end up playing on Sunday afternoons.
We begin this week’s edition of Friday Night Notes by examining a few of the top recruits who are playing tonight.
Matayo Uiagalelei (St. John Bosco Edge – 2023)
Uiagalelei (6-foot-5, 265 pounds) is the highest-rated recruit in this matchup. He’s ranked as the No. 2 edge-rusher in his class and No. 8 overall nationally by 247 Sports. He already has 2.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for a loss this year.
Brandon Baker (Mater Dei Offensive tackle – 2024)
One of the offensive linemen who will be tasked with containing the explosive Uiagalelei is Baker (6-foot-5, 285 pounds). He’s the second-ranked offensive tackle and No. 8 overall recruit in California. Baker has visits scheduled for Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Elijah Brown (Mater Dei Quarterback – 2024)
Baker will also be watching the back of his team’s highly-ranked quarterback prospect. Brown (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) is the fifth-best QB in his class and threw five touchdown passes when these teams met last season, a 42-21 win for the Monarchs.
R.J. Jones (St. John Bosco Safety – 2023)
One of the defensive backs Brown will have to keep an eye out for is Jones, a four-star, 6-foot-1, 195 pound safety. He was committed to Cal but backed out and is now drawing interest from several other Pac-12 schools, including Colorado, UCLA and Oregon State.