The Bee’s football player of the year makes his college choice. Where is he headed?

The Sacramento Bee’s reigning football player of the year has made his college decision.

Oak Ridge dual-threat quarterback Justin Lamson announced his commitment to Syracuse University on Friday morning. As a junior, Lamson helped Oak Ridge win its first Sac-Joaquin Section championship since 2004 while passing for 3,114 yards and 25 touchdowns and running for 462 yards and five more scores.

Lamson visited Syracuse last month and fell in love with the campus and academic prestige of the school. Lamson carries a 3.5 GPA and plans to major in communications.

“The opportunity to play at a high level there and the academics stood out to me,” Lamson told The Sacramento Bee. “They are a prestigious university so that caught my eye. They also have the top communications school in the county. I visited the school right before they offered me and I was on a visit to Louisville when they gave me a call to officially offer me.

“Syracuse took its time and it means a lot that they want to pick (the right quarterback),” Lamson added. “They aren’t a school that’s going to have 20 offers out at one time and only one (quarterback) can commit there. They were very diligent to make sure they offered the right person.”

Going into the spring, Lamson had one FCS offer from the University of Idaho. But in the late part of April and May, a majority of the Big Sky schools came knocking. His unique ability as a runner and passer also caught the attention of Boise State, Louisville, San Jose State, Wyoming and nearly a handful of other FBS and FCS programs.

“The only thing that surprises me about it is it didn’t happen sooner,” Oak Ridge coach Eric Cavaliere said of Lamson’s recruitment process. “Justin can play at the highest level. He has all the intangibles — work ethic, attitude, leadership and his toughness. He might be the toughest player I have coached in my time. I can’t wait to see him play.

“His level of competitiveness is pretty much unmatched,” Cavaliere added. “He wants to win and compete in anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s the section championship game or if we’re playing pickleball in PE. Justin’s focus on his competitiveness is his team and how can his team get better.”

Lamson’s advice for other recruits? Work hard. The offers will come.

“The advice I give to others is just keep working hard and try not to worry about the recruiting process too much because everything will fall into place,” he said. “If you are a good talent and you are working hard (offers) will happen It’s a weight off my shoulders finally committing. I just want to focus on the upcoming football season and win another section championship.

“The whole recruiting process was crazy,” Lamson added. “There were definitely times I was pretty frustrated and thinking I don’t know what I’m going to do. But there’s also been good times where all the work has paid off. It’s been a roller coaster, that’s the best way to describe it.

It’s possible that if a high school football season happens in California, Lamson could play both ways. As a sophomore on varsity, he played safety and gained 25 pounds of muscle during the offseason. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, he is built like a quarterback who can play at the next level or a safety that can make anyone think twice running his way.

“My dad really wants me to play safety,” Lamson said. “If it fits right and my team needs me on defense I definitely will. For me playing defense, it’s like being the meanest player on the field. It’s like telling other players how I feel because you play with a lot of emotion. I want to be the most physical player on the field at all times.”

Connection with a former Trojan

Justin Lamson has been working out with a familiar former Oak Ridge quarterback the past few months.

Current Notre Dame and former Oak Ridge quarterback Ian Book and Lamson have been throwing and working out together. Book coached Lamson while he was in eighth grade and Book was a senior at Oak Ridge. Now the two are working together preparing for their respective seasons.

“It speaks to the culture we have developed here at Oak Ridge, they are all El Dorado Hills kids and they are invested in our community,” Cavaliere said. “Ian is willing to help and he wants to see the next (Oak Ridge) quarterback have success. It speaks to his character. They have been throwing together all summer on his throwing mechanics and he’s also helped him through the recruiting process and helped him see and hear some things that he wouldn’t know.”

Book also helped Lamson navigate through the recruiting process. He offered encouragement and advice for him to pull the trigger on a cross-county commitment.

“I was leaning toward Syracuse and Ian helped seal the deal for me,” Lamson said. “It was a concern of mine leaving home and going that far but Ian said (going to Notre Dame) really helped him mature as a person and grow into a man. It was something a 17-year-old needs to hear, it was pretty big advice to get.

“Ian and I have grown to have a great relationship,” Lamson added. “He’s helped me out physically and with the football IQ part of it. He’s been great to me.”

Another mentor Lamson had at Oak Ridge was his freshman football coach Jason Clark, who died in January 2019 from pneumonia complications. During Oak Ridge’s section championship run last season, Lamson had “Clark Strong” written across his backplate.

“Coach Clark was a great mentor to all of us,” Lamson said. “He means a lot to the guys on our team because he was our coach freshman year. He would be proud of me and I know he’s smiling down on me.”

Sierra Foothill League Greatness

Lamson isn’t the only quarterback in the SFL committed to a Division l school. Folsom’s Ari Patu committed to Stanford in mid-April. If there’s a high school season, those two could battle it for an SFL title.

Although Patu and Lamson are the two big quarterback commits in the league, Lamson believes the quarterback talent in the SFL deserves more attention.

“Sacramento might be one of the most slept on areas for recruiting,” Lamson said. “Logan (Stough) at Del Oro and Richie (Watts) at Rocklin should both have more opportunities than they already have. I think all the quarterbacks in the SFL are talented. Even though Ari and I have Power 5 offers there still could be more people out there that deserve more than they have.”

Cavaliere thinks a benefit of having a highly recruited player like Justin Lamson brings attention to other players on his team.

“Having two top-flight quarterbacks in this league is only going to elevate the status of his entire league even more,” He said. “It’s only going to bring more positive attention to this area. One of the side benefits of that is when recruiters come and watch Justin Lamson play, they are also seeing some of the other fantastic football players on our team.”

This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 11:00 AM.