High School Sports

Bee’s Best: Gabe Baker is The Bee’s Week 1 Prep of the Week

Gabe Baker of Nevada Union High School was the Bee’s prep of the week for Week 1.
Gabe Baker of Nevada Union High School was the Bee’s prep of the week for Week 1. Baker family

If Gabe Baker looks like a linebacker at a thick-bodied 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds in his jersey No. 15, there’s good reason for that.

He is. He also happens to be the play-making quarterback for Nevada Union High School, and the program’s next rising recruit.

A junior with a 4.0 grade-point average, Baker earned the most votes in The Bee’s kickoff Prep of the Week poll for spring football. In a 20-9 victory over Bear River on March 12, Baker rushed for 112 yards and passed for 57 more and scored twice. He rumbled for a 63-yard touchdown and said well after the game, “I’m gassed.”

Imagine the fatigue of the opponent.

In his second game, a 34-27 loss to Placer on Friday, Baker passed for 259 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 55 and another score. Baker had a bit of a headstart heading into this season as he played for the IronSharpensIron club team based in Sacramento, logging four games in Southern California. He said in January, “I really can’t wait for the high school season to start.” With good reason.

Joe Davidson
The Sacramento Bee
Joe Davidson has covered sports for The Sacramento Bee since 1989: preps, colleges, Kings and features. He was in early 2024 named the National Sports Media Association Sports Writer of the Year for California and he was in the fall of 2024 inducted into the California High School Football Hall of Fame. He is a 14-time award winner from the California Prep Sports Writer Association. In 2021, he was honored with the CIF Distinguished Service award. He is a member of the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Davidson participated in football and track in Oregon.
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