Oak Ridge Trojans eye championships with Alabama-bound star Kaleb Edwards. ‘He’s a monster’
The guy who doesn’t drop a pass dropped two of them last week.
How could this be? This is Kaleb Edwards, a 4-star national recruit tight end who has caught the eye of virtually every major college football program in the land because of his size, his ability, his hands, his grades and his good character. He’s a can’t-miss prospect if there ever was one.
But dropped passes in a playoff game? Here he was, flummoxed as much as his Oak Ridge High School coaches for letting two balls hit the ground on his home field in El Dorado Hills.
“I asked him, “What’s the matter? Something wrong? Girlfriend dump you or something?’” Oak Ridge coach Casey Taylor reflected Tuesday afternoon with a laugh as the sun set across campus before the start of a practice. “He said, ‘Coach, I can’t see!’”
The 6-foot-7, 245-pound Edwards pulled off his helmet off and his coach couldn’t even see the kid’s eyes. His glasses that look like roundish playing goggles were fogged up. His body heat, breath and moisture in the air were the root of the issue.
So there you have it. About the only way to deal with Edwards is to fog him up, or hope he runs the wrong route, or hope he missed the bus. He otherwise stretches his long arms to snag passes and uses his long legs and good speed to charge downfield, and it is a sight to behold.
Edwards is a teenager who looks college football-ready now. He has given a verbal pledge to the Alabama Crimson Tide to play on scholarship. Edwards turns heads, even if he isn’t always the first one off the bus or the first to lead the team onto the field. He has been the focal point for a Trojans team that shook off a rough start to the season amid a brutal nonleague schedule to pick up steam.
Seeded second in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I bracket, Oak Ridge is 2-0 in the large-school bracket and hosts Turlock on Friday night in a semifinal, with the aim of reaching the finals for the third consecutive season.
But those goggles? Edwards needs them. They are not for show. He uses more stylish glasses during the day when the big man on campus blends in as just another guy on campus, while he pieces together his 3.75 GPA. Edwards doesn’t want to use contacts during games, so it’s the goggles, fog be gone.
“I had a rough game,” Edwards explained with a laugh. “I just couldn’t see. It was super cold outside, and it was catching on my mouth guard and coming up on my glasses. The next day after I woke up, I came downstairs and my dad had a ton of anti-fog stuff to spray on my glasses. It’s working so far.”
That’s good news for the section’s top senior football recruit — and a disheartening update for those who have to deal with a tall target who doubles as a defensive end. Edwards has caught 39 passes for 700 yards and eight touchdowns, including a 50-yarder Oct. 18 vs. Davis as he motored downfield with the sort of recruiting highlight film that has coaches with scholarships in hand salivating.
On defense, Edwards has made 56 tackles, 12.5 for loss, and he has eight sacks. He was recently named the Sierra Foothill League Defensive Player of the Year in a league full of stoppers. He is projected to play tight end at Alabama, a natural with the ball and a nose for the end zone, but one could imagine the defensive coaches pleading for a peek, too.
‘He’s something else’: Talent and humility
As good as Edwards is now, his coaches wonder how good he can be when he’s done growing. Oak Ridge coaches agree that Edwards is just scratching the surface of his considerable ability.
What happens when he adds 20 pounds? Or when he becomes part of Alabama’s nationally recognized strength and conditioning program?
“He could be an NFL guy,” said Taylor, the Oak Ridge coach. “He’s a monster. He’s off the charts. He’s something else. He could be an NFL tight end some day. I can see it.”
But playing ability isn’t Edwards’ best attribute. That’s just part of his package.
“The best thing about Kaleb is he’s so humble and nice,” Taylor said. “He’s genuine. No ego. Some kids believe all the hype and it gets to them. Not Kaleb. Great student, great young man. Everyone on campus likes him. He’s great with everyone, including our youth football players. They love him.”
Edwards loves his school and fellow students right back. He has the grades to graduate this winter and enroll early at Alabama, a trend for major recruits to get a jump on college. But Edwards is in no rush. He will finish out his senior season, including playing basketball, where he also looks and plays the part of prospect.
“I’m excited for my senior season of basketball and to finish out the year, hanging out with my friends and cherish time with family,” he said.
Edwards said there’s a message in there for students who aren’t sure if they can or should play more than one sport at this age.
“I think playing as many sports as you can is very helpful,” Edwards said. “It’s helped me a ton, just learning different aspects, like for baseball. I played baseball my whole life, and the hand-eye coordination, the quickness of the bat speed and stuff like that, and a lot of it translated into football.”
‘He’s legit’
For now, there are passes to catch, games to win and championships to chase down. Those pursuits will certainly include Edwards. Oak Ridge has a proven quarterback in Joaquin Graves-Mercado and a star running back/defensive back in the speedy and versatile Jasen Womack, but it all starts with No. 21.
“Oh, he’s our main guy,” said Oak Ridge assistant coach Marco Baldacchino, a two-time Bee All-Metro quarterback in 2016 and 2017. “He’s a great athlete, super smart, first one in the weight room, and he sets the standard here for our younger players. We go into Sunday coaching meetings talking about how to get the ball to Kaleb. He gets triple teamed, but he’s our focal point.”
Arnold Laws agrees that Edwards passes the look test and then some. Laws is an Oak Ridge assistant coach, a prep All-American in 1988 at Cordova High School who played defense at Arizona State.
“He’s legit,” Laws said. “To be that size and to be able to move like he does is amazing. You’d never know he was an All-American by how he acts. Just a nice kid. He goes on football recruiting trips and comes back and gives his teammates gloves and other things he picked up. Love to see it.”
Edwards’ final prep game will be Jan. 11 in the All-American Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio, a haven for high school All-Americans from across the country. He is the first Oak Ridge player selected to the prestigious event.
Oak Ridge coaches will attend as fans, and they’ll be sure to point out the one with goggles and say, “Hey! I see our guy!”