Bee’s Best: Sizing up best receivers, tight ends in Sacramento-area HS football
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Grant's Zo Edwards and Koby Shabazz headline Sacramento's top junior targets.
- Folsom quarterback Ryder Lyons leads with elite receivers Powell and Larson.
- Del Oro’s Galer and Parry form premier tight end duo in Sac-Joaquin Section.
It doesn’t just take a quarterback to lead a championship charge, or the big guys in the trenches to block and pass protect. Someone has to catch passes. Someone has to stretch the field to keep defenses honest.
In the greater Sacramento area for high school football, there are targets galore on whom quarterbacks can zero in for the 2024 season, which starts Aug. 22-23.
There are tall talents such as the 6-foot-6 Zo Edwards of the Grant Pacers, who dazzled with a spectacular, game-winning touchdown grab to beat Rocklin in last season’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship.
Edwards is the No. 1-ranked junior in Northern California according to various recruiting sites, and it’s no wonder. He has skills, terrific instincts and hands, and he competes with flair. Edwards is delighted with his touchdown grabs and thrilled for his teammates after CIF section, Northern California and state championship conquests.
No one in Del Paso Heights frowns at the view of Edwards wearing a strip of adhesive tape across the front of his helmet in practice that reads, “GOAT” — as in the greatest of all time. At Grant, any all-time list of receivers is topped by Donte Stallworth, a Pacers star in the 1990s who went on to become an NFL first-round draft pick, and another Pacer star years later who reached the NFL in Paris Warren, but Edwards has this season and next to continue his climb.
“Zo kind of came out of no where for us last year,” Grant coach Carl Reed said. “Special player. We have a couple of them.”
The other “special” talent at Grant is Koby Shabazz, who, like Edwards, is just a junior. Shabazz has given a verbal commitment to play on scholarship at Sacramento State. He’s not as tall as Edwards, but he’s faster. He caught the winning touchdown in a CIF state title game and also makes plays on defense and on special teams.
You want a cool and catchy nickname? Say hello to “Cheese” Shabazz, who is all grins.
At Folsom, 5-star quarterback and the best signal caller in the region, Ryder Lyons has two star targets to look for in Ole Miss commit Jameson Powell, who has 30 touchdown grabs in 27 varsity games, and Rob Larson, who caught five touchdowns as a sophomore last season.
At Del Oro in Placer County, the storied Golden Eagles have perhaps the best tight-end combination in the entire Sac-Joaquin Section, a pair of physical players who look and play the part in the 6-6, 230-pound Luke Galer and the 6-2, 240-pound, body dragging brute in Landen Parry. The aim is to get those lads the ball as often as possible, including end-around hand-offs.
Here’s a closer peek at regional receivers of note:
Zo Edwards, Grant Pacers
Height/weight: 6-foot-6, 210 pounds
Sizing him up: Zo is listed in national recruiting sites as a tight end, but make no mistake. He is all receiver with the long frame, the long strides and the superb hands, which allowed him to snag 51 receptions for 921 yards and 14 touchdowns in earning Bee All-Metro honors in 2024.
Jameson Powell, Folsom Bulldogs
Height/weight: 5-11, 180
Sizing him up: A third-year starter and now a senior known for speed and good hands, Powell is a two-time Bee All-Metro target.
He had 86 grabs for 1,231 yards as a sophomore and 78 for 920 and 16 touchdowns last season for the CIF section Division I champions.
Koby Shabazz, Grant Pacers
Height/weight: 5-9, 170
Sizing him up: A third-year starter and a returning Bee All-Metro pick, the junior goes by “Cheese” because he can light up a room, and he can light up a defense.
He had 83 catches for 1,201 yards and 15 touchdowns for a CIF state championship team in 2024.
Jasen Womack, Oak Ridge Trojans
Height/weight: 6-2, 195
Sizing him up: A third-year varsity starter and now a senior, Womack thrives with the ball in his hands, and he’s a threat for the Trojans of El Dorado Hills as a receiver and a runner, having combined to score 18 times in 2024.
He is committed to Cal Poly.
Oreste Yong, Roseville Tigers
Height/weight: 6-5, 190
Sizing him up: Long, lanky, skilled, a matchup nightmare and hungry for more, the guy who goes by “JJ” burst onto the scene for the Tigers last season, pulling in 35 catches for 710 yards and nine touchdowns for a playoff team.
He has a teammate in Kenny McClure who is also a threat, having caught 34 passes for 609 yards and four scores in 2024.
Greyson Smith, Rocklin Thunder
Height/weight: 6-1, 180
Sizing him up: Smith stretched defenses for Destiny Christian Academy of Sacramento last season before his transfer to Placer County.
Running good routes and showing speed and power, Smith had 66 catches for 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2024.
Isaac Pierce, Oak Ridge Trojans
Height/weight: 5-9, 175
Sizing him up: The best way to break in new quarterbacks on campus? Wheel out some reliable hands such as Pierce, who as a sophomore last season had 32 catches for 902 yards and four touchdowns while also nabbing four interceptions as a defensive back as one of the region’s top two-way talents.
Rob Larson, Folsom Bulldogs
Height/weight: 6-3, 195
Sizing him up: In his first varsity campaign last season as a sophomore, Larson fit right in for the four-time defending section Division I champions, catching 23 passes for 503 yards and five scores.
He has emerged as a national recruit.
Darnell Turner, Granite Bay Grizzlies
Height/weight: 5-11, 175
Sizing him up: A versatile athlete who can impact a game as a receiver, on defense and on special teams, Turner had 35 catches for 606 yards and four scores for another Grizzlies playoff team.
Expect him to get the ball even more in 2025.
Luke Galer, Del Oro Golden Eagles
Height/weight: 6-6, 230
Sizing him up: A Washington State commit, Galer is one of an army of players from the Loomis school determined to put an uncharacteristic 2-8 season behind them.
He is physical and deceptively fast.
Landen Parry, Del Oro Golden Eagles
Height/weight: 6-2, 240
Sizing him up: The son of Golden Eagles head coach Josh Parry led Del Oro with 30 catches last season, and he caught the game-winning touchdown against Jesuit in the playoffs his freshman season.
Physical and speedy for his bulk, this is a matchup nightmare.
Noah Hinkle, Woodland Christian Cardinals
Height/weight: 5-11, 190
Sizing him up: A fourth-year varsity starter who has CIF section, Northern California and state-championship pedigree, Hinkle is a blur with the ball.
He has 84 career varsity grabs and 20 touchdowns for the small-school powerhouse to go with 1,490 career rushing yards and 18 scores.
Ryan Eddy, Laguna Creek Cardinals
Height/weight: 6-0, 205
Sizing him up: A fourth-year varsity starter for the Elk Grove Unified School District program, Eddy is a versatile threat who can catch the deep ball, having scored 10 times through the air.
He’s also a dangerous runner, averaging 7.1 yards a carry last season.
Robert Hamel, Sacramento Dragons
Height/weight: 5-11, 185
Sizing him up: A two-way player who had 76 tackles in 2024 and 106 over two seasons, Hamel has 14 varsity touchdowns with a senior season to go for the Dragons of Oak Park, a playoff regular.
Ryan Reeves, Jesuit Marauders
Height/weight: 5-11, 185
Sizing him up: A two-way starter for the storied Marauders, the speedy Reeves averaged 31.2 yards per reception for a playoff team in 2024.
He aims to add to those totals his senior season.
David Lewis, Foothill Mustangs
Height/weight: 5-11, 190
Sizing him up: In his varsity debut season last fall, Lewis had 40 receptions for 834 yards and 11 touchdowns.
He was also an effective rusher, averaging 7.1 yards a carry, in powering the Mustangs into the playoffs.
Caden Bowers, Franklin Wildcats
Height/weight: 5-9, 160
Sizing him up: In catching 45 passes for 649 yards and eight touchdowns, Bowers helped boost the Wildcats of Elk Grove to their best season (6-4) since 2017.
Jayden Beasley, Oakmont Vikings
Height/weight: 6-3, 170
Sizing him up: Beasley was a paramount reason why the Vikings of Roseville went from winless in 2023 to the cusp of a league championship in 2024 when he caught 30 passes for 716 yards and eight touchdowns.
Wesley Besseghini, Dixon Rams
Height/weight: 6-1, 190
Sizing him up: There’s no daddy ball going on here in Solano County. The son of the program’s head coach by the same name, young Besseghini has earned every bit of his status as a leading threat, catching 30 passes for 620 yards and three scores as a sophomore.
He added 31 tackles from his linebacking spot.
Riley Garcia, Valley Christian Lions
Height/weight: 6-0, 180
Sizing him up: In his third varsity season and now a senior, Garcia had 482 yards receiving and five touchdowns for the small-school Lions of Roseville.
He figures to up those numbers considerably as VCA drops down to 8-man football.
- Who’d we miss? Email us with insight on top returning receivers/tight ends to jdavidson@sacbee.com
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.