Sacramento HS football: College signings, new coaches — and big schools in D-IV?
It’s the week before the Super Bowl, but there’s plenty of moving and shaking on Sacramento’s regional football front.
Offseason developments in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section include Wednesday’s Division I scholarship signings, three new coaching hires and three larger-enrollment schools effort to join a Division IV league.
Two Grant players sign with Cal
The early National Signing Day came in December for high school football players, which included 16 regional players securing deals to continue their student-athlete experiences.
Wednesday was the start of the second signing session for players to ink binding letters of intent to play for an NCAA Division I college program.
Five regional players did so, including two each at powerhouse programs, including Grant Pacers stars Sosaia Noa, a tight end/linebacker; and Roger Vanderhoef, a towering 6-foot-8, 345-pound offensive tackle. They signed with the Cal Bears, continuing the legacy of a Pacers-to-Berkeley tour that dates back decades, including when current Grant co-coach Syd Thompson starred in the secondary for Cal in the late 2000s.
In Placer County, Roseville Tigers receiver star JJ Yong signed with Cal Poly of San Luis Obispo, an FCS program that competes in the Big Sky Conference. Teammate Trevor Kirby, a Sacramento Bee All-Metro lineman in 2025, signed with the University of San Diego.
Kirby and Yong were paramount in helping power Roseville last season to its first CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship since 1987.
At West Park in Roseville, linebacker/tight end Jax Madden signed with Eastern Washington of the Big Sky.
New coaching hires at CB, DC and Whitney
Christian Brothers named Neil Breight as its new coach. He previously worked as a head coach in his native San Diego and was an assistant at rival Jesuit in 2025.
The Falcons enjoyed several good seasons under coach Larry Morla, including winning Capital Valley Conference championships in 2022 and 2024 and reaching the CIF Division III section title game in 2022, just the fourth time the program has achieved that feat since 1981.
Del Campo named Jordan Botha as its coach, a full-circle return for the Cougars alum. He said that the school and football program “helped shape who I am as a person, player and coach, and it means the world to be coming home to lead the next generation of Cougars.”
Botha was a linebacker and tight end for Del Campo in 2009 and 2010, with the 2009 team going 13-1 under coach Mike Dimino and winning a CIF section crown, the first in program history. Del Campo dipped to 2-9 in 2025, as coach Matt Costa stepped down midseason to tend to his ailing father.
Brian Brickey was tabbed to lead the Whitney Wildcats of Rocklin, taking over for Zac McNally, who led the program to the CIF section Division II finals in 2019 and the playoffs in 2021 before a dip in fortunes, including winless Sierra Foothill League campaigns in three of the last five years.
The SFL is a meat-grinder league with Folsom, Oak Ridge, Granite Bay, Rocklin, Del Oro and Jesuit. (Folsom won a CIF State title in 2025, Oak Ridge reached the section Division I finals for the fourth consecutive season, Granite Bay was in a section final and Del Oro and Jesuit made the playoffs.)
Whitney’s large enrollment makes it a sleeping-giant program to match the athletic success of other programs across the board. Brickey is a 13-year veteran with the Army, including stints in Jordan, Iraq and Syria. The Southern California native in recent seasons served as an assistant coach at Rio Americano in Sacramento. Brickey brought in former Folsom High assistant coach and Whitney alum Travis Garabedian as offensive coordinator.
D-I programs Davis and Kennedy may join D-IV league
In an effort to help save football programs from going under or exploring the 8-man route, large-enrollment Division I programs Davis of Yolo County and Kennedy of Greenhaven, as well as Division III member River Valley of Yuba City, are working on a plan with the governing body CIF to move into the Division IV Greater Sacramento League starting this fall.
The move would be for football only, thus giving the GSL eight schools after Florin and Valley of the Elk Grove Unified School District last fall moved down from 11-man football to 8-man. Florin and Valley did so in an effort to avoid folding the programs due to low participation numbers.
If approved by the CIF section and its board of managers, the GSL in football will have Armijo of Fairfield, Burbank, Davis, Fairfield, Foothill, Kennedy, Johnson and River Valley.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 12:40 PM.