Nice catch: 49ers first-round pick got his football stardom start at Sierra College
Ben Noonan remembers with mixed emotions the fall of 2017.
The coach took his Sierra College football team to Santa Rosa, his old hometown, to play the community college program he once suited up for. Noonan’s heart was heavy. He lost his mother, Pamela, days earlier, to a sudden illness at 66. Family and friends attended the late September game of JC powers.
What added to the coach’s angst was this: he was at odds with his star player. At least for a moment. That player was Brandon Aiyuk, who had his first taste of football stardom at Sierra as a classic late bloomer, and then at Arizona State as his stock soared, leading to a first-round selection by the 49ers on Thursday night.
“That was the week Brandon fought against me,” Noonan said Friday. “I took him off special teams, and he was pissed at me. Wouldn’t even talk to me. Finally, I go, ‘Brandon, what’s the problem?’ He said, ‘Coach, you took me off special teams!’”
He did, with reason.
Said Noonan, “Told Brandon, ‘we’re trying to save your body. You’re taking handoffs, we throw to you 20 times a game, you’re taking Wildcat handoffs. We want you to last.’”
Aiyuk countered with his own logic: He could impact and change a game on a kickoff or punt return, right from the start. What’s a coach if he doesn’t listen to his star player?
“He made his point, and I put him back on special teams, and he reached the end zone six times against Santa Rosa,” Noonan said with a laugh. “When a guy who works that hard and is that good and he’s upset, you listen. I knew then that Brandon was special, that he really cared.”
A dominant force in junior college
Technically, Aiyuk hit the end zone four times at Santa Rosa, three of them on receptions and one on special teams. Two punt return scores were called back due to penalties, but the point was clear. Feed No. 4 the ball and then ice him up later.
After Sierra’s 52-30 victory, Aiyuk hustled over to Noonan and presented him with the game ball, to honor his mother. Player and coach hugged and wept.
Noonan cherishes that ball. He keeps it in his Placer County home. He also appreciates his relationship with Aiyuk. They have remained close. They spoke by phone leading up to the draft and moments after the 49ers’ selection. Noonan watched the NFL draft from the comfort of the family couch, flanked by 9-year-old son Benny and 6-year-old daughter Adriana. Everyone wore 49ers colors.
The only one who sensed — and dreamed — Aiyuk would become a 49er was Benny. Someone hand the kid a stack of lottery tickets. Aiyuk grew up a 49ers fan and wore 49ers colors when he was as young as 4.
Benny never misses a Sierra game in person or a 49ers game on TV. He had already changed his home closet space to look like 49ers lockers, including player names: Nick Bosa and George Kittle have spots. He saved the third spot for a player to be named later. That’s Aiyuk now.
“It’s all so incredible, just awesome, the hometown team getting the local guy,” Noonan said. “When the pick became official with the 49ers, we all went nuts on the couch.”
Aiyuk makes it easy to root for him
Noonan said Aiyuk is easy to root for.
“Brandon’s an incredible kid, very humble,” Noonan said. “I think that’ll translate to a long NFL career. He’s a hard worker. He loves to practice. He’s a great teammate, and he was adamant on being on special teams.”
Aiyuk was a defensive back at McQueen High School in Reno but was lightly recruited. He did not catch many passes as a prep, which goes against the family norm. Aiyuk is cousins with Ariel, Daniyel and Joe Ngata of Folsom High football fame. The Ngatas are in college at Sacramento State, Arizona State and Clemson, respectively.
The Ngata family celebrated the draft news Thursday in their Reno home, just as the Aiyuk family did not far away.
“Oh, yes, definitely a lot of family pride,” said Ray Ngata, father of the Ngata boys. “The boys practically grew up together. We all watched the draft. Couldn’t control our excitement.”
Making his way after a slow start
Aiyuk didn’t know where football would take him. He did not play as a junior at McQueen. Following his 2016 graduation in 2016, he and the family reached out to Noonan, whose Rocklin campus is some 110 miles away from Reno.
“I don’t recall any receiver film of Brandon but what I saw of him as a defensive back impressed me,” Noonan said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God! This guy can be a great receiver!’ I saw his explosion, his closing speed. He moved different than anyone else, the way he pulled away from people. Oh, man. Let’s go!’ After having him for two years, we saw that he can catch in traffic, has that speed and hands and long arms. He was great, and he’s still getting better.”
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Aiyuk was receptive to playing receiver and was a fast learner. He just wanted to play.
“Pretty much my senior year (in high school), I knew I was going to end up going to a junior college if I wanted to continue to play football,” Aiyuk said during a telephone conference call with 49ers beat reporters, adding, “I have that mentality that every time I touch the football, I want to score.”
In two seasons at Sierra, Aiyuk caught 89 passes for 1,533 yards and 19 touchdowns. He had 2,499 all-purpose yards at Sierra, including an 80-yard punt return for a score and a 76-yard kickoff return to the end zone. He could also squat 500 pounds, bringing the weight room to a stop.
When tasked with having to finish 18 units in order to transfer to Arizona State, Aiyuk did so with three As and two Bs. In 25 games at Arizona State, Aiyuk had 98 catches for 1,666 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Joe Curry was the Sierra quarterback who delighted in seeing a jet race down field with his passes. They often spent extra time after practice working on go routes.
“Brandon made insane plays every day in practice,” said Curry, now an engineering student at Sacramento State. “We see these highlights of Brandon on social media jumping over people in drills, and why isn’t everyone going crazy? He did that all the time. We were used to it.”
Noonan saw in Aiyuk a shy man slowly come out of his shell. The quiet kid became the jovial one. Junior college athletics are a haven for the still-developing, the still-maturing and the overlooked. It worked wonders for Aiyuk.
“The bummer of coaching JC players is you don’t get to have them for four years, just two,” Noonan said. “The cool thing is to see a kid transition from his freshman to sophomore year. We saw that in Brandon. Saw him believe in himself, the confidence. Suddenly, he was off the charts.”
JC boosters
Sacramento-area community college players who became first-round NFL picks:
1978: Dan Bunz, 49ers – A tackling machine at Oakmont High and Sierra College before his Long Beach State days, Bunz won two Super Bowls as a linebacker starter, including his famed “The Stop” in Super Bowl XVI.
1982: Gerald Willhite, Denver Broncos – He didn’t play football at Cordova High at 90 pounds, but grew seven inches and gained 85 pounds at American River College where he became a running back star, leading to more stardom at San Jose State.
1983: Tony Eason, New England Patriots – His cannon arm didn’t draw interest whole leading small Delta High to championships, but he became a national recruit at ARC, leading to his Illinois days. He quarterbacked New England to Super Bowl XX.
2020: Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers – He played one season of varsity football in Reno as a defensive back, flourished at receiver at Sierra College and Arizona State, and landed with his childhood favorite team.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 4:00 AM.