Golden Recruiting Wire: James Sample, Shaq Thompson Making A Wish Come True

By solarise Oct 12, 2010, 10:30am PDT

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Pledges are marked w/ (Cal)

Jason Gibson, OLB, George Farmer, WR, Marqise Lee, ATH Serra (Gardena, CA)

The Serra trio of Jason Gibson, Marqise Lee and George Farmer all enjoyed visit to Cal last weekend [1].

There's the duo at Serra. College recruiters usually say senior George Farmer is No. 1 because he's probably the fastest player. He's doing well, averaging 25 yards a reception with three touchdowns, but his teammate, senior Marqise Lee, has been off the charts, with 10 touchdown receptions while averaging 37.8 yards per catch.

"Marqise has been so amazing," Coach Scott Altenberg said.

And what about Farmer?

"When the ball has hit George's hands, he's been amazing," Altenberg.

So there's two "amazing" receivers at Serra... [2].

Serra’s Marqise Lee ranks 11th in the state in receiving at 120.8 yards per game. His 16 receptions have accounted for 604 yards, an amazing 37.75 average, and 10 TDs [3].

DeAnthony Arnett, WR Saginaw (Saginaw, MI)

Sounds like DeAnthony Arnett's official visit to California is going well.

The future U.S. Army All-American receiver will be at California for the rest of the day, and 247Sports looks forward to having a full update on the Saginaw (Mich.) High standout's official visit tomorrow. However, in the mean time his older brother Ralph says "(DeAnthony) is having a really good time [4]."

Teams won't kick to him, they triple-team him as a receiver, so the coaching staff has used him at quarterback, running back and defensive back to utilize his immense skills.

"I don't come off the field," said Arnett. "It doesn't frustrate me because I know I'll get my catches; I'm still going to get my touches, I'm still going to get my yards. The thing with the other teams is they don't want me to score touchdowns. If I can't catch them, I'll throw them or run them in at quarterback. They don't want me catching any long passes or anything like that. It has been OK, the double and triple-teams. I've been getting that since I was a sophomore."

Arnett has still found the end zone.

He has 22 catches for 386 yards and two receiving touchdowns. He has kickoff returns of 85, 74 and 91 yards for touchdowns. He has thrown two TD passes and caught a 74-yard bomb. He has rushed for a little more than 200 yards with a rushing touchdown [5].

HT MoragaBear, BI -

James Sample, S, Shaq Thompson, ATH {2012} Grant Union (Sacramento, CA)

Camilo Graniel had three wishes before his heart surgery.

Meet the Grant Pacers.

Go to a Kings game.

Go on a tropical trip.

Notice the order here?

...

Graniel's room is a shrine to the Pacers. Stars James Sample and Shaq Thompson visited him Thursday. They updated Graniel on practice and urged him to get well so he could rejoin them. Graniel gave his heroes artwork, adding a Grant block 'G' to a helmet drawing.

A signed Sample jersey drapes over his pillow, next to a Grant hat. Dangling from the ceiling is a photo of Thompson and a Pacers 1996 section championship ring, donated by longtime Grant stats keeper and community leader Tommie Williams. On the wall is a Grant team photo with "Camilo" inked onto athletic tape. A poster bears words of encouragement from Grant players, with "Superman" splashed across the top [6].

Throughout this week, Grant players and coaches stopped by Sutter [Memorial Hospital] to visit, offer encouragement and team updates. On Thursday, Shaq Thompson and James Sample came by. Graniel handed them drawings he made, with Grant colors of course. I [Joe Davidson, SacBee journalist] stopped by with 12-year old son Cameron. We presented Graniel with a Bee photo calendar that featured action shots of his beloved Pacers [7].

Byron Marshall, RB Valley Christian (San Jose, CA) {2012}

A mutli-dimensional threat, Marshall has showed no signs of slowing down as a junior. He’s already rushed for 458 yards and four touchdowns this season.

Marshall has been particularly deadly on special teams. In a 52-23 victory against Serra (San Mateo, Calif.) on Saturday night, he had punt return touchdowns of 63 yards and 71 yards to put the game away for Valley Christian.

"It’s kind of possible that he’ll play on Sundays," Serra coach Patrick Walsh told the San Bruno Patch. "You're talking about one of the best players to come through this league and this area."

His time of 10.67 in the 100-meter sprint may not be approaching [Jahvid] Best's mark of 10.31, but Marshall could be a better overall athlete. He has jumped over 23 feet in the long jump and also started for Valley Christian’s basketball team as a freshman [8].

Byron's been playing varsity since his freshman year and, after each season, assesses his weaknesses with his father, 49ers and Santa Clara University strength and conditioning coach Greg Marshall.

"We felt I needed to be quicker on my feet, hit the holes faster, and keep my pad level down," Marshall said. "I still worked on everything else, but paid special attention to those."

After hours of exercises and training, Marshall said he can feel the work has paid off.

"I feel like I'm running smoother," he said. "I feel like it's made my game that much more complete [9]."

Steve Dillon, DE Palmdale (Palmdale, CA) has been slowed down by a knee injury [12].

Todd Barr, DT Lakewood (Lakewood, CA) visited Florida [13] despite previous report of rescheduling [14].

Brendon Bigelow, RB Central East (Fresno, CA) plans to visit Cal late in the season [$15].

Cyrus Hobbi, OG Saguaro (Scottsdale, AZ) may have Washington as his leader [16]. Hobbi was named to Mid-Season All-AZ State Team [17].

Aaron Green, RB James Madison (San Antonio, TX) earned his five-stars status w/ ESPN [18].

Lake Koa Ka'ai, DE Kamehameha (Honolulu, HI) offered by USC [19]. Kiffin & Orgeron may be picking up their game, offering Jason Gibson, Marqise Lee, Steve Dillon, and most recently Ka'ai.

David Kravish, PF 6-9/200 Lee's Summit North (Lee's Summit, MO) verbally committed to Cal [20].

Juan Anderson, SF 6-6/200 Castro Valley (Castro Valley, CA) verbally committed to Marquette [21]. Cal eliminated.

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