2014 High School Football Preseason Top 25 Early Contenders presented by Eastbay: No. 17 Folsom

The last two seasons for Folsom have ended in remarkably similar fashion: a 45-17 loss to De La Salle followed by another 45-17 loss to the Spartans. During that stretch, Folsom holds a 28-2 record.

Could 2014 be the season that Folsom gets over the green-and-silver hump and advances to the CIF Open Division Bowl Game?

Reason for optimism abounds in the suburb of Sacramento, as the team brings back much of its firepower from last year. Indeed, 2014 has been circled on the calendars of Folsom fans for quite some time.

Jake Browning is the drum that makes the beat for Folsom co-head coaches Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor. The Washington commit has compiled statistics that would make a video game quarterback blush. In two seasons, he's completed 831 passes for 10,985 yards and 138 touchdowns. At a program that churns out signal-callers with impressive stat resumes, Browning seems like the best to play the position and he's only getting better.

His yards, touchdowns, completion percentage and QB rating were all up from his sophomore campaign. His senior season could see Browning rewrite state, and potentially national, record books.



One player not a team makes, however. Leading rusher Bailey Laolagi is also back after finding the end zone 11 times a year ago.

Receivers Will McClure and Troy Knox have moved on, but Josiah Deguara and his 1,354 yards and 16 touchdowns return. Cole Thompson and Parker Boone should enjoy expanded roles.

Four linemen who saw action last year will be back to protect Browning: Cody Creason, Sam Whitney, Jerod Nooner and Will Koch.

Whitney lines up on the defensive line as well, along with 6-foot-5 defensive end Lukas Hendricks. When he lined up at linebacker, Laolagi was the team's second-leading tackler in 2013.



Calvin Gardner and Jake Morgado combined for six interceptions in the secondary last year and should make the unit one of the team's strengths on paper heading into the season.

The wild card on both sides of the ball is 6-5, 240-pound tackle/defensive end Jonah Williams. Williams began his career at Marist (Atlanta) before his family relocated to California last year. He enrolled at Folsom in January and is already the school's all-time leading discus thrower.

He's exactly the type of talent Folsom will need in its seemingly inevitable clash with De La Salle and the likes of Kahlil McKenzie and Boss Tagaloa.

"He’s the kind of guy if you write a mention about him, he won’t retweet it. But if you write about his teammates or his rivals, he retweets it right or left. He has no ego."
- Joe Davidson, Sacramento Bee (@SacBee_JoeD) on Folsom QB Jake Browning.