Four Sac-Joaquin Section Safeties To Know

The safety position in football can sometimes represent the captain of the defense or the secondary. Their moments of impact can create game changing plays to alter a football game and swing momentum. Here we have 4 safeties in the Sac-Joaquin section who have made highlights and showed collegiate talent and ability so far in their high school career. &nbsp; <strong>Daniel De La Rosa - 5’11, 160 lbs - Atwater - Senior</strong> <strong>Twitter: @yvngddlr</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Registering 79 tackles and 5 interceptions as a junior, there is lots to like about De La Rosa at the safety position. He has all the skills to become a very good one for any college that will give him an offer. Being interchangeable between free and strong with decent speed provides him with the freedom to play in roles all over the field. De La Rosa is a rangey safety who can make up ground with good change of direction and pursuit angles. He attacks downhill with great plant and drive acceleration while tracking the inside hip on opponents to make highlight tackles. When playing free safety he showed off solid ball skills and played the ball well in the air. Him playing wide receiver on offense definitely has helped him to catch the ball and contributed to his success.</span> &nbsp; <strong>Amir Lemmons - 6’0, 170 lbs - Inderkum - Senior</strong> <strong>Twitter: @Amir_Lemmons</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Already coming from a school that featured lots of talent last season, Lemmons helped the Inderkum Tigers to a 11-1 record with 66 tackles in 7 game appearances. The slender Lemmons helped out a lot on the defensive side with good run fits consistently. It was impressive to see him in the box a lot assisting the linebackers in run support, which is where he did most of his work. In addition, I liked that habit he had of keeping his shoulders square when in the box and scraped well instead of under or over pursuing against the run. If he can come downhill stronger and faster when he is up high in a traditional free safety alignment and gain more weight to his frame, he can become much more versatile, especially in today’s modern style of football.</span> &nbsp; <strong>Kai Santos - 5’10, 175 lbs - Jesuit - Junior</strong> <strong>Twitter: @Kai_Santos22</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">After getting moved up to varsity his freshman year in November of the 2018-2019 season and playing on varsity last year, Santos already has a very excellent start to become a top safety in the section with his experience. Racking up 48 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception his sophomore season, he has made a name for himself already with fitting the perfect role for a strong safety. A superior tackler with good burst speed was clear to see on tape. He also showed smarts and patience by understanding his job in run fits and keeping backside run containment. Also, when in the box, I did see him taking on blocks and shedding them to still make the tackle. Even when at free safety, Santos made open field tackles by taking good angles to not over pursuit. Santos can become a very high recruited safety by the end of his senior campaign.</span> &nbsp; <strong>Daniel Navarro - 6’2, 200 lbs - Downey - Senior</strong> <strong>Twitter: @Itz_daniel209</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Underlooked so far by hudl views and social media recruiting attention, Daniel Navarro, definitely has the look and the part of a next level safety. Standing at 6’2, 200 lbs, Navarro has great ideal size as a high school senior to attract scouts and command attention. Being at free safety in his junior season, he was able to reach First Team All-CCAL Defense with 70 tackles in 9 games. He is a free safety that can fly around the field, attack aggressively on ball carriers with speed, and can lay a big hit. Reviewing his tape on individual games, he was able to gain more confidence and be more comfortable as the season continued. I did appreciate his initial read steps at the snap of the ball to set himself up well to fill as he did really well against opponents such as Granite Bay. With his frame, I can see his role being more versatile, maybe even being in the box more as a strong safety or even taking some linebacker reps. I do wonder, however, why he did not register an interception last year, that could be due to just experience or game prep. I do expect Navarro to breakout his senior year if he can continue to play like he did at the end of junior season and obviously if the COVID 19 circumstances improve in California for him and the rest of the student athletes. </span>