El Toro LB Giulio Fernandes on his commitment to San Diego

One of Orange County's sleeper linebackers is staying in the state for his college football career. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/07/southern-sections-top-5-returning-tackling-leaders/">Giulio Fernandes</a> of El Toro (Lake Forest) announced his commitment to the University of San Diego on Monday. Fernandes chose San Diego over Benedictine College and Wheaton. The opportunity to play at the University of San Diego has always been something he has strived for. "USD has always been a dream school of mine and when I was presented with an opportunity I had to take it," Fernandes said. "The campus is beautiful plus championship football and an amazing education that opens up big doors for me." When Fernandes was a freshman at El Toro, he and other students visited the campus at USD and he was in awe. He also visited the campus in 2020 before the pandemic for the football team's spring game. https://twitter.com/mikehuntley63/status/1312071261674061824?s=20 Coach <a href="https://usdtoreros.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/taylor-chapatte/4442">Taylor Chapatte</a>, the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at USD, was heavily involved in recruiting Fernandes and many other Southern California players credit Chapatte with recruiting them to the school. "Coach Chapatte worked the hardest to recruit me and is always checking on how I'm doing on and off the field and was there to help me with any questions or concerns," Fernandes said. He also heavily considered Benedictine and visited as recently as last week. Benedictine has landed other under the radar players from Southern California like <strong>Keegan Evan</strong> of San Clemente. "I was considering Benedictine and Wheaton highly. Coach <a href="https://www.ravenathletics.com/roster/24/5/9082.php">(Aaron) Hauser</a> from Benedictine was recruiting me hard and flew me out there," Fernandes said. "Coach <a href="https://athletics.wheaton.edu/staff-directory/mikey-swider/335">(Mikey) Swider</a> from Wheaton is a great guy and came down to Lake Forest to meet me and talk to me about the opportunities Wheaton has." Fernandes had the third most tackles for any underclassman in the Southern Section in 2019. He was second in Orange County with 155 tackles, only trailing <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/08/sunny-hills-lb-carson-irons-breaks-down-commitment-to-princeton/">Carson Irons</a> of Sunny Hills who had 186 and is committed to Princeton. https://twitter.com/Coach_DiazFB/status/1200104575056801792?s=20 He played on a 1-9 El Toro team which played in the very competitive South Coast League, one of the top leagues in the state. Fernandes had 22 tackles against Tesoro and 17 against San Clemente. El Toro is on its third head coach in four seasons and has gone from a perennial playoff team to the doldrums of south county football. If there is a season, the Chargers will play in the slightly weaker Sea View League with crosstown rival Trabuco Hills, and other south county teams like Aliso Niguel and Capo Valley. "It's been a couple of rough years while I was at El Toro adjusting to three new head coaches and staffs because each one is different. Going 1-9 definitely sucked and was hard to get over but my mentality to just ball out and prove myself to everyone was never phased," Fernandes said. "I hope we can play. I was really looking forward to competing against a lot of studs in the Sea View League for a league title. Like everyone else, I miss everything about high school football." Fernandes has been doing his offseason the old-fashioned way — lifting heavy weights and running on the track and dirt hills. https://twitter.com/FernandesGiulio/status/1303760448538292225?s=20 "I've made tremendous leaps in this offseason to be bigger, stronger, and faster. Recently in November I became an All-State WeightLifter and surpassed the 1000lb club," Fernandes said. "To increase speed and quickness I hit the field and track, put in footwork in the sand, and run lots and lots of hills." Fernandes is a versatile linebacker that has the lateral quickness to play inside or outside linebacker. He is aggressive and gets into the backfield but does it smartly, maintaining his gap integrity while also causing problems for the offense. He is a sure-fire tackler who has the potential to carve out his spot on the roster in college early by playing special teams. He will have a lot of competition at linebacker in USD's 2020 recruiting class. They have already landed commitments from <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/01/weekly-recruiting-report-7-2/">Malcolm Williams</a> of St. Augustine (San Diego), <strong>Jerry Riggins</strong> of Helix (La Mesa), <strong>Landon Toll</strong> of Rancho Cucamonga and <strong>Jack Giguire</strong> of Napa. All of whom play linebacker, but Fernandes has the work ethic and natural football instincts to earn his spot in the rotation.