It’s The Year of the Quarterback, and these 3 San Diegans stand out

The 2025 high school football season kicks off in earnest Friday, and if you take in a game, odds are you’ll see footballs filling the air … quarterbacks throwing go routes, dig routes, post-corners.

San Diego’s high school game has morphed into a passing frenzy in large part because there are a boatload of talented quarterbacks.

“It’s the year of the quarterback,” said San Marcos High School coach Tom Carroll, who has 3,000-yard passer Kreet Makihele running his offense.

Of the San Diego Section’s top 25 players listed by the Union-Tribune, eight were quarterbacks. Of the next top 100 players listed by the U-T, 23 line up behind center.

While the list of gifted QBs extends from the coast to El Cajon, from Carlsbad to San Ysidro, three stand out. Cathedral Catholic’s Brady Palmer, Mission Hills’ Troy Huhn and Cash Herrera of The Bishop’s School separate themselves, in part, because they’re the only ones committed to schools in Power Four conferences.

Palmer has verbally committed to Cal, Huhn to Penn State and Herrera to Indiana.

Here’s a closer look at The Big Three:

The athlete

Forget football. Palmer’s first contact sport was rugby, a sport where athletes run about with little padding, tackling and being tackled. He played from age 6 to 14.

“I learned so much toughness and developed my running ability from rugby,” Palmer said. “It taught me how to take a hit and deliver a hit.”

As a result, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Palmer is the prototypical dual-threat quarterback, adept at evading a rush, tucking the ball and darting past the line of scrimmage into space.

He throws well on the run and like any good quarterback, he’s accurate.

Like almost all college-bound QBs, he has been trained by a private coach.

Since he was 10, Palmer has commuted to Orange County to be tutored by Jordan Palmer (no relation), a former NFL quarterback and the younger brother of Carson Palmer, the 2002 Heisman Trophy winner and the first pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.

Palmer began his varsity high school career at St. Augustine as a sophomore in 2023, leading the Saints to a Division 1 championship, passing for 2,499 yards and 23 TDs, plus rushing for 390 yards and a TD. Unhappy with the Saints’ firing of head coach Ron Gladnick, Palmer and more than a dozen teammates transferred to Cathedral Catholic last year.

The new-look Dons reached the Open Division title game, where they lost to Lincoln.

In part because of Palmer’s ability to throw the football, Cathedral coach Sean Doyle this season has moved from the ground-and-pound Wing-T, his preferred method of attack for 29 years, in favor of the spread offense.

The son of a Navy master chief, Palmer is so respectful you’ll run out of fingers and toes counting how often he says “yes sir and no sir.”

Palmer’s favorite football player isn’t a quarterback, but the late Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals player who became an Army Ranger and, at 27, was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire.

Said Palmer, who lives in Point Loma: “I look up to what he did and what he sacrificed, being willing to give up something you love for the people you love. I’ve been raised around the values of culture, leadership and, I’d say, love or loyalty.”

The late starter

Before a road game last year, an opposing fan hollered at Troy Huhn: “What position do you play, tight end?”

That will happen when you stand 6-foot-4 and weigh 215 pounds.

As for Huhn’s quarterback development, one other thing stands out. He didn’t begin focusing on the position until he was a freshman. Less than two years later, Penn State offered a scholarship.

Huhn began playing tackle football in the fifth grade. Being one of the biggest players and with his father the offensive line coach, he lined up at tackle.

By eighth grade, he was playing tackle and defensive end but kept an eye on throwing the football. His uncle played quarterback at a small college and tutored Troy.

By the ninth grade, Huhn was Mission Hills’ starting JV quarterback. He made the varsity a year later, throwing for 1,930 yards and 17 TDs against 10 interceptions. His numbers improved as a junior: 2,051 yards, 19 TDs and just six picks.

Of his quick rise at the position, Huhn said, “It depends on how hard you work and where you want to be in four years.”

Huhn is a classic drop back, stand tall, throw-the-ball-downfield QB. Told he’s an old-school quarterback, he said: “It’ll never be old-school if you can read a defense and throw the ball downfield.”

Huhn moves well for his size. In the Grizzlies’ heartbreaking 13-7 Open Division semifinal overtime loss last season to eventual state champion Lincoln, Huhn scrambled multiple times for yardage against San Diego’s fastest defense.

“Every offseason I’ve worked super hard on being able to extend plays,” Huhn said. “My athleticism is definitely better than people realize.”

To give you an idea of how sought after Huhn was, his list of college finalists were Ohio State, Auburn, Texas, Michigan and Penn State.

Asked why he picked the Nittany Lions, Huhn said: “The coaching staff felt I was special, that I wasn’t going to be another player. I was going to be a player they could develop and reach my dream, which is the NFL.”

Cash money

About Cash Herrera’s name. Cash is his given handle. His father liked Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, but his mother wasn’t keen on naming their son Cassius. Cash it was.

Bishop’s coach Shane Walton says the 6-3, 213-pound Herrera is pure money.

“He’s the hardest worker on the team, yet he’s one of the most humble kids I’ve ever coached,” said Walton. “He’s the best but never acts like it. And he has a frickin’ arm. If he’s throwing into the wind, it doesn’t matter. He rips the ball. When he’s throwing a 60-yard fade, it looks like a handoff. He’s phenomenal. I love that kid.”

Herrera first worked with a private quarterback coach when he was 6 years old, studying under former Orange Glen and San Diego State quarterback Cree Morris. Eleven years later, he still regularly works with Morris and Jose Mohler of San Diego’s West Coast Athletix.

Herrera weighed 178 pounds as a sophomore, bumped to 190 as a junior and now weighs 213, thanks to lifting four times a week with his school’s NFL-caliber strength coach. He said that and the school’s excellent nutrition options — salmon, chicken, steak, Greek food and pasta — account for the weight gain.

In two seasons, Herrera has completed 64% of his passes for 2,984 yards and a 39-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Because they play at larger schools that regularly compete in the Open Division, Palmer and Huhn are more well-known than Herrera.

But Walton said coaches from Alabama and Georgia, even Chip Kelly, now the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator, watched Herrera throw and said: “This guy, he’s different. He spins it. He’s pretty special.”

Herrera lives in Escondido. He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the La Jolla campus on time. His level of commitment includes practicing drop-backs in front of a mirror to ensure his footwork is precise.

Said Bishop’s wide receiver Nick Pfister, “I’ve trained with probably the top 10 quarterbacks in California. The way he throws the ball is pretty incredible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts as a freshman at Indiana. He’s going to surprise some people.”

San Diego’s top QBs

The section is loaded with top-flight quarterbacks this season. Here are 25 to watch, in alphabetical order:

Name, School, Year, 2024 stats 

Trey Arnold, Mission Bay, Sr., 163 for 280, 1,815 yards, 17 TDs, 11 INTs

Zac Benitez, Granite Hills, Jr., 195 for 299, 2,410 yards, 27 TDs, 9 INTs

Gavin Caha, Steele Canyon, Jr., 138 for 215, 1,760 yards, 20 TDs, 7 INTs

Quentyn DeMara, University City, Sr., 170 for 246, 2,856 yards, 36 TDs, 9 INT

Zac Garland, Coastal Academy, Sr., 98 for 168, 1,564 yards, 14 TDs, 2 INTs

Jayden Harris, San Diego, So., 116 for 192, 1,633 yards, 14 TDs, 9 INTs

Cash Herrera, Bishop’s, Sr., 160 for 226, 2,033 yards, 24 TDs, 5 INTs

Troy Huhn, Mission Hills, Sr., 164 for 235, 2,051 yards, 19 TDs, 6 INTs

Dax Labrum, Santa Fe Christian, Jr., 94 for 174, 1,638 yards, 21 TDs, 3 INTs

Jake Locker, Maranatha Christian, Sr., 134 for 202, 1,911 yards, 27 TDs, 6 INTs

Eli MacNeal, Carlsbad, Sr., 179 for 235, 2,189 yards, 21 TDs, 8 INTs

Kreet Makihele, San Marcos, Sr., 201 for 285, 3,452 yards, 44 TDs, 9 INTs

Kainan Manna, Lincoln, Sr., 150 for 253, 2,366 yards, 22 TDs, 4 INTs at Peoria (Ariz.) Centennial

Isaiah Mena-Malijan, Montgomery, Jr., 111 for 196, 1,819 yards, 17 TDs, 11 INTs

Braylon Mitchell, Valley Center, Sr., 137 for 242, 1,755 yards, 19 TDs, 9 INTs

Brady Palmer, Cathedral Catholic, Sr., 74 for 128, 1,126 yards, 16 TDs, 5 INTs

Robert Renteria, San Pasqual, Sr., 164 for 262, 2,338 yards, 21 TDs, 5 INTs

Quinn Roth, La Costa Canyon, Sr. 141 for 202, 2,235 yards, 31 TDs, 6 INTs

Kaleb Runkle, Christian, Jr., 129 for 172, 1,528 yards, 21 TDs, 1 INT

Noah Schuback, Poway, Sr., 130 for 224, 1,985 yards, 25 TDs, 5 INTs at Melissa (Texas)

Hudson Smith, La Jolla, Jr., 163 for 257, 2,145 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs

Vincent Smith, St. Augustine, Sr., 77 for 154, 714 yards, 1 TD, 6 INTs

Caden Thompson, Helix, Jr., 143 for 194, 2,058 yards, 25 TDs, 4 INTs at Escondido

Carson Tamopeau, Mt. Carmel, Sr., 85 for 124, 958 yards, 8 TDs, 3 INTs

Gaige Weddle, Rancho Bernardo, So., 74 for 117, 1,115 yards, 12 TDs, 2 INTs

JOHN MAFFEI