Saturday, November 29, 2010
A week had passed since the historic Southern Section final between Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly.
Andrew had delivered one of the most impressive individual performances ever recorded on a stage of that caliber: 5 touchdowns, 408 passing yards, 25/31 completions, an 80.6% completion rate, the highest of the season, and once again, 0 interceptions.
After such a spectacular end to the season, it was inevitable that every major recruiting service, Rivals, 247Sports, Scout, and ESPN, would update their rankings. And what had seemed imminent for months finally happened: Andrew became the undisputed No. 1 recruit in the entire 2012 class, surpassing for the first time the well-known physical freaks who traditionally dominate the top of the rankings.
Earlier, when Mater Dei finished the Trinity League undefeated and with brutal statistics, he had already climbed onto the national podium. But the No. 1 spot still eluded him, evaluators seemed to be waiting to see how far he could go once the playoffs began.
Andrew's answer was clear: all the way to the top.
The current Rivals ranking was as follows:
[Name: Andrew Pritchett-Tucker
Position: Quarterback
Height/Weight: 6'3" – 201 lbs
Class: 2012
High School: Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA)
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
National Overall Ranking: #1
Position Ranking (Pro-Style QB): #1
Total QB Ranking (Dual-Threat + Pro-Style): #1]
Rivals Report:
"Pritchett-Tucker has just completed the best junior campaign we've ever seen. Historic production, elite arm talent, mobility, preternatural vision, and the ability to elevate an entire program. Mater Dei returned to the top after 11 years because of him. And it's not just the outrageous stats, other great quarterbacks like Jimmy Clausen or Matt Barkley also posted exceptional numbers in their time, but something even harder to find: the fact that this individual impact directly translates into titles, finals won, and showing up in decisive moments when his team needs him. Pritchett-Tucker doesn't just dominate, he makes his team win."
...
Andrew had become the No. 1 recruit in his entire class, across all positions. He was also now the No. 1 Pro-Style Quarterback, something that might confuse people if they see him in that category when before he had been ranked as Dual-Threat.
In recruiting rankings, there are two main categories for quarterbacks:
The first is Dual-Threat, reserved for quarterbacks who can create real danger both through the air and on the ground, with natural mobility and the ability to extend plays.
In this category, Andrew was ranked No. 1 from the moment he arrived at Mater Dei and won the Dana Hills summer tournament, where he was champion and MVP.
The second category is Pro-Style, meant for classic pocket quarterbacks: feet set inside the protection, full-field vision, clean mechanics, anticipation, and an arm that controls all levels of the passing game.
Andrew fit into both. Maybe a little too well.
For most of the year, Andrew had been classified as a Dual-Threat QB. He had been the No. 1 Dual-Threat in the country since the summer, but he couldn't appear in the Pro-Style ranking because, under recruiting system rules, a quarterback can only be listed in one category at a time.
While he was #1 in Dual-Threat, Gunner Kiel, a student at Columbus East High School in Indiana, held the #1 spot in Pro-Style.
Andrew wasn't even eligible to appear on that list as long as he remained classified as Dual-Threat, and it irritated him deeply, even if he never said it out loud.
Because Andrew didn't see himself as a runner who happened to throw. His identity, his essence in his first life, had always been that of a pure passer: anticipation, reads, precision, aggressiveness, pocket control, and an arm capable of tearing entire defenses open.
The problem was that during his early years at Palisades, surrounded by a weak offensive line (Kevin being the only exception), Andrew had been forced to run, improvise, and throw on the move far more than he wanted. That period shaped the way recruiters perceived him, boxing him into the Dual-Threat category and never revisiting the label.
Until now.
Andrew decided to force the category change. He couldn't request it explicitly. It's not as if he could just send the recruiting service a message that said, "put me in Pro-Style."
The only way to make it happen was on the field, and he did exactly that. Starting in the Trinity League and throughout the playoffs, he only ran in truly critical moments. Most of his touchdowns came through pocket passing.
Each week it became more obvious that his game was far too advanced for the category he had been placed in.
Finally, after the championship game, where he threw 5 touchdowns, surpassed 400 passing yards, and delivered a historic 77-yard bomb, the Southern Section season came to an end, and evaluators had no choice but to reclassify him.
Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN officially reclassified him as a Pro-Style Quarterback. Only then, eligible for that category for the first time, could Andrew compete against Gunner Kiel and the rest of the quarterbacks ranked as pure passers.
And once he did, there was no debate. His passing dominance, efficiency, reads, and production put him at the top instantly. He was named the #1 Pro-Style QB in the country on the spot, and the Dual-Threat label disappeared from his profile.
Changing categories isn't impossible. It's not common, true, but there are precedents. Analysts do it when they realize a player was mislabeled, or when his development completely alters his initial projection.
That doesn't mean Andrew will stop running. His legs remain a dangerous weapon, and he's not foolish enough to waste them. But now at Mater Dei he uses them more as a complement than a foundation.
Mater Dei bases 70-80% of its playbook on pocket passing, and Andrew feels right at home there. His mobility is an ace up his sleeve, a strategic advantage, not his core identity.
Moreover, this style is key for a long and healthy career. Especially in the NFL.
Quarterbacks labeled as Dual-Threat tend to have shorter careers: they absorb more hits, are exposed to more collisions, and face significantly higher injury risks compared to passers who live inside the pocket.
Andrew knows this, and once he reaches the NFL he wants a long, stable, extended career, like Tom Brady's, not a brilliant five- or six-year run that ends abruptly due to accumulated hits.
No matter how privileged his genetics may be, no matter his training, diet, recovery speed, or muscular strength, there is an absolute truth in professional sports: if a 250-, 270-, or 300-pound monster hits you while you're in motion, sooner or later something breaks. The human body has limits, even his.
Additionally, this reclassification created a curious statistic, one that will likely never be repeated: Andrew became the only quarterback in the modern recruiting era to have been ranked first as the #1 Dual-Threat QB and, after being reclassified, also achieve #1 Pro-Style QB.
No other documented case exists.
No quarterback has ever dominated both major categories, nor shown a level high enough to force evaluators to rewrite his QB identity entirely.
The overall QB in the country had already been number one for some time. But how is the best total quarterback determined when there are two different categories and they don't compete directly?
The answer lies in the internal system used by recruiting services.
Each platform assigns an individual numerical grade to every player, regardless of whether he is Pro-Style or Dual-Threat.
That score combines multiple components such as: physical traits, arm strength, mechanics, mobility, production, level of competition, consistency, and more.
Ever since Andrew won the Trinity League, he already held the highest score in the nation. What changed is that before, he was the No. 1 overall QB as a Dual-Threat, and now he was No. 1, but as a Pro-Style.
The No. 2 overall QB was Jameis Winston. His arm was excellent, his physical frame monstrous, and his mobility made him dangerous in any system.
Andrew knew Jameis Winston, but only from a perspective no one else had: the future. He had never spoken to him, never crossed paths with him. Winston was from Alabama, a state far away from his own.
But Andrew knew parts of his story. He knew what Winston would do at Florida State University. He knew he would explode in 2013, that he would win the Heisman Trophy, and that he would be treated like a college football superstar.
…
📰 Los Angeles Times - Published Sunday, November 23, 2010
Mater Dei crowns itself again after eleven years: Pritchett-Tucker breaks multiple records in a historic final
ANAHEIM — Eleven years after their last Southern Section title, Mater Dei returned to the throne.
And they did it on a legendary stage, in front of more than 35,000 people, with an unforgettable performance from their junior quarterback Andrew Pritchett-Tucker, who once again shined at the moment of maximum pressure.
The 45–29 victory over Long Beach Poly capped a season that is already being considered one of the best individual campaigns, if not the best, ever recorded by a high school quarterback in the nation's history.
Pritchett-Tucker delivered 5 touchdowns, over 400 passing yards, and total control of the game.
He was named MVP of the final, and not just because of his numbers, but because he stepped up exactly when Mater Dei needed him most.
Because although the final score shows a 16-point difference, the beginning was very different.
Long Beach Poly shocked everyone and even held a nine-point lead, briefly silencing the Monarchs' crowd at Angel Stadium. Mater Dei staggered.
Until Andrew decided it was time to change the story.
He did it with a play that will be remembered for many years: a 77-yard pass through the air, officially confirmed by the CIF and ESPN technicians, establishing a new national record.
The entire play covered 92 yards and lasted exactly eight seconds, pulling the Monarchs back into the game and igniting a comeback that would never stop.
The previous record belonged to Ryan Mallett (76 yards in 2006). But Pritchett-Tucker's wasn't just longer: it happened in a final, with his team trailing, under national broadcast, and against one of the best defenses in the country.
The stadium erupted, and Mater Dei never looked back.
📺 Historic Viewership Record: Mater Dei surpasses St. Vincent–St. Mary
The game was broadcast by ESPN, marking Mater Dei's fourth national appearance of the season, tying the record that St. Vincent–St. Mary set with LeBron James nearly a decade earlier.
But last night, another barrier was broken.
ESPN confirmed that the final averaged 2.05 million viewers, surpassing the legendary SVSM vs. Oak Hill Academy matchup from 2003, which had reached 1.9 million and had remained the most-watched high school game in history.
With this record, the podium of the most-watched high school sports games now looks like this:
1. Mater Dei vs. Long Beach Poly - 2.05M
2. SVSM vs. Oak Hill - 1.9M
3. Mater Dei vs. Mission Viejo - 1.75M
In total national TV viewership, Mater Dei surpasses the St. Vincent–St. Mary:
-Total Mater Dei with Andrew Pritchett-Tucker: 6.60 million
-Total SVSM with LeBron James: 5.50 million
Never before had a high school football program generated such massive national television impact in a single year.
Record Attendance at Angel Stadium
The records don't end there.
The game drew 35,042 spectators, the highest attendance in the modern era for a high school matchup in California.
It is the largest crowd recorded for a Southern Section championship in several decades and one of the highest nationwide since the 1970s.
⭐ Rankings Update: Andrew Pritchett-Tucker rises to National #1
Recruiting services Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN updated their evaluations within 24 hours of the game.
The news was just as shocking as the 77-yard pass: Andrew Pritchett-Tucker is officially the number one recruit in the entire 2012 class.
With this update, the Mater Dei quarterback finally surpassed the two freak athletes who had been ranked ahead of him, prospects who usually dominate the lists purely through genetics and explosiveness.
For a quarterback to claim the overall No. 1 spot is statistically rare.
Only truly generational talents manage to displace elite linemen and defensive prospects in rankings where brute strength and physical upside usually dictate the top positions.
Pritchett-Tucker now belongs to that group. A quarterback who forced every recruiting service to acknowledge the obvious: no one in the country is at his level.
But that wasn't the only surprise in the updates.
Analysts also announced that Andrew was officially reclassified from Dual-Threat to Pro-Style Quarterback.
And there too he claimed the #1 Pro-Style QB ranking in the country.
A completely unprecedented event.
According to data from the modern recruiting era, no quarterback had ever been ranked No. 1 in both categories at different points in his high school career.
Andrew Pritchett-Tucker is the first.
Mater Dei didn't just win a title, it earned the most dominant quarterback in the nation and the best high school player in America today.
🎯 What Comes Next
Mater Dei's next step will be the State Championship, where the Monarchs will begin their run facing Oceanside High School, champion of the San Diego Section.
A historic program, tough, physical, known for producing disciplined and competitive teams. Even so, the Monarchs enter as clear favorites thanks to their explosive offense and the presence of Andrew Pritchett-Tucker.
On the other side of the bracket stands the northern monster: De La Salle. Undefeated, just like Mater Dei, and defending state champions, the Spartans remain the absolute benchmark of high school football on the West Coast. Their discipline, their system, and their mystique remain intact.
Many are already imagining it: a potential final between the giant of the south and the giant of the north.
Mater Dei vs. De La Salle.
A clash of titans that could define not only the state champion, but the true king of high school football this year.
…
"Andrew!"
The voice rang out a second time, no, probably a third.
Andrew blinked and lifted his gaze, as if waking from a trance. He had been reading several news articles on his phone and had gotten lost in his thoughts. He locked the screen with a tap and turned his head to the left.
In the driver's seat, Willa was staring at him with a mix of irritation and resignation, leaning back with her arms crossed. She had clearly been talking to him for several seconds without getting a response.
"Are you going to keep ignoring me forever, or only when you get promoted to football deity?" Willa snapped, dripping with sarcasm and obvious bad temper.
'Wow… she really has zero patience in the morning,' Andrew thought, biting back the comment that popped into his head: A lot of people already see me as a kind of deity.
Which wasn't untrue, one of his most famous nicknames was Jesus Christ of Football. But considering his best friend's mood, he decided not to push his luck this early in the day.
"Sorry, I was reading something," Andrew said casually. Anyone else might fear Willa, but he didn't.
"Something?" Willa repeated, narrowing her eyes. "Andrew, I called you three times. It's not that hard to listen to me, you kno—"
"Willa," Andrew cut her off, raising a hand and giving her a calm, almost disarming smile, "You're right. My deepest apologies for committing the crime of ignoring you for a whole three seconds. But I'm listening now. We're going to buy Luke's present, okay?"
The gesture halted Willa's incoming indignant monologue entirely. She stared at him for another second, then sighed, shook her head, and dropped her shoulders.
"Fine… but only because it's you. I'll let you ignore me three times in a row…"
Andrew smile, pocketed his phone, and opened the door. "I'm honored by such a valuable privilege."
"Don't abuse it," Willa warned, though a faint smile gave her away.
They stepped out of the truck and headed into the mall, on a mission to find a birthday gift for Luke.
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