Caleb Sanchez, a Cali boy, packed his reminiscences of sunshine, seashores and In-N-Out burgers to get an Ivy League training and soccer expertise at Columbia College in New York.
He turned one of the talked about freshman quarterbacks on the finish of final season, passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-12 win over Brown and passing for 201 yards in a 19-11 win over Cornell that helped Columbia win the Ivy League title.
Then got here the true problem — snow, a blizzard and freezing temperatures.
“I used to be very shocked,” he mentioned. “I used to be warned day-after-day the winter could be arduous. I didn’t anticipate it to be as chilly because it was.”
It wasn’t chilly sufficient to discourage Sanchez from persevering with his quest to stability athletics and lecturers. He started his sophomore season on Saturday because the backup quarterback in Columbia’s 38-14 loss to Lafayette. It’s one other expertise that he acquired used to at St. John Bosco, ready till his senior 12 months to change into the beginning quarterback and show his potential,
Quarterback Caleb Sanchez of St. John Bosco.
(Craig Weston)
He’s certainly one of 39 graduates of Southern Part faculties to be taking part in Ivy League soccer this season. Harvard-Westlake and Loyola have essentially the most with 5 gamers every.
There’s going to be standouts, comparable to Princeton defensive again Tahj Owens (Loyola), heading into his fourth season, and Yale receiver Nico Brown (Edison), who had 5 catches for 119 yards and one landing in his season debut towards Holy Cross on Saturday.
Sanchez was capable of redshirt final season as a freshman, having performed solely within the ultimate three video games, and the aim is to be a standout the subsequent three seasons, earn his invaluable Columbia diploma and spend a fifth 12 months at maybe a big-time faculty program.
He has no regrets of looking for out an Ivy League expertise after serving to St. John Bosco attain the Division 1 championship recreation in 2023.
“I’ll depart right here with one of many prime levels on this planet,” he mentioned.
That’s the attraction in a league the place the eight faculties don’t take part in NIL income sharing with college students however will lastly let soccer groups take part within the FCS playoffs this season.
The scholars need to be all in for lecturers and athletics.
“We’re 100% at school, 100% in soccer,” Sanchez mentioned. “There’s no assist for soccer gamers. Professors don’t care. They deal with you as regular college students.”
Sanchez, 20, not often has free time. It’s courses, conferences, homework, practices, watching movie, then sleep. His transition final 12 months was difficult in that the Columbia offense was a lot completely different than that of St. John Bosco. He needed to study performs needing 20 to 30 phrases to name from a listening gadget in his helmet the place simply 4 phrases had been used to name performs at St. John Bosco.
He’s 6 ft 3½ and 217 kilos, and might be getting ready to have a season that can draw plenty of consideration. Definitely wanting on and rooting from dwelling might be his youthful brother, Ryu, a sixth-grader with a future in soccer and lecturers.
Look for plenty of excellent news from the Sanchez brothers within the coming years.
As for the approaching climate change, Sanchez mentioned he’s prepared.
“I’m ready now. Winter shouldn’t be going to shock me.”
Can anybody ship In-N-Out to New York?
Brown: DB Elias Archie, St. John Bosco; OL Kai Faucher, Harvard-Westlake; DL Mitch Mooney, San Marino; DL Caden Harman, Sierra Canyon.
Columbia: WR Caden Butler, Chaparral; DB Ethan Fullerton, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; QB Caleb Sanchez, St. John Bosco; LB Patrick Sodl, Loyola; DL Will Matthew, Orange Vista; TE Santiago Hernandez, Harvard-Westlake; WR Elliot Cooper, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; DL Shawn Lin, Loyola; DL Austin Coronado, Glendora.
Cornell: DB Rayjohn White, Bishop Amat; DB Brayon Crawford, Village Christian; WR AJ Holmes, Harvard-Westlake; QB Cameron Shannon, Riverside North; LB Darryl Davis, Culver Metropolis; LB Connor Klein, Loyola; TE Brandon Gilbert, Murrieta Valley.
Dartmouth: RB Desmin Jackson, Orange Lutheran; OL Ryan Turk, Loyola.
Harvard: Okay Dylan Fingersh, Capistrano Valley.
Pennsylvania: RB Julien Stokes, Grace Brethren; DB Alec Wills, Los Alamitos; LB Trevor Pajak, Mater Dei; WR Dylan Karz, Brentwood; Okay Josh Barnavon, Harvard-Westlake.
Princeton: DB Tahj Owens, Loyola; RB Kai Honda, Gardena Serra; DB D’Shawn Jones, Sierra Canyon; LB Jalen Jones, Santa Margarita; DB Justice Croffie, Los Alamitos.
Yale: WR Nico Brown, Edison; QB Marshall Howe, Harvard-Westlake; DL Ezekiel Larry, Sierra Canyon; DB Dillon Rickenbacker, St. John Bosco; TE Scott Truninger, Corona del Mar; WR Davis Wong, Brentwood.
