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One of the best players in the Pacific Northwest over the last three seasons has been California Bound Maximo Espitia Jr (6-3 215 ATH). He did a little of everything setting multiple school and conference records, accounting for 4,728 yards of offense and 64 total touchdowns from 2009- 2011.
Maximo originally committed to Oregon St and made a late switch after a rigorous decision making process. Even though he will be going to a big time university like California, he may be one of the most under recruited players in the country. Watching his film you see a man amongst boys. He was the Central Valley League Offensive Player of the Year in 2011, but his talents were never fully exploited because he had to play out of position for two of his three seasons.
There wasn’t much he didn’t do even finishing as one of the state sack leaders as a sophomore (8). He was the teams best defensive player, but had to play sparingly some games on D because he was so vital to the offense. If he got hurt it was over.
For the sake of the team Maximo played quarterback his junior and senior season even though he was hands down the best receiver in Oregon. He projects as an outside linebacker/Slot at the next level, and is flat out better then most other athletes. He’s not going to set any 40 yard dash records, but people cant seem to tackle him.
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To put into perspective how talented of an athlete he is you can look at his cast of achievements. He was voted his teams most valuable player in basketball during the Saxons 2010-11 season, and also won the the class 6a state title in the Javelin in his first season throwing. Combine this with some ridiculous career statistics (1675 Pass yds, 21 pass Tds; 260 rushes, 1991 rush yds, 28 rush Tds; 54 receptions 1062 rec yds, 15 Rec Tds) and you have what amounts to be a plethora of records.
“Im working out harder then I ever have in my life right now, and I want to go down to Cal and be a player right away”, Espitia says. He is being trained by Eric Thompson, a former Willamette/ San Diego St athlete who actually resides in Berkeley. “Its going really well, and Im seeing a lot of progress so Im excited”, he said.
Espitia Jr is a 3.8 student and one of the classiest kids you are ever going to meet. He has “Steve Largent” like intangibles and should be considered an all PAC 12 type athlete. If I was to bet on one kid succeeding at the highest level it would be Maximo (Junior) Espitia. Oregon has been blessed to have such a quality kid play his high school football here. “Im leaving to college right after I graduate, and want to play right away”.
I don’t even think Cal fully knows what they just landed. He’s a winner in every sense of the word and I don’t believe his career will end after college. It will be fun finding out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4nl7aALsCg 2010 Junior Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqSXFDgsCg 2009 Sophomore Highlights
