MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — The Under Armour camp series made its way to Southern California this past weekend, and there were several high-profile recruits on hand at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School for the event.
Here are some recruiting takeaways.
1. Edge rusher Marco Jones was one of the highest-rated 2025 prospects in attendance. Jones plays inside linebacker for San Ramon Valley High School in Danville but participated in defensive line drills at the UA camp, and at 6 feet 5, 230 pounds, he projects to play on the edge at the next level.
He’s the No. 163 overall player in the 2025 cycle in the 247Sports Composite and has yet to commit. His timeline seems pretty straightforward. “(I will) probably lock up my options here in about a month or two and then I’m planning to commit sometime before the season,” he said.
Jones wants to trim his options to a list of 10 or 12 schools. He stopped by USC on Saturday and said the teams he’s hearing from most are Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas and Texas A&M. Alabama has a new coaching staff. So does Michigan and Texas A&M, and USC has a new staff on the defensive side of the ball. So that’s something Jones has had to digest during the past few months.
“It’s been great,” he said. “It’s always super cool to see them plant their seeds in these new spots and adjust like everybody else has to, and learn new faces, new coaches, new people.”
Jones is a national recruit, but he’ll be a priority for West Coast programs such as Oregon and USC, which need to keep players with his athleticism, size and frame from leaving the region.
2025 Danville (Calif.) San Ramon Valley DL/LB Marco Jones at Under Armour LA pic.twitter.com/ckxXMguKNH
— Max Torres (@mtorressports) March 24, 2024
2. Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) High School defensive lineman Epi Sitanilei was named MVP of the defensive line group on Sunday — along with edge rusher Prince Williams out of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.
Sitanilei was very impressive, especially in one-on-ones where he looked comfortable rushing from the interior and the edge. The 6-5, 220-pound Sitanilei is ranked No. 1,073 in the 2025 cycle and just transferred to Rancho Cucamonga after spending the past few seasons at St. John Bosco in Bellflower.
He could be someone worth keeping an eye on in the summer and during the season as he gets more exposure and collects more film.
3. Up to this point, it’s been a relatively quiet recruiting process for four-star quarterback Madden Iamaleava, who is the No. 176 overall player in the current cycle and passed for 3,626 yards and 43 touchdowns as a junior at Warren High School in Downey. Iamaleava’s older brother, Nico, went through a heavily publicized recruiting process two years ago and is set to start for Tennessee this fall. That’s guided Madden as he is set to kickstart his recruitment now.
“It’s helped me a lot,” Iamaleava said. “Knowing from what’s real and what’s fake and how I can take my process, how I can take my approach. It’s been easy for me, honestly. Knowing where the love is and if it’s true or not.”
Quarterbacks typically commit before their senior season, and Iamaleava said that’s ideal, but he seemed open to taking his recruitment beyond that.
“Whenever it’s right for me,” Iamaleava said. “Whenever I feel I’m ready to commit even if it goes a little into the season, I don’t mind.”
Iamaleava repeatedly emphasized that development will be the determining factor whenever he makes a decision. The contenders are starting to come into focus. He’s going to check out a UCLA spring practice soon. He also plans on heading out to Nebraska and wants to visit Alabama and Missouri for some spring practices, too. Iamaleava is also hearing from Colorado a lot.
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4. One of the more intriguing players at the camp was 6-1, 280-pound defensive lineman Joseph Peko, son of 11-year NFL veteran Domata Peko.
Peko plays for Oaks Christian in Westlake Village and is a 2026 prospect, so it’s still very early in his recruiting process.
He did spend some time at USC on Saturday. The Trojans hired defensive line coach Eric Henderson away from the Rams this offseason. Henderson spent some time on the Bengals in 2008 and played with Domata Peko.
“Coach Henderson is a great dude,” Joseph Peko said. “Amazing. He knows how to get it down. … It’s just a blessing to see him again and to see him at SC.”
Peko also said he’s been talking with Miami and UCLA. He’ll check out UCLA next month.
5. Chip Kelly was never energetic or enthusiastic when it came to high school recruiting at UCLA so it was something of a shock to the system to hear the Bruins brought up as much as they were on Sunday.
UCLA typically hadn’t come up in conversations with recruits in the previous five or six years. It’s clear DeShaun Foster is taking a different approach and is trying to re-establish the local recruiting ties across the region.
6. Cal commit Jusyis “Jojo” Solis was named as one of the running back MVPs for the event. Solis’ name was brought up several times when discussing some of the best 2025 prospects with high school and college coaches earlier this year.
He’s rated as a three-star prospect and is only the No. 803 overall player, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if his recruiting ranking improves after more evaluators see him this spring and summer.
7. Jared Martin is a four-star prospect who plays in a small town (Central High School in El Centro) in a region (the Imperial Valley) that isn’t viewed as a recruiting hotbed, and he started playing football as a high school freshman. So he’s a bit unfamiliar with all of the recruiting hoopla.
“I remember my first offer. It was from Colorado State. I didn’t even know what an offer was,” he said. “I just started playing football so it was like, ‘OK, cool.’ Then they all started calling me and … and I was like this is surreal, you know, it’s a real moment. My brother sat me down and he was like, ‘You realize these are the stepping stones to go to the NFL.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, this is how you get there.’”
Martin’s offer list has grown to include programs like USC, Penn State and Washington among others. The 6-3, 210-pound edge rusher is still in the middle of baseball season, and his recruiting should pick up over the next few months.
He will go to USC this weekend and wants to take trips to other West Coast programs like Cal, Washington, Boise State and Arizona. TCU is a school he mentioned as well. Penn State is a possible trip but “a far” one, Martin said.
“Hopefully, I can make a decision by this summer,” Martin said. “If not, it’s always open during the senior season. You never know what can happen during the senior season.”
(Photo of Marco Jones: Antonio Morales / The Athletic)
