High school football: These ‘best buds’ are California’s most prolific passing connection
SAN RAMON — When it came time to install the new coach’s playbook at California High School before last season, quarterback Teddy Booras had an advantage: he knew the coach’s son. There was an even bigger one: He’d be throwing to him.
Jake Calcagno, now a senior wide receiver, had a front-row seat for the birth of the offensive scheme in which he’d come to star. He often roamed the sidelines at Chabot College, where his dad, Dan, led the program from 2003-2016. Last spring, after Dan was hired at Cal High, Booras and Calcagno connected more times than any other duo in California.
“We’re, like, best buds,” Booras said. “So we’ve always had a connection. I know where he is all the time on the field.”
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It just so happens Dan Calcagno’s son and his best friend are the perfect chess pieces for the offense that he’s been working on for more than a decade. When Calcagno was first installing the offense, at Chabot College in 2008, Jake and Teddy were burgeoning Little League rivals. (“We beat them all the time,” Booras said, laughing.)
Jake was a constant presence at his dad’s games and practices at Chabot.
“I was always on the sidelines, trying to get in and practice with them,” Jake said.
Before the 2008 season, Calcagno overhauled his coaching staff and took them to the University of Utah, where offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig had built one of the top attacks in the nation.
“We just sat there for a week and absorbed it all,” Calcagno said.
He credits the offense with his run of five championships at Chabot from 2011-2015.
Calcagno brought the same playbook with him when he was hired at Cal High before last season.
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Before he arrived, Jake and Teddy became friends battling for the quarterback job on the freshman/sophomore team. One day, Teddy, the first-stringer, received a note from his back-up, Jake.
If you ever mess up, I’m right there.
It wasn’t intended to provide reassurance.
Anyway, the role wasn’t the same as it is today.
The Grizzlies went from rushing the ball on 80% of their plays in 2019 to passing more than half the time and generating two-thirds of their yards through the air last spring. Cal averaged almost 60 offensive plays per game, 36% more than the previous year. They don’t huddle, and Booras doesn’t make more than two reads on any play.
“It’s crazy different,” said Booras, who got a taste of the former system as a sophomore. “We were an in-the-trenches type of team, and now we’re more air-raid. Personally I like both. But as a quarterback, of course you like throwing the ball.”
For a slot receiver like Calcagno, he said, “it’s like living the dream.”
Their passing attack was prolific, but it resulted in only two wins in six games. Expectations are higher this fall.
“Maybe go 10-0, 9-1, whatever,” Booras said. “Three losses were one-possession games. We just need to close out games.”
“I led the state in receptions last year, so I want to follow that up with leading yards this year,” Jake added.
His 56 receptions out of the slot: most in the state. But 607 yards? Darn, only tops in Northern California.
“Leading NorCal,” he said, “as funny as it seems, it just doesn’t feel like I accomplished much.”
Booras and Calcagno spent most days last summer throwing and running routes together while awaiting word on their season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer, they’ve been studying whiteboards, too. They had to implement a pared-down version of Calcagno’s offense in the spring, but they’re hoping to expand the playbook this fall.
“Last time we only had three months,” Booras said. “I think we’re gonna be even better because we have more time.”