Most Passing Yards in California High School Football History

These are the quarterbacks with the most passing yards in California high school football history.

For sheer volume, California high school football has few peers. From the northern tip of the state all the way down to San Diego, the state is filled with so many prep football teams that they didn’t even start playing state championship games until 2006.

Like the rest of the country’s football programs, California high school football has seen an explosion of offenses in the last decade, which means record books are being rewritten seemingly ever year.

Here’s a look at the California high school quarterbacks with the most career passing yards of all time.

15. Brady White — 10,835 Passing Yards

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High school: Hart High School (Santa Clarita, California)

Years: 2012-14

Bottom line: Brady White was a four-star recruit and U.S. Army All-American at Santa Clarita’s Hart High, where he threw for 3,725 yards and 45 touchdowns in just 12 games as a senior.

White was one of Arizona State’s highest-rated recruits of all time in 2015 and managed to graduate from college in just under three years. He transferred to Memphis, where he was a two-time All-AAC selection, a Manning Award finalist and won the Campbell Trophy as a senior in 2020 — also known as the Academic Heisman. He’s currently a quarterback for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the newly reformed Untied States Football League.

14. Michael Herrick — 11,022 Passing Yards

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High school: Valencia High School (Santa Clarita, California)

Years: 2003-05

Bottom line: Michael Herrick’s accomplishments stand out on this list, as he’s the oldest quarterback to make the list by a full decade.

The former Valencia High star threw for 4,069 yards as a senior and signed with Ole Miss, where he lasted one season before he transferred to Northern Arizona, where he was the full-time starter for his final two seasons and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the top player in NCAA Division I-AA in 2009 and 2010.

13. Nathan Lamb — 11,258 Passing Yards

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High school: Tulare Union High School (Tulare, California)

Years: 2016-18

Bottom line: Nathan Lamb was a three-year starter at Tulare Union High, capping things off by throwing for 4,441 yards and 56 touchdowns as a senior.

Lamb spent one season at Fresno State before he transferred to College of the Sequoias, where he threw for 2,271 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2021.

12. Armando Herrera — 11,397 Passing Yards

Redlands East Valley High QB Armando Herrera

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High school: Redlands East Valley High School (Redlands, California)

Years: 2013-16

Bottom line: Armando Herrera had a difficult time matching what he did his sophomore season at Redlands Valley East High School, when he led his school to a 15-1 record and the CIF Division II state championship.

Herrera started two seasons at San Bernardino Valley College, where he threw for 3,262 yards, 44 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a sophomore. He transferred to NCAA Division II Texas A&M-Commerce for one season before transferring to another Division II school, Fort Lewis College.

11. Caden Voges — 11,510 Passing Yards

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High school: Sacramento High School (Sacramento, California)

Years: 2013-15

Bottom line: Caden Voges finished his career as the No. 3 passer in California history after lighting up the state sheet for Sacramento High.

Voges was one of the few quarterbacks on this list not to get a shot at playing on the NCAA level and ended up as the part-time starter for NAIA school Lewis & Clark State College for his junior and senior seasons.

10. Braxton Burmeister — 11,512 Passing Yards

La Jolla Country Day QB Braxton Burmeister

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High school: La Jolla Country Day School (La Jolla, California)

Years: 2013-16

Bottom line: The son of former University of North Carolina linebacker Dan Burmeister, Braxton Burmeister capped his record-setting career at La Jolla Country Day by throwing for 4,461 yards and 53 touchdowns while rushing for 1,470 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior on the way to a CIF Division 5-A runner-up finish.

Burmeister started five games as a true freshman at the University of Oregon in 2017, transferred to Virginia Tech and went 8-7 as the Hokies’ starter over two seasons.

Burmeister transferred back home to San Diego State in January 2022 and will likely emerge from spring ball as the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart.

9. Alec Trujillo — 11,682 Passing Yards

San Joaquin Memorial High QB Alec Trujillo

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High school: Exeter High School (Exeter, California) and San Joaquin Memorial High School (Fresno, California)

Years: 2015-18

Bottom line: Undersized at just 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, Alec Trujillo still lit up the competition at Fresno San Joaquin Memorial High.

Trujillo threw for 4,253 yards and 50 touchdowns as a senior in 2018 as he led San Joaquin to the CIF Division II-A championship game. Trujillo signed with San Jose State out of high school and spent two seasons there before he transferred to Iowa Central Community College, where he played two games in 2021 before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

Trujillo transferred to Fresno State in December 2021, where he’ll still have four years of college eligibility remaining.

8. Trent Tompkins — 11,743 Passing Yards

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High school: Central High School (Fresno, California)

Years: 2016-18

Bottom line: The son of former BMX world champion Trent Tompkins went 36-5 in three years as the starter at Fresno Central High but saved his best for last, throwing for over 5,000 yards and rushing for over 1,000 yards as a senior in 2018 while leading his team to back-to-back section championships.

Tompkins found a role as a Wildcat quarterback/athlete for UC Davis in 2021, where he rushed for almost 500 yards and six touchdowns along with throwing for just over 100 yards and a touchdown. He also made SportsCenter’s Top 10 for one of the more wild touchdown runs you’ll ever see.

7. Sam Metcalf — 11,913 Passing Yards

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High school: Farmersville High School (Farmersville, California)

Years: 2011-14

Bottom line: Sam Metcalf is a legend among CIF Central Section schools, where he led Farmersville High to the only section title in school history and threw for 142 career touchdowns.

Metcalf earned a scholarship to NCAA Division II Minnesota-Moorhead — the first Farmerville player in history offered a football scholarship — but left school before his freshman season even started. He was out of football for three years before a start and quick stop at College of the Sequoias before landing the starting quarterback job at Fresno City College in 2018, a full four years after he last suited up for a game.

6. J.T. Daniels — 12,014 Passing Yards

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High school: Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California)

Years: 2015-17

Bottom line: J.T. Daniels was a can’t-miss recruit coming out of powerhouse Mater Dei High School — the same school as Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, who succeeded him as the starting quarterback.

Daniels started his college career at USC, where he started his first two seasons before an ACL injury, then transferred to Georgia after he lost his starting job. He once again lost his starting job, this time to Stetson Bennett, who took over and led Georgia to its first national championship in 40 years. In April 2022, Daniels announced he was transferring yet again, this time to West Virginia.

5. Tristan Gebbia — 13,109 Passing Yards

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High school: Calabasas High School (Calabasas, California)

Years: 2014-16

Bottom line: Tristan Gebbia went 28-3 as the starter for Calabasas High over his last two seasons as the starter and capped things off with a heroic effort in the 2-AA Regional Final as a senior, throwing for 557 yards and seven touchdowns in a 60-53 loss.

Gebbia signed with Nebraska out of high school but transferred to Oregon State in 2018, where he started five games over the last three seasons.

4. Hank Bachmeier — 13,150 Passing Yards

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High school: Murrieta Valley High School (Murrieta, California)

Years: 2015-18

Bottom line: Hank Bachmeier started all four years at Murrieta Valley High, where he threw for just over 13,000 yards and 156 touchdowns while tacking on 2,190 yards running the ball along with 32 rushing touchdowns.

Bachmeier has been the starter at Boise State since 2019 and had a breakout season in 2021, passing for 3,079 yards and 20 touchdowns against just eight interceptions.

3. Bryce Young — 13,250 Passing Yards

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High schools: Cathedral High School (Los Angeles, California) and Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California)

Years: 2016-19

Bottom line: Clocking in at just 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, it still amazes us to see Bryce Young do what he does on a football field. His prep career spanned two schools — Cathedral High in Los Angeles for his first two seasons before transferring to powerhouse Mater Dei for his final two seasons.

Young was the USA Today High School Offensive Player of the Year in 2019, then led Alabama to a CFP national championship in 2020 as a true freshman. He followed that up by winning the Heisman Trophy in 2021, along with sweeping all of the major college football player of the year awards.

Young is projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

2. Jayden Daniels — 14,007 Passing Yards

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High school: Cajon High School (San Bernardino, California)

Years: 2015-18

Bottom line: Jayden Daniels was the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the entire nation coming out of Cajon High School in 2019 and enrolled early at Arizona State, where he has been the Sun Devils’ full-time starter the last three seasons. In 2021, he threw for 2,380 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 710 yards and six touchdowns.

Daniels rolled the dice and transferred to LSU in March 2022 — he’ll have to compete with former five-star recruit Myles Brennan to be the starting quarterback for first-year coach Brian Kelly.

1. Jake Browning — 16,775 Passing Yards

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High school: Folsom High School (Folsom, California)

Years: 2012-14

Bottom line: Folsom High’s Jake Browning was a two-time California Gatorade Player of the Year and set the national record with 229 career touchdown passes and the national single-season record with 91 touchdown passes as a senior. His 16,775 career passing yards are the second-highest total in national history behind Kenton (Ohio) High School’s Maty Mauk.

Browning led Folsom to the DIF Division I state championship in 2014, then became the University of Washington’s career passing leader and was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2016. He’s been on the practice squad for the Minnesota Vikings for the last two seasons.