Despite Heroics, McGraw’s Choices Are Not Rated I-A

Laguna Hills’ Brendan McGraw enjoyed a record-breaking season, but those heroics didn’t produce many scholarship offers.

McGraw rushed for 2,511 yards, the second-best single-season mark in county history, and 45 touchdowns, a single-season county record.

Some Division I-A schools contacted McGraw early, but Villanova and Boston University, both Division I-AA schools, were the only ones who showed serious interest in the 6-1, 190-pound senior.

McGraw plans to sign with Villanova during the national letter of intent signing period that begins Wednesday and continues through April 1.

“It’s frustrating and I thought I would get more offers,” McGraw said. “But there’s only so much you can do. Still, I have a choice of two schools, and a college scholarship is tough to turn down.”

McGraw said he would have been comfortable at either school. He knows Santa Margarita’s Brad and Brian Finneran, who signed with Villanova last year, and he played with former Laguna Hills quarterback Justin Vedder, who went to Boston.

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Costa Mesa running back Charles Chatman rushed for 2,500 yards, the third-best single-season performance in county history. But colleges weren’t impressed.

Costa Mesa Coach Myron Miller said Chatman would receive more consideration now that he has scored above the minimum requirement on the Scholastic Assessment Test.

“Schools couldn’t recruit him before,” Miller said. “But now, they’ll take another look at him.”

Although Chatman, also a top-flight baseball player, could potentially be selected in the June amateur draft, Miller said Chatman would be interested in pursuing football scholarship offers first.

“He wants to go to school and get an education,” Miller said.

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Education is a high priority for Mater Dei quarterback John Flynn. Flynn, the South Coast League most valuable player, is considering Brown and other Ivy League schools, plus Army and Air Force.

Flynn, a 6-1, 175-pound senior who was a two-year starter, completed 67% of his passes for 2,713 yards and 28 touchdowns last season.

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Mater Dei’s Matt Motherway, 6-4, 265-pounds and The Times Orange County lineman of the year, will sign with Stanford. Teammate Patrick Shinnefield, a first-team all-county kicker, will also sign with the Cardinal.

Motherway only took trips to Colorado and Stanford before deciding to go to school in Palo Alto.

“I probably have a pretty good chance to play there,” said Motherway, who has a 3.6 grade-point average. “But I also considered what would help me after I’m done playing. And the school’s academic excellence combined with the football program is tough to beat.”

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Los Alamitos wide receiver Brad Melsby, The Times Orange County’s back of the year, plans to sign with UCLA.

Stanford, Arizona State, and Minnesota were also interested in the 6-foot-1, 183-pound senior. He finished as Orange County’s most prolific high school receiver. During his three-year varsity career, Melsby set county records for receptions (185), receiving yardage (2,979) and touchdown receptions (35).