High school football: Star Southern California quarterback Elijah Brown of Mater Dei commits to Stanford

Elijah Brown of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) announced his college decision on Sunday committing to Stanford. Arguably the most high-profile quarterback in high school football over the past three years, he has led the Monarchs to a 29-1 record with a MaxPreps National Championship in 2021 after going wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country.

Brown enters his senior year with 6,339 career yards passing and 76 touchdowns. He has completed 70.5 percent of his passes while adding seven rushing scores.

Back in the spring of 2021 he joined Todd Marinovich, Matt Barkley and JT Daniels as the only quarterbacks to start as a freshman at Mater Dei. He led the Monarchs to a 5-0 record during the shortened spring season.

In 2021, he was named the MaxPreps Sophomore of the Year after leading Mater Dei to a 12-0 record by throwing for 2,581 yards and 30 touchdowns. He went 5-0 against teams ranked in the MaxPreps Top 25.

Brown was a first team selection on the 2022 MaxPreps Junior All-America squad after leading Mater Dei to a 12-1 record throwing for 2,785 yards and 31 touchdowns. The lone loss came against St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) 24-22 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship. The Braves snapped the Monarchs’ 29-game win streak and finished the year ranked at No. 1.

The new Cardinal commit is 9-1 against nationally-ranked opponents during his prep career.

Brown joins a promising Class of 2024 for Stanford in former Folsom head coach Troy Taylor’s first full recruiting cycle. He was named head coach last December after being the head coach at Sacramento State from 2019-22. Other notable commits include Dylan Stephenson of Columbus (Miami), Naki Tuakoi of Fremont (Oakland, Calif.), Emanuel Ross of Red Bank Catholic (Red Bank, N.J.) and Brandon Booker of DeSoto (Texas). The Cardinal currently have the No. 9 overall recruiting class according to 247Sports.