St. John Bosco at Bishop Gorman: Star gazing — all the top recruits from Friday's national showdown in Las Vegas

Despite lack of 5- and 4-star players, game promises to come down to the last possession; Which team has more top-end talent?

3-star St. John Bosco quarterback Koa Malau'ulu has already started most of the last two seasons | Photo by Heston Quan

Sounds like numbers belted out for a jackpot lotto game: “47, 314, 486, 595, 802!” 

In this case, the winner is the lower number. The recruiting number. 

And if Friday’s mammoth national showcase game in Las Vegas, pitting No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) at No. 7 Bishop Gorman is decided that way, the host Gaels will turn out victorious. 

How’s that now? 

According to a very simple formula, devised by yours truly, when taking the national individual recruiting rankings from 247Sports Composite of the classes 2027 and 2028, Gorman’s top eight recruits rank cumulatively higher than St. John Bosco. 

• PRESEASON POWER 25 | National football rankings

The final score: Bishop Gorman 3,115, St. John Bosco 3,667.  Like golf, the lower number wins.

How’s that again? 

Gorman’s top national 2027 player recruit ranks: 47, 314 and 802. Its 2028 top recruits: 92, 136, 409, 611, 740. All those numbers add up to 3,115.  

Bosco’s top 2027 players: 486, 596 and 878. Its top 2028 recruits: 111, 195, 352, 519 and 521. Those numbers equal 3,667.  

Check back to High Schools on SI for live reports, features, updates on Bosco at Gorman throughout the week: pregame, live updates and postgame.

The truth is, these aren’t two of either program’s most highly college recruitied teams. The 2023 squads, for instance, combined to boast five Top 300 national recruits from a single class. The 2027 class for both teams has just one top 300 national recruit, Bishop Gorman cornerback Hayden Stepp, an Oregon commit. 

Stepp is only one of two 4-star recruits from the Class of 2027 in the game — Bosco has none — and from the Class of 2028, the Braves have three four-star players and Gorman just two. 

Despite the relatively low star top-star power, the programs are perennial contenders for national championships — Bosco has won three mythical crowns by MaxPreps (2013, 2019 and 2022) and Gorman has won four by various outlets (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2023) — and with quality players at each position and top-end coaching, the game figures to be played at a national title-game level. 

MaxPreps, which will broadcast the game live on its YouTube channel, has Bosco ranked No. 1 in the country and Gorman, coming off a 41-0 win over Somerset Academy Losee in a game halted at halftime due to lightning, is No. 2. 

Both head coaches, Bosco’s Jason Negro and Gorman’s Brent Browner, are alums of their teams and have taken great pride in building and in Browner’s case, re-establishing their programs to a national level. Negro is 177-30 in his 16-year career as head coach at Bosco, while Browner, who was an assistant under Kenny Sanchez before taking over in 2021, is a remarkable 61-4. 

'Great high school football game'

This is only the third meeting between the super powers, with Gorman winning the two previous games in 2016 (35-20) and 2014 (34-31). Both coaches told Tarek Fattal and Aram Tolegian on the Fattal Factor Monday that they hope and anticipate the game to come down to the game’s final possession.  

WATCH GORMAN-BOSCO PREVIEW | Fattal Factor

“When you watch both of us play, you’re getting a good product on the field,” Browner said. “It doesn’t matter if we have (top recruits) or they’ve got everybody, the fans are going to get a great high school football game. We have guys who start who have no stars and I’m guessing they do as well.”

Perhaps so, but here are all the players in the game with at least a 3-star ranking: 

St. John Bosco Class of 2027

3 Stars (All national ranking Nos from 247Sports Composite)

• Rank No. 485. S Isala Aisa Wily-Ava, 6-2, 195 Washington commit

• No. 595 S Dillon Davis, 6-1, 185, Vanderbilt

• No. 878 LB Josiah Poyer, 6-1, 225, USC

• No. 1,053 LB Justin Coach, 6-2, 205, Washington

• No. 1,124 LB Ethan Coach, 6-3, 205, Washington

• No. 1,305 RB Maliq Allen, 5-8, 185, uncommitted

Bishop Gorman Class of 2027

4 Stars

• No. 47 CB Hayden Stepp, 6-4, 185, Oregon

• No. 314 CB Kamil Loud, 6-1, 175, Cal

3 Stars

• No. 848 QB Chance Thomas, 6-1, 195, Kansas

Kansas-bound QB Chance Thomas could get the keys to Bishop Gorman's offense. | Jeremy Westerbeck

St. John Bosco Class of 2028

4 Stars 

• No. 111 OL Elisha Mueller, 6-4, 295

• No. 195 S Brandon Nash, 6-2, 200

• No. 352 DE Elijah Tuua, 6-6, 225

3 Stars

• No. 519 WR DJ Tubbs, 5-10, 180

• No. 521 QB Koa Malau’ulu, 6-2, 180

• No. 522 DE Simote Tupou, 6-1, 235

Bishop Gorman Class of 2028

4 Stars

• No. 92 WR Zyren Menor, 6-0, 180

• No. 136 DL Tayaun Lawrence, 6-3, 250

3 Stars

• No. 409 OL Jamaree Turner, 6-4, 320

• No. 611 RB Corey Hinton Jr., 5-10, 188

• No. 740 QB Ace Amina, 6-0, 180

• No. 741 RB Noah Cole, 5-9, 200

St. John Bosco Class of 2029

4 Stars (by On3/Rivals)

• No. 70 ATH Kuika Moaalii, 6-5, 215

Bishop Gorman Class of 2029

4 Stars (by On3/Rivals)

• No. 15 CB Brayley Manning, 6-0, 170

• No. 97 OL Jason Lawrence, 6-5, 295