SoCal sleeper WR has potential

Wide receiver Dakota Dunlea (6-3, 200, 4.6) from Newbury Park, Calif., has been a member on the varsity for three seasons once his senior rolls around and he was brought for the playoffs his freshman season.

In his first season as a starter, Dunlea earned second-team all-league after catching 25 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns his junior season. He also earned the scholar athlete award.

"Dakota is 6-3, 200-205 and he has potential growing of his mind," Newbury Park assistant coach Keith Smith said. "I think he's going to get even faster.

"This year we are going to throw the ball a lot more," Smith said. "Last season we had Cameron Roberson, who is going to Notre Dame, so we ran the ball a lot so Dakota's numbers were down a bit.

"When you look at him and meet him in person the first thing you notice is he's bigger than you thought," Smith said. "He's going to be Jake Geringer's go to guy this year.

"Once he goes to some camps this summer and gets his name out there and gets in front of people and they see how big and strong he is, he's going to open up some eyes," Smith said. "We expect big things out of Dakota this year and he's going to be one of our playmakers. He's going to be the guy this year.

"One of his biggest strengths is his route running," Smith said. "Other than being big and being able to get off the press coverage, is his ability to what I call the 'pause it', which is get separation from the defensive back and his skill at that is really impressive.

"I think Dakota's best route is the deep post," Smith said. "Where he can go and get it and Jake (Geringer) loves throwing that ball.

"The one thing about him is he runs the deep dig route and in coverage," Smith said. "He's big enough to take the hit and still come down with the ball.

"Another good thing about him is in the red zone you can throw that fade up and he's going to go get it at the high point," Smith said. "That is tough on a smaller defensive back.

"In our offense we didn't throw the ball down the middle, but when you look at his size and stuff," Smith said. "He's a tough guy so he will be make that tough catch.

"Dakota is young," Smith said. "I don't know if he's even 17 yet, so there is a good chance that he is still growing, but he understands since he's not a 4.3 guy that intermediate routes and going over the middle is where he's going to make his money."

Dunlea is planning on attending the NIKE Camp in Los Angeles and the Arizona camp in June. He may also attend some other team camps with his quarterback, Jake Geringer.

On the recruiting trail Arizona and TCU are the early birds on Dunlea.

In the weight room Dunlea's current bench is 225 and his squat is 350. He recently recorded a 28-inch vertical.

Carries a 3.0 GPA and is scheduled to take the SAT in March.