On the first day of varsity football practice his freshman year at Kearny High School, Brodie Stump sat in the Komets’ team room, pulled out a sheet of lined notebook paper and jotted down a couple goals.
Chief among them was this: “Break all Kearny records associated with quarterback play.”
That was more than three years ago. Stump has grown from a skinny 6-foot-1, 155-pound freshman into a physical 6-3, 210-pound senior. Not only has he shattered every conceivable Kearny passing record, he has left his mark on the CIF San Diego Section record book.
Going into the Komets’ first-round Division 5 playoff game Friday night at Santana, Stump has thrown for 9,247 career yards and 104 touchdowns. The yards rank second all-time in the San Diego Section behind former La Jolla Country Day standout Braxton Burmeister (11,512). The TD passes rank third behind Burmeister (127) and Jeffrey Jackson of Bishop’s (114).
Sitting in a makeshift Kearny office while the school is undergoing massive reconstruction, Stump said the records mean “a lot,” but added, “I don’t want it to end here. I want to go win a state championship. Or until we win something.”
It has been a four-year ride for Stump complete with highs, lows, no playoff wins, lopsided losses, injuries, records and a smidgeon of controversy, all while being coached by his father.
Kearny’s quarterback Brodie Stump pushes off Canyon Hills’ Jayden Loiselle as he throws pass during the first quarter at Canyon Hills High School in San Diego on Friday, Nov. 01, 2024. (Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Jeremy Stump, Brodie’s father and a retired Navy Master Chief, admits he was hard on his son during his 2021 freshman season.
“We both had something to prove, but in different ways,” said Jeremy Stump, who owns a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Poway. “He wanted to prove he deserved the starting job as a freshman quarterback. I wanted to make sure no one thought he was the starting quarterback because he was the head coach’s son. I probably went a little bit too far in making sure no one thought he was getting favoritism.”
How hard was father on son?
“No praise at all,” said Brodie. “I’d throw a touchdown and get a stone-cold stare. He was always chewing me out, trying to show the team that just because I was the quarterback didn’t mean I couldn’t be chewed out.
Said Jeremy: “I was very critical of him his freshman year.”
Making that 2021 season all the more painful was that the Komets were bad. Kearny started 0-7, including back-to-back losses of 78-0 to Coronado and 76-0 to San Diego.
After the loss to San Diego, Jeremy Stump switched the offense to a pass-happy Air Raid attack that featured multiple wide receivers and a limited playbook focusing on short passes to skilled athletes. The Komets ended the season with two wins, 24-20 over Hoover and 37-14 against Clairemont.
As for playing style, Brodie Stump is similar to his favorite active quarterback, Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
“He’s not scared to put his body on the line,” said the QB.
Like Allen, Brodie Stump isn’t afraid to tuck the ball and run. His aggressiveness cost him as a sophomore. On a designed QB run up the middle, rather than slide he dove for extra yardage, a defender landed on top of him and he broke his collarbone, costing him the last five games of the season.
If there’s a knock on Stump’s climb up the section record book it’s that the yards and TDs have come against lesser competition. O’Farrell Charter, Rock Academy, Clairemont and Monte Vista will not be confused with Lincoln, Cathedral Catholic, La Costa Canyon and Mission Hills.
“I think that works both ways,” said Jeremy Stump. “Yes, it’s D5 competition he’s throwing against. But it’s also D5 level he’s playing with. He’s not surrounded by superstars. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a quarterback in California, even nationally, who’s done more with less.
Opposing coaches praise the quarterback, saying Stump evades pass rushers, buys time and instinctively makes big plays.
“To me, he’s just very crafty,” said Hoover coach Will Gray. “He’ll put the ball behind his back (while scrambling), spin and throw a 60-yard TD pass because he’s bought more time in the pocket.”
Said Santana coach Tim Estes, who has only seen Stump on video: “He’s a good-looking kid. He throws a nice ball. He runs around well. He looks like the real deal. He looks the part.”
Stump set a CIF San Diego Section single-game record against OFarrell Charter in September, throwing nine touchdown passes. That the record came not in a back-and-forth offensive shootout but a 60-0 rout with two of the TDs coming in the second half created some controversy.
O’Farrell coach Bruce Newland felt the Kearny coaching staff was chasing stats and a record.
“I don’t blame that on the kid,” said Newland. “I blame that on the coaches. He’s a phenomenal player. No way around that. He is a great player.”
“What we like to say about our offense is we’re all gas, no brakes until the other team is done,” said Jeremy Stump.
Jeremy Stump said O’Farrell declined to start the second half with a running clock. Newland disagreed, saying he requested a running clock but that the Kearny staff declined.
As for the future, Stump has not received a lot of attention from four-year colleges. He said he has a scholarship offer from Division 3 Grinnell College in Iowa and that Division 2 Southwest Minnesota State has shown interest.
Ideally, Stump said, he would like to play at San Diego State. But the Kearny senior has not been offered a scholarship by the Aztecs.
“I haven’t got a lot of college interest, which is disappointing,” he said. “But I’ve talked to my dad, and feel that God has a plan for me. I’m going to keep working, and whatever opportunity falls my way, I’m going to take it.”
San Diegans shining under center
In a region where kids begin playing flag football as young as 5 years old and can practice throwing spirals year-round, San Diego has produced talented quarterbacks.
That trend is continuing in 2024.
Two players have already made scholarship commitments to Big Ten schools. Lincoln High School senior Akili Smith Jr., who checks in at 6-foot-6, 225 pounds, is following in his father’s footsteps and is bound for Oregon. Mission Hills High School junior Troy Huhn (6-4, 205) has committed to Penn State.
Smith has thrown for 1,867 yards and 17 TDs against eight interceptions. Huhn has thrown for 1,960 yards and 18 TDs with four interceptions.
Grossmont senior Thomas Donovan leads the San Diego Section in passing with 3,596 yards. He has thrown for 47 TDs with 13 interceptions.
There are a slew of junior quarterbacks putting up eye-popping stats, including Mount Miguel’s A.J. Stowers (2,773 yards, 31 TDs, seven interceptions), San Marcos’ Kreet Makihele (2,549 yards, 36 TDs against only three interceptions), University City’s Quentyn DeMara (2,278 yards, 28 TDs, seven interceptions), and La Costa Canyon’s Quinn Roth (2,235 yards, 31 TDs, six interceptions).
— DON NORCROSS