Many East Valley football players went to Majerle’s Sports Grill in Chandler on Wednesday to celebrate signing their letters of intent with various colleges.
Corona del Sol defensive tackle Todd Peat was a few minutes late because he announced his choice earlier that morning, choosing Nebraska over Arizona State.
Many players hadn’t yet heard the news, and once it filtered down to Mountain Pointe linebacker Izzy Marshall (pictured), an Arizona State commit, he couldn’t resist a playful jab.
“It hurts, Todd!” he yelled.
Sadly for the Sun Devils, it was a common occurrence this …

Corona del Sol defensive tackle Todd Peat made his college destination announcement Wednesday morning, but even the night before he wasn’t sure what to do.
The senior four-star prospect said he had Arizona State in his mind, but then saw a Nebraska license plate for the first time in his life while driving home, which he took as divine intervention.
Peat chose the Cornhuskers over Arizona State and Oregon State.
“It was tough to say no (to ASU), it was tough to leave home,” Peat said. “But ultimately, I had to do what’s …

Todd Peat is one of the highest-ranked recruits in the state. The Corona del Sol senior defensive lineman has pared his prospective college list down to eight, and plans on making his decision in January. We recently caught up with him to talk about soul food, taking Spanish again after two years off, and Donald Trump.
Class you dread the most: Spanish 3 and 4. I haven’t taken Spanish since my freshman year.
Career aspirations: I either want to be a sportswriter for ESPN or a coach.
Most embarrassing moment in sports: My …

We did a story last fall chronicling the rise of high school football’s “big boys” — offensive linemen — around Arizona, and especially the Valley.
The recruiting warehouses, a.k.a. Rivals.com and Scout.com, each had four linemen in its top five prospects, and seven of the top 25, for Arizona’s class of 2010.
We might have jumped the gun.
It’s only preseason, of course, but Rivals’ top three seniors for the class of 2011 are offensive linemen (Hamilton’s Christian Westerman, pictured, Saguaro’s Cyrus Hobbi and Chaparral’s Andre Yruretagoyena) and seven of its top 15 …