Mike Guardabascio
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and the JuJu Foundation.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Poly alum Jayon Brown and PlayFair Sports Management.
“This is always one of my favorite days each and every year,” Long Beach Poly boys’ athletic director Rob Shock said at the opening of the Jackrabbits’ Signing Day celebration earlier this week.
Shock and the rest of the Poly administration really mean that. Wednesday was the second of three signing day celebrations that will be held at the school, culminating in a year-end ceremony in May where there are likely to be two dozen or more students recognized for signing scholarships to receive a college education for playing sports.
This week’s celebration was the first held on Feb. 1st at the school since before the pandemic, with Shock bringing back Poly’s traditional ceremony (held on the actual NCAA National Letter of Intent Feb. 1st date for football). The Jackrabbits were holding these types of signing recognitions back before TV networks were carrying them live, back when it would be a smaller affair in the football office.
This week’s celebration bore almost no resemblance to those low-key afternoons, with 14 student-athletes presented on stage with music, photos, banners, balloons, and a large rowdy crowd in the Osman Auditorium to celebrate athletes from football, soccer, track and field, volleyball, and swimming as they signed their scholarships.
“What’s important is that you go get your degree, no matter how long it takes you, and then come back here and show the next generation and talk about how hard you worked and what you had to do to meet that goal,” said Shock to the athletes before they signed.
The school recognized five football signees on Wednesday, including new signee Raiden Brown, who signed with Idaho State. The act of signing was a huge relief for Brown and his family--he broke his leg right at the start of what looked like a very promising senior season this Fall, but still had enough down on film to find a spot at Idaho State.
“It was just as stressful as you’d imagine it would be,” said Brown. “Just a lot of doubt, a lot of wondering where the next couple of months will lead you into the future. I just stuck it out and worked really hard on rehab and tried not to get too down--but it was a bad couple of months for me. Signing today, it’s a blessing, and I’m so grateful.”
The other football signees were Daylen Austin (who signed in December with Oregon), Dominic Lolesio (who signed in December with Arizona), Chase Stewart (Black Hills State), and Bronston Larkin (Graceland University). Poly football coach Stephen Barbee pointed out that he had pulled Larkin out of a freshman PE class he was teaching three years ago and suggested he come out for the football team, a decision both Barbee and Larkin were glad he’d made.
Barbee also said the Jackrabbits expect there to be several more signees by the end of the school year as they have other players weighing offers to lower division schools. A trio of Jackrabbits (Ike Mikaele, Phoenix Tusa, and Ropati “Ola” Eneliko) were caught up in the Ed Reed/Bethune-Cookman rift a few weeks ago, with all three of them on campus and in the room ready to sign their scholarships when Reed walked in and announced that he had been let go from the school before he had officially begin. That left Mikaele, Tusa, and Eneliko (along with 20+ other commits) looking for a new school at the 23rd hour.
But what sets Poly’s Feb. 1 signing ceremony apart from other schools is that they recognize athletes from other sports. One of those other signings was star swimmer Colin Geer, who signed with Michigan.
Geer acknowledged that it was unique to have swimmers like he and Erik Fourzon (Claremont McKenna) signing on a stage alongside football players.
“It’s special for sure,” he said. “That’s the value that Poly holds, the athletic history that it has. It means a lot for us to sign here with our classmates.”
Here’s the full list of signess for the Jackrabbits:
Colin Geer (swim, Michigan), Gwen Tennant (softball, Northwest University), Daylen Austin (football, Oregon), Sakarah Buckner (softball, Azusa Pacific), Raiden Brown (football, Idaho State), Nyla Springer (softball, Pomona College), Erik Fourzon (swim, Claremont McKenna), Kiara Van Deusen (soccer, Portland State), Dominic Lolesio (football, Arizona), JoJo Fuamatu (volleyball, Providence Christian), Javon Hampton (track and field, Cal), Kyla Gomez (soccer, Jackson State), Chase Stewart (football, Black Hills State), and Bronston Larkin (football, Graceland University).
