Washington Union receiver, who led team to CIF Division III state bowl title, also set state record for receiving yards in a season

It’s always a combination of factors that leads someone to be chosen as the ESPNHS Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Football State Player of the Year.

For senior wide receiver and defensive back Deontay Greenberry from Washington Union of Easton (near Fresno), it’s all come together. He has been chosen today as the winner of the 2011 statewide honor, a selection that dates back more than 100 years and has been on-going every season for 33 of those years.

Greenberry is only the fourth Mr. Football for California in all of those years from the CIF Central Section. The last one listed is running back Kent Nance of Madera for the 1960 season. The other two are quarterback Daryle Lamonica of Clovis for 1958 and fullback Jim Jurkovich of Fresno for 1937.

There have been three previous Washington players, however, that have been chosen tops in the state for medium schools. They are quarterback Ebahn Feathers for 2007, linebacker Ron Cox for 1985 and running back John Erby for 1957.

The Notre Dame University commit beat out a group of four other players for the state’s top individual honor: senior Michael Barton from De La Salle of Concord, junior Su’a Cravens from Vista Murrieta of Murrieta, junior Johnny Stanton from Santa Margarita of Rancho SM and senior Tanner Trosin of Folsom.

Here are the factors that ended up favoring Greenberry over the other finalists:

1. Eye-opening or record-breaking statistics. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder finished with 109 catches for 2,165 yards and 33 touchdowns. His yardage total broke the state record of 2,063 yards set in 2009 by Bryce McGovern from Monte Vista of Danville. His touchdowns broke an even more storied record as it topped the previous all-time state best of 29 first set in 1970 by John McKay Jr. from Bishop Amat of La Puente and tied in 1999 by Earvin Johnson of Los Angeles Cathedral.

2. Led team to championship. Greenberry had one touchdown catch, one interception and one fumble recovery as Washington Union defeated Campolindo of Moraga 21-16 to win the first CIF state bowl game for a team from the CIF Central Section. In addition to the Division III state crown, the Panthers also wrapped up a 14-0 season record.

3. Ability to compete on elite, national level. This was evident to us for the first time at The Opening in Beaverton, Ore., where Greenberry was clearly one of the top college prospects in attendance. He also is toward the top of every major national recruiting list. If he was simply a good athlete racking up huge stats against inferior small-school competition, that’s one thing. But he’s one of the best receivers we’ve seen, perhaps better than Rod Perry of Santa Ana Mater Dei (the last WR/DB to be Mr. Football in 1996) and perhaps as good as Amani Toomer of Concord De La Salle (WR who was Mr. Football in 1991).

4. Local consensus. It looks like Greenberry will be the top choice by the Fresno Bee, but two of our finalists were not chosen by their local newspaper.

Folsom’s Tanner Trosin, who had record-breaking passing and total offense statistics as impressive as Greenberry’s for receiving, did not get the top honor by the Sacramento Bee, while Santa Margarita’s Johnny Stanton did not get the top honor by the Orange County Register.

If you were ranking the finalists in all four categories, it’s arguable that Greenberry might not be first in any of them. But he might be first in two of them and he wouldn’t be in the bottom two in any of them, either.

Here is the all-time list of Mr. Football State Players of the Year (all selected by Cal-Hi Sports but done retroactively based on research prior to 1975 by our late founder, the great Nelson Tennis):

2011 -- Deontay Greenberry (Washington Union, Easton) WR-DB
2010 -- Dano Graves (Folsom) QB
2009 -- Dillon Baxter (Mission Bay, San Diego) QB-RB
2008 -- Tyler Gaffney (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) RB
2007 -- Milton Knox (Birmingham, Lake Balboa) RB
2006 -- Aaron Corp (Lutheran, Orange) QB
2005 -- Toby Gerhart (Norco) RB
2004 -- Desean Jackson (Poly, Long Beach) WR-DB-KR
2003 -- Sean Norton (Hart, Newhall) QB
2002 -- Whitney Lewis (St. Bonaventure, Ventura) WR-RB
2001 -- Derek Landri (De La Salle, Concord) OL-DL
2000 -- Tyler Ebell (Ventura) RB
1999 -- D.J. Williams (De La Salle, Concord) RB-LB
1998 -- Kyle Boller (Hart, Newhall) QB
1997 -- DeShaun Foster (Tustin) RB
1996 -- Rod Perry (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) WR-DB
1995 -- Chris Claiborne (J.W. North, Riverside) RB-LB
1994 -- Daylon McCutcheon (Bishop Amat, La P.) RB-DB
1993 -- Keith Smith (Newbury Park) QB
1992 -- Travis Kirschke (Esperanza, Anaheim) OL-DL
1991 -- Amani Toomer (De La Salle, Concord) WR
1990 -- Napoleon Kaufman (Lompoc) RB
1989 -- Ryan Hancock (Monta Vista, Cupertino) QB
1988 -- Tommie Smith (Antelope Valley, Lancaster) RB-DB
1987 -- Bret Johnson (El Toro) QB
1986 -- Russell White (Crespi, Encino) RB (Soph.)
1985 -- Terry Rodgers (Sweetwater, National City) RB-KR
1984 -- Aaron Emanuel (Quartz Hill) RB
1983 -- Ryan Knight (Rubidoux, Riverside) RB
1982 -- John Paye (Menlo School, Atherton) QB
1981 -- Kevin Willhite (Cordova, Rancho Cordova) RB
1980 -- Michael Alo (Banning, Wilmington) FB
1979 -- Kerwin Bell (Edison, Huntington Beach) RB
1978 -- John Elway (Granada Hills) QB
1977 -- Marcus Allen (Lincoln, San Diego) QB
1976 -- Freeman McNeil (Banning, Wilmington) RB
1975 -- Charles White (San Fernando) RB
1974 -- Myron White (Santa Ana Valley) RB
1973 -- Frank Manumaluena (Banning, Wilmington) LB
1972 -- Wally Henry (Lincoln, San Diego) RB
1971 -- John Sciarra (Bishop Amat, La Puente) QB
1970 -- Pat Haden (Bishop Amat, La Puente) QB
1969 -- James McAlister (Blair, Pasadena) RB
1968 -- Jesse Freitas (Serra, San Mateo) QB
1967 -- Calvin Jones (Balboa, San Francisco) RB (Jr.)
1966 -- Mickey Cureton (Centennial, Compton) RB
1965 -- Greg Jones (South San Francisco) RB
1964 -- George Buehler (Whittier) LB-OL
1963 -- Tim Rossovich (St. Francis, Mountain View) LB
1962 -- Steve Grady (Loyola, Los Angeles) RB
1961 -- Mike Garrett (Roosevelt, Los Angeles) RB
1960 -- Kent Nance (Madera) RB
1959 -- Willie Brown (Poly, Long Beach) RB
1958 -- Daryle Lamonica (Clovis) QB
1957 -- Jim Josephson (Bellarmine, San Jose) FB
1956 -- Randy Meadows (Downey) RB
1955 -- Mickey Flynn (Anaheim) RB (Jr.)
1954 -- Dick Bass (Vallejo) RB
1953 -- C.R. Roberts (Oceanside) RB
1952 -- Ronnie Knox (Santa Monica) QB
1951 -- Marty Keough (Pomona) RB
1950 -- Charley Powell (San Diego) E
1949 -- Paul Larson (Turlock) HB
1948 -- Johnny Olszewski (Long Beach St. Anthony) FB
1947 -- Hugh McElhenny (L.A. Washington) FB
1946 -- Al Pollard (L.A. Loyola) HB
1945 -- Paul Haynes (Pasadena) HB
1944 -- Jackie Jensen (Oakland) HB
1943 -- Don Burnside (North Sacramento Grant) QB
1942 -- Glenn Davis (La Verne Bonita) QB
1941 -- Billy Agnew (Piedmont) HB
1940 -- Tommy Fears (L.A. Manual Arts) E
1939 -- Johnny Petrovich (Alhambra) QB
1938 -- Jim Jurkovich (Fresno) FB
1937 -- Frankie Albert (Glendale) QB
1936 -- Mike Klotovich (San Francisco Mission) HB
1935 -- Kenny Washington (L.A. Lincoln) QB
1934 -- Doyle Nave (L.A. Manual Arts) HB
1933 -- Vic Bottari (Vallejo) QB
1932 -- Nello "Flash" Falaschi (San Jose Bellarmine) HB
1931 -- Larry Lutz (Santa Ana) T
1930 -- Charles "Chili" Bertoli (Berkeley) HB
1929 -- Ervin "Cotton" Warburton (San Diego) QB (Jr.)
1928 -- Orv Mohler (Alhambra) QB
1927 -- Gus Shaver (Covina) HB
1926 -- Erny Pinckert (San Bernardino) FB
1925 -- Francis Tappaan (Los Angeles) T

Note: List continues back to 1890 in the ESPNHS Cal-Hi Sports Record Book & Almanac