Derek Mason remembers calling Alonzo Carter in 2003, right after taking the assistant head coach job at Saint Mary’s. A newcomer to the Bay Area, Mason needed to find some players to join the now-defunct FCS program. Carter, then a high school coach at McClymonds High School, has long been hailed as The Godfather of Oakland recruiting.
Of course, Carter — now the head coach at Sacramento State — had answers. He suggested that Mason check out an overlooked kid at Saint Mary’s College High School near Berkeley, California. In Carter’s eyes, he was one of the best players in the Bay.
Mason was a little surprised. Carter usually worked with prospects from the city, but Carter assured him that this kid was Oakland through and through. Mason made the 30-minute drive from Moraga to Albany. There, he couldn’t help but be impressed with the quiet, shifty wide receiver who was wise beyond his years…