Arkansas defensive back Julian Neal, a graduate of San Francisco’s Mission High School, answers questions during a news conference at the NFL combine in Indianapolis on Feb. 26.
Eric Gay/Associated Press
Julian Neal’s joyous reaction to being the Seattle Seahawks’ third-round pick (99th overall) in last week’s NFL draft is all over the internet.
The 2021 Mission graduate and Bayview/Hunters Point native screamed, danced, flailed fists and celebrated wildly amongst a couple dozen equally celebratory family and friends at home while watching the announcement on TV.
It was an understandable reaction considering what a long shot the receiver/safety turned cornerback was out of high school to make it to the sport’s pinnacle league.
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On Friday, the first football player from San Francisco’s only public league — the Academic Athletic Association — to earn a Division I college scholarship straight out of high school in 20 years (to Fresno State before transferring to Arkansas) became the first AAA member drafted into the NFL since 1998 when Galileo and Cal receiver Bobby Shaw was a sixth-round pick, also by the Seahawks.
Considering his senior high school season was wiped out by the pandemic and he was just second-team All-AAA as a junior, it’s amazing that Neal landed a scholarship to Fresno State, where he didn’t start until late in his junior season. He entered the transfer portal, signed with Stanford, but did not enroll, instead transferring to Arkansas, where he blossomed, starting 12 games with 55 tackles, two interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
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His NFL combine numbers hit all the marks: Size (6-foot-2, 203 pounds), speed (4.49-second 40-yard dash), vertical jump (40 inches), broad jump (11 feet, 2 inches), arm length (32-0¾), hand size (9.5 inches). Getting picked by the Super Bowl champions inside triple digits likely wasn’t on Neal’s radar during his two-sport days at Mission, where he was probably more of a basketball prospect than football.
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Baseball
RANK
TEAM
RECORD
2025
1.
St. Francis
18-3
2
2.
Bellarmine
16-3
3
3.
De La Salle
11-4
1
4.
St. Ignatius
14-5
4
5.
Clayton Valley Charter
16-2
6
6.
Los Gatos
17-3
5
7.
Serra
14-6
9
8.
Redwood
17-2-1
7
9.
College Park
14-4
HM
10.
Casa Grande
14-4
NR
HMs: Berkeley 16-3-1, Dublin 15-4, Granada 14-5, Mitty 14-6, Valley Christian 12-8
Softball
RANK
TEAM
RECORD
2026
1.
Livermore
19-1
1
2.
St. Francis
19-2
2
3.
Mitty
17-2
3
4.
Alameda
16-3
5
5.
Marin Catholic
15-1-1
7
6.
San Ramon Valley
13-6
6
7.
Valley Christian
15-5
4
8.
Los Gatos
17-1
9
9.
San Marin
13-4
NR
10.
Salesian
16-2
NR
HMs: American Canyon 13-3, Castro Valley 14-4, Clayton Valley Charter 11-2, College Park 12-5, Liberty 15-5
“It feels so good, it feels so good, it feels so good,” Neal repeated three times to reporters Friday by conference call after being asked how it felt to be drafted by the defending NFL champs. “I wasn’t surprised to be selected by the Seahawks at all. After talking to them at the combine an assistant head coach told me, ‘You’re most likely going to be picked by the Seahawks, Julian Neal.’ He told me that to my face. And I believed in him and they believed in me. We’re going back-to-back this year.”
Told you so: Besides family, friends and Mission alums, Balboa football coach Fred Velasquez might have been the happiest local regarding Neal’s selection.
For years, Velasquez maintained that college coaches missed numerous hidden gems in the AAA. Rather than complain, he set up a San Francisco Invitational college prospect camp, scheduled for May 6 at Balboa. More than 100 athletes from at least 30 high schools and more than a dozen college coaches from all levels are expected to participate, according to Velasquez, who noted that former Balboa, UCLA and Canadian Football League quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson is also helping to run the event. McClymonds hosts a similar camp for Oakland prospects, and Serra does the same for Peninsula players.
“We have talented kids here in the city, too, who just have never been given a look,” Velasquez said. “We’re hoping this will change that. Julian’s exposure will help that, too. I’m super psyched that he’s able to play at the highest level and represent the city of San Francisco. He’s a prime example: If you have a work ethic and determination and have good people surrounding you, anything is possible.”
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Velasquez actually coached Neal as a freshman at Riordan before he transferred to Mission, and Velasquez took over at Balboa. Neal “was definitely one of the most talented players coming out of the AAA,” Velasquez said. “He had a lot of natural ability and made the most of it.”
The same could be said of another AAA product, Balboa’s own Mekai Smith, a 6-2, 220-pound running back who led the Buccaneers to a second straight state title in December and third in five years. He’s signed to Nevada. He scored a state-best and AAA-record 53 touchdowns while rushing for 2,447 yards on 17.7 yards per carry in 2025.
Baseball, briefly: St. Francis (18-3, 7-1) moved to the top of the Chronicle’s Metro rankings and the West Catholic Athletic League standings with two more shutout wins last week, both over previous No. 8 Valley Christian 7-0 and 5-0. Gems by Brody Larocque (one-hitter, 10 strikeouts) and Kyle McMillan (four hits allowed, seven strikeouts in 6⅓ innings) gave St. Francis its third straight shutout and 14th of the season, lowering the team ERA to 0.87. Larocque is 8-1 (0.60 ERA) and McMillan is 8-0 (0.29). They’ve combined for 103 strikeouts, 22 walks and 51 hits allowed in 95 innings. … The Lancers jumped over previous No. 1 De La Salle-Concord in the rankings after the Spartans (11-4, 1-1) lost their first game on the field — they lost three previous games due to forfeits stemming from an undisclosed off-field offseason incident — 6-5 at Foothill-Pleasanton on Friday as Hudson Flora and Eli Davidson each had two hits and an RBI for the Falcons, who got 2⅔ scoreless innings of relief with five strikeouts by Cal-bound George Schmitt. … Reggie Fong drove in five runs with two doubles and Luc Laguna hit a grand slam leading San Francisco Section/AAA leader Lowell (18-5) to its eighth straight win, 14-4 over Oakland Tech (8-9), which got a two-run homer from Elijah Rucker. Lowell is 9-0 in AAA play with a run differential of 121-4 in the seven games played. It has two forfeit wins over Burton.
Softball, briefly: Alameda junior pitcher Julia Lambert combined to strike out 20 batters in wins over Arroyo-San Lorenzo (9-1) and Berkeley (5-0) last week for the fourth-ranked Hornets (16-3), who have won 10 of 11 with their only loss coming to No. 2 St. Francis (19-2), which has won five straight by a 32-2 count since losing 2-1 to Livermore in the finals of the Livermore Stampede tournament. … The top-ranked Cowboys (19-1) have won 16 straight, including 7-1 over visiting California-San Ramon as Isabella Kelton drove in three runs and Gianna Willes had three hits, while Kaci Norton and Payton Rohe combined on a four-hitter.
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Freelance writer Mitch Stephens has covered high school sports for the Chronicle since 2001. Email: mitch@scorebooklive.com