Our boys' honoree only arrived in L.A. a little over three months ago but he's already making a name for himself in the highly competitive Southern California prep football scene.

By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com

The expression "rolling over in their graves” even predates the 19th Century cemetery that Los Angeles' Cathedral High sits atop, on the hill just down from Dodger Stadium and Chavez Ravine.

	Trevor Olson

While the expression has usually meant that the deceased person would be horrified to know what's transpired following his or her death, in the case of Trevor Olson, the dearly departed are rolling in glee for this week's ESPN RISE CalHiSports.com Boys State Athlete of the Week.

And why shouldn't the Phantom spirits be rolling around for joy? Olson is the No. 5 reported leading passer in the state, he's a 3.4 GPA student, he has his team off to a 7-0 start coming into this Friday night's game at Torrance Bishop Montgomery, he's overcome extreme adversity, and best of all he's a fellow Phantom.

Olson came from Evergreen, Colorado, a town situated in the Rockies' foothills at an elevation of 7,200 feet and 35 minutes west of Denver, and landed in Tinseltown in late August.

He'd had a decent junior season for the Cougars. The 6-5, 220-pound Olson passed for 1,416 yards and 11 TDs and rushed for 245 yards and five more scores, but the team had a mediocre season and he was only on the radar screen of a few select colleges.

Now, as a senior, not only was he enrolling in a new school that serves 600 young men, who are primarily from low income families living in the oldest and poorest neighborhoods and parishes of Los Angeles, but Trevor had to learn a whole new playbook, and learn it fast.

"The thing I was most concerned about was we threw a lot at him in the first couple of weeks to get him up to speed. With the hot routes and crazy blitzes I thought we would confuse the heck out of him,” said coach Kevin Pearson, a PE teacher at Cathedral in his 14th year at the Phantoms' helm.

Not only has Olson gotten up to speed, he's taken the City of Angels by storm.

Last Friday night in a 46-10 Del Rey League victory over Playa del Rey St. Bernard, Olson threw for 438 yards with four touchdowns and ran for 61 additional yards.

So far this season, Trevor has passed for 2,181 yards and 25 touchdowns with only six interceptions on 126 of 198 attempts. He's also rushed for 236 yards and five trips to paydirt.

It hasn't hurt to have a top D1 prospect to throw to, but Anthony Jefferson is just one of four wide receivers with over 200 yards receiving and more than one TD.

The 6-2, 185-pound Jefferson, who has been offered by almost every Pac-10 school, plus Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Nebraska, is definitely Olson's favorite target. He caught eight balls for 143 yards and one TD against St. Bernard and now has pulled in 35 passes for 879 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.

Being one of only two white student-athletes on the team, one of a mere 20 total white students on campus, and being 6-5 and a star on the football team, has certainly put Olson in the spotlight.

"He doesn't walk around with a big head,” said Pearson, whose teams have won six league titles and made one appearance (1996) in a section title game.

"When he first arrived, the guys took to him and rallied around him right away,” continued Pearson.

"I'm constantly quizzing and going over film with him, and frankly, Trevor has had some frustrations, but it speaks for his intelligence and desire to lead us that he has great determination not to repeat mistakes,” remarked his coach with pride.

"Trevor has good footwork, he's a tough kid who's not flustered in the pocket, and he can get out on the run and throw effectively. His escape ability is amazing for a kid his size,” Pearson told CalHiSports.com

Coach Pearson ought to know about passers and receivers in his tenure at Cathedral, after stints at his alma mater, South Gate, and a one-year hiatus at Woodland Hills Taft.

"They've had a couple of prolific players there,” said ESPN RISE Deputy Editor and CalHiSports.com Executive Editor Mark Tennis, who has seen a game at the school where, according to Pearson, "headstones and bones were uncovered during 2005-06 excavation for a new gym and football field.”

The prolifics Tennis speaks of are Robert De La Cruz, whose 8,437 yards from 1997-99 rank 21st on the all-time passing list according to the ESPN RISE CalHiSports.com State Record Book & Almanac, and Earvin Johnson, a 1998-2000 Phantom who sits atop all three receiving touchdown lists. Johnson had eight in a game, 29 in a season to tie La Puente Bishop Amat's John McKay, and his 66 for a career far outdistances McKay's and Ventura St. Bonaventure's Whitney Lewis' 48 in the second spot.

"No disrespect to Robert, but no doubt Trevor is the best college prospect I've ever had at quarterback,” said Pearson matter-of-factly. "This guy is legit D1 – we just need to find a place for him.”

A kid 6-5, 220, with good feet, a gun and good grades would seem a slam dunk?

"The biggest problem is its late in the process and most top programs have already signed their quarterbacks,” remarked Pearson. "But both the Notre Dame and Nebraska coaches that came through here said they had their guy but that this kid can play.”

"I'm looking for feedback from highlight film of the past four games,” said a hopeful Olson, who added his top personal goal right now is to get into a major college where he might like to study sports medicine.

"It's a lot different than Colorado. Coming from a small town to L.A. was an adjustment, but getting to know the kids wasn't that difficult. The guys on the team are my friends now and we hang out together,” said Olson in an early morning interview this week.

"The hardest part was learning the new offense,” said Trevor, whose mom Jessica, an accountant, played basketball and volleyball growing up in Wisconsin.

Olsen's father, Brent, "a tall skinny guy,” according to his son, owns a construction business and played mostly basketball while also growing up in the Dairy State. Little sister Makinzy, age 13, plays basketball and volleyball.

"Obviously, we take it one game at a time but right now the biggest goal is to beat our rival Serra (Gardena) then worry about playoffs and state,” Olson said. "I wasn't here but we lost a close game last year (23-22 on a missed PAT in overtime).”

Last year's Phantom squad was all running, completing only one pass in the loss to Serra.

This year, they've got a legitimate D1 aerial combination, so that number is bound to change.

If this week's Boys State Athlete of the Week can get it done on November 13 in Gardena, some old Phantoms may be doing even more dancing around the graveyard.  

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