PE.com: Jacob Barlage’s roots run deep with Riverside City College football

By DENNIS POPE, Press-Enterprise

RIVERSIDE - The kids he grew up around football with talked about playing at USC, UCLA, Alabama and Ohio State.

Jacob Barlage then went to football practice every day at Riverside City College with his dad, Dan Barlage, the Tigers’ former offensive line coach from 2006-14, and experienced first-hand the game’s realities at the collegiate level.

“He got an early education in college football,” Dan Barlage said. “He was allowed to be around it from a young age, and the thing with Jacob is he’s never stopped growing and never stopped competing.”

From the time he was in third grade, Jacob Barlage carried helmets, lugged water jugs and gathered loose balls and gear for the RCC Tigers football team.

“He was always on the RCC sideline and did all sorts of things, but he was holding the white board for me and the offensive coaches by the time he was 12, 13, 14,” Dan Barlage said.

Jacob Barlage bleeds RCC’s black and orange more than any other current player, so when he said, “I’ve been waiting to play in this game for a long time,” — as he did after the Tigers defeated College of the Canyons 68-21 for the Southern California regional title two weeks ago — it wasn’t another postgame cliché.

Now Barlage will do what no quarterback in program history has when he leads Riverside City College (12-0 overall) onto the field against College of San Mateo at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the California Community College Athletic Association championship game at Bakersfield College.

“I’ve been able to watch the program from up close when I was young, for years and years, and it’s just continued to get better and better. I’m blessed to be where I am,” Jacob Barlage said.

The 6-foot-4 freshman has completed 69 percent of his passes for 2,500 yards and 29 touchdowns with a 183.6 rating this season to lead an RCC offensive machine averaging 51.2 points entering the school’s first ever CCCAA state title game.

“We distribute the ball, that’s our offense, and I think Jacob Barlage has done a great job,” Riverside City football coach Tom Craft said. “You can really see that he’s taken command of the offense, he’s managing games well and giving us good balance right now.”

Barlage, a unanimous All-Southern California Football Association first-team selection, will need to be near perfect against College of San Mateo (12-0), which comes into the game with a full head of steam following a 41-0 victory over Modesto College in the Northern California regional final.

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