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Sam Darnold's San Clemente High School coach: 'He was always an ultra-competitor'
San Clemente High alum and Orange County's own Sam Darnold warms up for the Seattle Seahawks before a November 2025 game against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
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Sam Darnold's OC high school football coach reminisces about Super Bowl quarterback
One of the starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl has a SoCal connection. Seattle's Sam Darnold is an alum of USC and Orange County's San Clemente High School. His high school coach, Jaime Ortiz, shares what Sam was like before he was competing for the Lombardi trophy.
Before he was the man expected to start as quarterback in Super Bowl LX this Sunday for the Seattle Seahawks, before he signed a $100 million contract, before he was the third overall pick in the NFL draft and before he was a standout at USC, Sam Darnold was turning heads as a football and basketball star at San Clemente High School in Orange County.
LAist recently caught up with Darnold's high school football coach, Jaime Ortiz, to find out what he was like before he made it to pro football's biggest stage.
Ortiz, who is still the coach at San Clemente High, has known the Darnold family even before Sam came to San Clemente. He says Sam was always ahead of other kids when it came to sports.
"Whether it was soccer, whether it was baseball, whether it was football, whether it was basketball, Sam was always an ultra-competitor," Ortiz said.
The coach said he first started noticing something special in Darnold during his sophomore year. However, Darnold's ascent was put on pause his junior season due to injury. But Ortiz said everything changed in Darnold's senior year.
"He was the league MVP in football. He was the league MVP in basketball. He was the Orange County Athlete of the Year," Ortiz said. "Everybody kind of recognized, whether it was on the basketball court or on the football field, that Sam was one of the best athletes to come out of Orange County."
Ortiz said he's enjoyed watching Darnold take the next step in his football journey.
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"It's a blessing as his high school head coach to see a guy live out his dream and doing it the right way," Ortiz said.
Ortiz said Darnold is still a big part of the San Clemente High family. He comes back to Orange County in the off-season and works out at the high school. Ortiz still texts weekly with the quarterback and may watch the Super Bowl in person on Sunday. Ortiz said current students at San Clemente High are proud of what Darnold's done.
"There's a lot of Seahawks fans down here in San Clemente," Ortiz said. "They weren't there last year, but they are now, primarily because of Sam."
They'll be cheering Darnold on Feb. 8 when his Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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