The start of the college football season is closer than one might think. Eastlake High School alumnus Josh Palet is certainly clued in on that. He leaves San Diego on Saturday, Aug. 1, to report to the University of Alabama.
Yes, that Alabama, as in the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, as in perennial BCS national championship contenders.
Palet will be immediately immersed in big-time college football culture. The Crimson Tide competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), considered one of the strongest among the NCAA Division I schools. The on-campus football stadium seats 101,821 fans.
“It’s the most shocking thing I could ever imagine because I’m a huge Alabama football fan,” Palet said.
Palet, who stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall, is hard to miss on either the football or baseball field — areas in which he excelled athletically while attending EHS.
A three-year letter-winner in baseball and football and one-year letter-winner in basketball, Palet won league titles in baseball in 2011 and 2012, a league title in basketball in 2010 and a league title in football in 2011.
He was a back-up quarterback on the Titans’ history-making 2009 San Diego Section Division I championship football team. He earned first team all-league honors at the position his senior year in 2011.
He ended his senior year by being selected as the starting quarterback in the Alex Spanos All-Star Classic.
He threw for 2,192 yards and 15 touchdowns his junior and senior seasons at Eastlake.
He compiled a 6-3 record with a 3.56 earned-run average, with 56 strikeouts in 57 innings, his senior year on the Titan baseball team.
After graduating from Eastlake, Palet received offers to play baseball and football at UC Riverside. He elected to play baseball.
“I thought I was a baseball player because I had played it all my life,” Palet explained. “I had just started playing football as a ninth grader.”
Palet was a perennial all-star selection at the 10U, 11U, 12U and Junior Division levels while playing at Eastlake Little League. He also played on the San Diego Gorillas and Liberty Lions youth baseball travel teams and for the Barona Stars adult college team.
His baseball prowess continued in high school where his fastball was clocked in the 90-plus mph range. He was labeled a top prospect in the Perfect Game Junior National showcase series.
“It was a great experience,” Palet said. “I got to play with a lot of guys who are now playing in Major League Baseball.”
But things did not work out for Palet at UC Riverside and he left the baseball program after his freshman year. However, he still wanted to pursue baseball at a higher level and enrolled at Southwestern College.
But Palet suffered a broken hand early in the season and was out for seven weeks. He ended up taking a medical redshirt season.
He played for the Barona Stars later that summer after recovering from the hand injury.
Palet said he was planning to play for Southwestern again until he received pitches from Division I schools about football (he had kept his football recruiting package up to date as another option). He had applied to attend the University of North Carolina and the University of Alabama for academics, with the prospect of being a walk-on for football. UNC was the first to show interest and Palet flew back to tour that campus.
But things changed quickly when Palet received a call from Alabama while in North Carolina. “Alabama was really my first choice but when they didn’t call back at first, I thought they had lost interest,” Palet said. “But, when they did call, it was the greatest day in my life.”
Palet was quick to accept the invitation for a tryout at a summer quarterback camp.
Alabama recorded its 13th national championship in 2010 by defeating the University of Texas in the Rose Bowl and followed with two more BCS national championships in 2012 and 2013.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide dropped a 42-35 contest to fourth-ranked Ohio State in the semifinals of the inaugural College Football Playoff in January. Ohio State went on to claim the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship Game with a 42-20 win over Oregon.
With such a legacy embodying the Alabama football program, Palet admitted he was obviously nervous when arriving in Tuscaloosa, especially when the tryout was scheduled at the end of the day.
“I toured the campus, had lunch and toured the facilities, they had me throw at the end of the day,” Palet related. “They worked me out in front of some coaches. I did pretty good; they offered me a preferred walk-on spot.”
Because of his redshirt status at UC Riverside and the medical redshirt at SWC, Palet believes he has two or three years remaining of collegiate athletic eligibility.
He has been told he will not play his first year at Alabama, mainly due to joining the program so late in the summer.
“I have to learn the system and meet the players,” Palet said. “They told me I can do everything with the team but play. I’ll be competing for the job in 2016.”
Palet will be following in the illustrious footsteps of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, both former Alabama quarterbacks who went on to play in the NFL.
“It’s unbelievable,” Palet gushed.
The Crimson Tide kicks off the 2015 season with a Sept. 5 neutral site game against Wisconsin in Arlington, Texas. Home games follow Sept. 12 against Middle Tennessee, Sept. 19 against Ole Miss and Sept. 26 against Louisiana-Monroe.
