Starting off the school year we have our very first athlete of the month! His name is Laird Finkel, a junior here at Santa Barbara High School and the starting quarterback of the Dons football team. He has been chosen for his great performance so far this season and his leadership skills.

What Finkel likes about being quarterback is, “leading the team and having the ball in my hands every play.” As far as how the year is going, Finkel feels “great about how the season is going so far.” According to Finkel, something that’s going well for the team is, “our offense is doing really well and we’re scoring a lot of points.” Things that need improvement are, “not much besides just putting in a lot of hard work in the gym and on the field.” His favorite play of the season so far was throwing a 60 yard touchdown pass to Kai Mault against Valencia to end the game. Finkel aspires to play college football, a dream that is shaping up to be a reality for the 3-star recruit as he already has a D1 offer from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as being in conversation with Colorado State University and Boise State University, among others. With over 1,000 passing yards through the first four games and a passer rating of 132.6, Finkel is well on his way to becoming a college athlete. 

SBHS Football Head Coach Nate Mendoza believes Finkel has been “cool, calm and collected” throughout the season so far. “He also handled pressure really well and he’s only got a year under his belt from his school last year playing varsity, and putting a lot of pressure on him causes him to succeed,” commented Mendoza. “He’s got a lot of intangibles such as poise, work ethic, and character. As well as …his strong arm, he’s athletic, and you put this together it makes a really great quarterback.” When asked about the strengths in Finkel’s game, Mendoza said, “What has been good about Laird’s performance is his long throws that he makes seem easy, making over 40 and 50 yard passes that are regularly right on target. The other thing that’s impressive about him is when a play breaks down and things get messy he is able to scramble around and find an open receiver.” Every player can always improve, including Finkel, and his coach believes that Finkel can work on “taking the shorter throws when they are there even though we like him letting loose, but just being okay with a five, six, (or) seven yard throw.” Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Mendoza said, “as his coach it’s my job to make sure he is feeling good overall, understanding our game plan each week, and feeling supported because there’s a lot of pressure on quarterbacks. I’m there for him to motivate him, communicate with him, and make sure he’s feeling  supported by the coaching staff…He’s getting great coaching at practice and we’re trying to put game plans to make things easy for him out there.”

Finkel’s teammate Malachi Johnston is the guy that protects him, also known as a left tackle. He feels Finkel has done “really well so far, especially transferring over from a different school (Alemany High School). He’s really smart, fits into the scheme perfectly and he’s doing super well.” In Johnston’s opinion, his best plays are, “a couple really good deep shots so far this season. We usually don’t connect on those very well and he’s been doing a really good job with his accuracy.” According to Johnston, the great thing about Finkel is, “He is a very good leader, he’s very calm and collected, and he knows what he’s doing.” 

Unfortunately, Finkel suffered a clean break to his left collarbone during the Big Game against San Marcos. Luckily, he does not need surgery and is expected to be ready to play in five weeks. The Dons hope to see him back on the field soon as he has been the key to the team’s success so far.