Folsom QB legacy includes NFL’s Jake Browning, Sac State’s Kaiden Bennett and Ryder Lyons

There is a Folsom quarterback legacy thing in full bloom with signal callers of similar drive if not different skill sets dotted across the football landscape, stretching from the preps to the pros.

At Folsom High School, the lead Bulldog is a sophomore. Ryder Lyons at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds has welts and bruises on his arms from the shots he takes in competition, but the arm, legs and poise have powered Folsom into Saturday night’s CIF Northern California Division 1-A title game against 13-0 Pittsburg. He already has scholarship offers from Notre Dame, among others, and he’s just getting warmed up.

And no doubt, the Pirates of Contra Costa County know they have to get to the kid to stall his season while advancing their own.

At Sacramento State, the Hornets seek another FCS Division I playoff victory this weekend in South Dakota in a quarterfinal round, and they will take the field with dual-threat quarterback ace Kaiden Bennett. He’s a 6-foot junior who starred at Folsom, inspired by the greats before him and talking shop with Lyons when he can because that’s what Bulldogs do.

And in Cincinnati, the NFL’s Bengals start the 6-2 and uber smart and prepared Jake Browning, the greatest high school passer of them all on the Sacramento-area circuit. His 229 career touchdowns at Folsom from 2012-14 are a national prep record, and his 39 victories while leading the Washington Huskies is a Pac-12 record that will not be broken because the conference has broken apart.

When Browning came in for an injured Joe Burrow earlier this season, Bulldogs past and present tuned in, including Lyons and Bennett.

“We were at home, and I had the game on, turned up the volume, locked in,” Stanford coach Troy Taylor, who coached Browning at Folsom and remains close to him, told The Sacramento Bee this week. “I called my wife, Tracey, and said, ‘He’s playing!’”

More fun: Taylor and son Noah will be in Florida on Monday night when the Bengals visit the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Taylors will be on the field before kickoff. Browning knows his mentor and friend is coming, texting Taylor that “good things happen” when they’re in the same stadium together.

“I’m fired up!” Taylor said with excitement. “Jake’s just unbelievable. Always has been. He’s such a good dude, always the same. Treats people the right way. You can’t help but root for a guy like that.”

QB rise and challenges

Bennett grew up in Nevada and heard of the Folsom football appeal. He arrived at Folsom as an incoming freshman, where it didn’t take long to learn of the legend of Browning and those before him, including Cary Grossart, brothers Dano and David Graves, Tanner Trosin and Jake Jeffrey.

Bennett poured himself into his craft, knowing he had to live up to lofty standards. An explosive runner and cool passer, the man known as “KB” sparkled in leading Folsom to CIF state titles in 2017 and 2018 after Browning had engineered a 16-0 team in 2014.

“Oh, I was definitely motivated by those great quarterbacks before me,” Bennett said after a Sacramento State practice this week. “I knew all the names: Dano, Jake, Trosin. I wanted to be a great player. I see Ryder Lyons now and like to chop it up with him. We all pull for each other.”

Quarterback play isn’t just about reading a defense, making the right play and leading a drive. It’s a role heavy in perseverance. Quarterbacks get knocked around, and they shoulder the weight of expectations, including their own.

Browning was the man as a three-year varsity starter at Folsom, tossing 10 touchdowns in his first varsity start when the other team kept blitzing him. He led Folsom to three Sac-Joaquin Section championships as the Bulldogs went a combined 44-2. Browning passed for an astounding 16,775 yards. He never broke stride as a four-year starter at Washington, where he passed for 12,296 yards and 94 touchdowns, but he had to wait his turn in the NFL.

A glossy prep and college resume ensured nothing. Browning signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in the spring of 2018. He was signed, waived, signed and waived by the Vikings and Bengals before securing a roster spot in Cincinnati this season.

Browning, 27, had his first regular-season snap on Sept. 10 against the Cleveland Browns. He played on Nov. 16 against the Baltimore Ravens and is now the lead man after starter Joe Burrow was sidelined for the season with a wrist injury.

“Talk about perseverance,” Taylor said. “Jake’s hung in there. It’s his personality. He’s always been like that. He’s always prepared, always ready. He fell in love with the game early.”

Taylor added: “Typically, you go into a game a little nervous, but I was never nervous when Jake was at Folsom — never. He always made good decisions and controlled the game for us. I knew he’d be ready.”

KB weathered his storm

Bennett graduated early from Folsom and enrolled at Boise State, where he had signed a scholarship package, but left after training camp to be closer to his parents, transferring to the University of Nevada.

He then left for Sacramento State to play for Taylor and his prep coaches Kris Richardson and Bobby Fresques, who joined Taylor when he became the Hornets’ coach before the 2019 season. Richardson is the Hornets’ line coach. Fresques is the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

Bennett was a reserve last season, earned a degree and vowed to emerge this season while pursuing another degree. He has enjoyed great moments and ones he’d like to have back, such as forcing a pass that was intercepted. Bennett impressed on Sept. 16. He passed for 279 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 100 yards and another score in a 30-23 stunner at Stanford, coached by Taylor.

Last week at North Dakota in a playoff opener, Bennett was nails again. He passed for 207 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 126 and two scores, including the game winner for a 42-35 victory.

“Ups and downs are part of the game,” Bennett said. “You just have to keep at it, fight through injuries and mistakes, because I always want to play well for the guys.”

Taylor can speak from experience. He saw first hand the Bennett factor and he watches the Hornets on TV often, live or taped, as a fan of the program, the coaches and the players.

“So great to see KB playing well,” Taylor said. “When the lights are brightest, he really shines.”

QB role and rise of Ryder

Taylor said quarterbacks have to remain steady because their teams are counting on it.

“You’re going to have nights where things don’t go according to plan,” Taylor said. “Even when you work hard, sometimes things don’t turn out. That’s how life works. But you keep plugging away, and Jake and KB are two guys who have prepared for their opportunity and took advantage of their shot. It’s just so cool to see.”

Lyons, the current Folsom star passer, had his varsity awakening as a freshman. Austin Mack, now at Washington, was the starter, but Folsom coach Paul Doherty wanted to give his rising star Lyons a peek in a big game. Against De La Salle in a NorCal final a year ago, Lyons took a direct snap and took off for a 20-yard run.

“And then, boom, he gets hit and the ball pops out, but he scored for us later in a tough loss,” Doherty said. “Best thing that could’ve happened to Ryder and our team. That was real adversity. Learn the hard way, and he has. He’s been incredible.”

Doherty added: “Playing quarterback at any level is an overwhelming responsibility. The pre-snap calls, the drops, the progressions, the footwork, movement in the pocket, out of the pocket. It’s incredibly difficult to simulate outside a game, and guys want to tackle you.”

Lyons said he revels in his role as the next star Folsom quarterback.

“I love being here, being with these guys, the pressure, doing everything I can to help this team,” Lyons said. “I’m having a blast.”

Browning showed promise at 9

Taylor said he saw greatness in Browning when the kid was all of 9 years old. Wait? What? Greatness in how he could gobble down an ice cream cone in quick order?

Well, no. The kid had a quarterback presence even then. Taylor for years mentored and coached up quarterbacks of all ages.

“I trained him when he was that old, and for 99% of kids that age, 9 is too young, but it wasn’t for Jake,” Taylor said. “His dad (former Oregon State quarterback Ed Browning) was very hands off, the opposite of a helicopter parent. Jake was a kid who was so focused. I’ve coached thousands of kids and players, and if you do it long enough, you have that one pupil that stands out, that loves it, that enjoys it, that can’t get enough. Jake had the aptitude and talent to be great even then and it carried into high school and now.

“We met each other at the right time. He’s a friend. I love the guy. People would ask me how I could be friends with a 17-year old high school kid, and I’d say that Jake was an old soul. But all these years later, he’s closing in on me fast age wise.”

Coach and pupil are still in regular contact. Browning texted Taylor after Stanford rallied to beat Colorado and coach Deion Sanders in Boulder, 46-43 in double overtime for the biggest comeback in program history. The text read in part: “You don’t come back from 29 down if you don’t have a great culture and great locker room.”

“Very meaningful note,” Taylor said.

Browning each summer hosts a quarterback camp for Sacramento-area prep players. He will run into Lyons. He could see Bennett, who might stop by to offer insight. Browning hasn’t forgotten his roots and the people who helped mold him.

“Coach Taylor was and still is a huge influence for me, starting at Folsom and now in the NFL,” Browning told The Bee. “I was always going to be a hard worker, but I was fortunate enough to have someone like Troy lay out a road map of what to focus on.

“I was very fortunate to have had great coaches like him early on and to have grown up in a football town like Folsom. From Mighty Mite Junior Bulldogs with coach Curt Crandall all the way to my senior year with Kris Richardson and Troy Taylor, I was around people that put in a lot of time and effort to prepare me and my teammates to be the best we could be. I couldn’t be more grateful.”