NorCal POP Rankings 2026: Top 10 at Every Position Through Week 9

These are not opinion rankings. Nobody at SPIN picks who is No. 1. POP, Production Over Potential, is calculated from what each player has actually done this season, game by game, from the box scores of his games, weighed for who he did it against and where. Stars, offers, highlight tapes and reputation are not in the math. Two things are: what he produced, and the competition he produced it against.

That is why big numbers against weak opponents do not rank high here, and why a big game against a great opponent is the most valuable thing on these boards. Consistency counts too: a full season of steady games is worth more than one monster night surrounded by quiet ones. The rules are set before the numbers come in, and they apply to every player in every region the same way.

Below: the Top 10 at every position across Northern California through Week 9, games of Oct. 8 to 10 included, plus the Two-Way board. The full Top 25 at every position, a Top 10 for every CIF section and every rated player in the region live on the Player Rankings tab, updated every Wednesday at noon.

What changed this week

• New No. 1 at quarterback. Central East's Jelani Dippel (93) moves ahead of Acalanes' Tyler Winkles (93). Both sit at 93 and the order comes from the unrounded rating. Dippel went 15 of 21 for 261 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and ran for 93 more, in a 27-0 win over Clovis. Winkles also went up a point, on 179 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in a 35-10 win over Las Lomas.
• New No. 1 at running back. Buchanan's Carvell Wafer Jr. (93) moves ahead of Cardinal Newman's James Curoso (93) after 167 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in a 45-28 win over Clovis West. His teammate Gannon Sever, 192 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries in the same game, is No. 3 at 93. Curoso answered with 171 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-0 win over San Marin and holds No. 2 on the Two-Way board.
• The first 95s on a NorCal board. Brennen Gibbs of Del Oro (wide receiver, up from 93) scored four touchdowns, two rushing and two receiving, with 104 rushing and 107 receiving yards in a 35-30 win over Jesuit. CJ Wallace IV of Folsom (defensive back, up from 91) had 13 tackles, a tackle for loss, two pass breakups and a punt return touchdown against Whitney. Brixton Bridger of Clovis and Blake Meggers of Oak Ridge share the top of the defensive line board at 95.
• Jason Taormino, Whitney, jumps from No. 13 to No. 5 among linebackers (91) on 10 tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception against Folsom, with 72 receiving yards and a touchdown on the other side of the ball. He is No. 8 on the Two-Way board.
• Six new names in the Top 10s. Uate Pifeleti of Saint Francis (defensive back, No. 5), Jayden Lewis of Saint Francis (linebacker, No. 4), Landen Parry of Del Oro (linebacker, No. 6, and No. 10 Two-Way), Jerrek Buckley of Rancho Cotate (tight end, No. 4) and Nick Hunt of Oak Ridge (defensive line, No. 9) all reached the five-game line this week and enter the boards. Isaac Anderson of American Canyon enters at No. 10 among running backs after 277 yards and four touchdowns against St. Vincent de Paul.
• The scale was recalibrated. Arizona, Southern California and Nevada joined the rating pool this week, and every rating is set on one national scale, so most Northern California players moved up a point or two. The order inside each board mostly held.
• Two rules apply for the first time this week, to every region. Return yardage counts fully in competitive games and is discounted in mismatches; turnovers and touchdowns always count. And a Top 25 spot now requires a real share of the load at the position. A player under that line is still rated and still listed, just not ranked. Riley McElvane of Valley Christian is the clearest case here: rated 88 at defensive back, up from 85, but under that line on the defensive side, so he is listed and not ranked there. He holds No. 5 on the Two-Way board.

Coaches, post your box scores. POP can only count what gets recorded. Only about six in ten Northern California games from Oct. 8 to 10 had a box score in when this week's numbers were run Tuesday evening. Clovis and Saint Francis were among the programs whose Week 9 game was not in, so Brixton Bridger, Uate Pifeleti and Jayden Lewis carry one fewer game than their opponents until next week's board. Bellarmine and Sacred Heart Cathedral have no box score in our data this season, so none of their players can be rated yet. When a program posts no box score, or logs only part of what its players did, those players lose credit for work they actually did. Post full box scores, offense and defense, every week. If a stat is wrong, tell us and show us; the corrected rating shows on the next board.

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Defensive Backs

Linebackers

Defensive Line

Two-Way (Athletes)

How to read the number

A POP rating runs 25 to 99 on one national scale, so a 93 in Northern California means the same thing as a 93 in Utah or Southern California. GP is games with a posted stat line. Two-Way players must be rated on an offensive board and a defensive board; the Two-Way number is built from both sides.

How every number on this board is built: the SPIN Production Rankings methodology. Why we built it: Stars Are a Bet. Yards Are a Receipt. Last week's board: NorCal through Week 8.

Utah, Nevada and Northern California are live on the Player Rankings tab. Arizona and Southern California follow, then a national board.