Summer Football Practice Kicks Off

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The Palisades High football team came within one victory of capturing the City Section championship in program history last fall and the Dolphins figure to be serious contenders again in 2025.

Summer practice started Monday at Santa Monica College, where head coach Dylen Smith got his first look at the incoming freshman and newcomers  and liked what he saw.

Players were put through a series of drills to test their agility, stamina, strength, quickness and hand-eye coordination. Wind sprints capped off the two-and-a-half hour session, after which Smith had some encouraging words for his squad.

“All of the goals that we want to accomplish… everything we’re working towards begins right here and now,” he said. “We want to win the fourth quarter every game and to do that you have to be mentally tougher than the other team.      

Smith revealed that LeHenry Solomon (who led the Dolphins last season with 836 receiving yards and added 15 total touchdowns) is transferring to Chaminade, but the Dolphins still may have the best wideout corps in the City with speedster Demare Dezeurn (a junior transfer from Bishop Alemany in Mission Hills) joining King Demethris (41 catches for 714 yards) and Harrison Carter, who led the Dolphins with 2,218 all-purpose yards (1,124 rushing, 581 receiving and 513 on kick returns) and 18 total touchdowns. Dezeurn, one of the fastest high schoolers in the country, ran the 100-meter dash in 10.39 seconds to take third at the CIF state track and field finals in Clovis on May 31, one week after repeating as champion in the same event at the Southern Section Masters Meet in 10.35. He had 20 receptions for 451 yards in only seven games last season.   

“We should be the best skill-wise,” Smith added. “Harrison is one of the top wide receivers in the City and adding Demare makes us that much better. Birmingham has big, strong lines along with Carson and the other Marine League schools. That’s an aspect we’ll have to develop as we go.”

Sophomore quarterback Caleb Burnett launched  spiral after spiral during Monday’s afternoon workout and heeded the advice of Smith, himself a former quarterback at Santa Monica High.

“He needs reps but the thing I’m most impressed with is his coachability.” Smith said of Burnett, who transferred from WISH Academy in Los Angeles—a school that does not have a football program. “When I show him something he listens and tries to copy it.”      

Returners and varsity players report next week, including quarterback Jack Thomas. He won the Joe Spector Award as varsity Most Valuable Player, was named Western League Player of the Year in December and garnered City Division I Offensive MVP honors after throwing for 3,369 yards and 46 touchdowns and running for 570 yards and 12 scores.

Summer practice runs through July 25.

Smith is optimistic the blue and white can return to the  Open Division playoffs, the City’s highest level. Palisades made the eight-team bracket in his first season, losing 14-10 at Gardena in the quartertfinals.

The Dolphins finished 11-3 last season, dropping the Sunset Showdown to Brentwood 33-30 in overtime, losing to league rival Venice by a single point and falling to King/Drew 56-35 in the City Division I final at Birmingham High. The team reclaimed the Charter Bowl trophy with a 42-28 victory over Granada Hills and scored 63 points (a school playoff record) in the semifinals at Eagle Rock.

The team piled up 582 points in 14 games and averaged 400 yards per contest.          

Smith was an assistant coach under Jake Ford at Brentwood before being hired to head Palisades’ program in 2023. He has won 18 of his first 24 games at the helm, the second-best record for a head coach in their first two seasons at Palisades, trailing only his predecessor Chris Hyduke, who went 21-5.