Boise State-bound quarterback Kaleb Annett has been nearly picture perfect for Corona del Mar
Updated, 9/22/2023, 9 p.m.
There is a decade-old photo on the Internet of the Annett family of Newport Beach.
The snapshot shows an impossibly beautiful family under the Newport Beach Pier. The parents resemble movie stars. The three young boys – well-scrubbed and impeccably dressed – are California cool with bare feet in the sand.
Glance through the other photos with this story on Corona del Mar star quarterback Kaleb Annett and there is a hint of perfection. But there was one thing missing for the QB entering this season – he’d never started for the Sea Kings.
“I’m slightly under the radar,” Annett said. “I was behind David Rasor, who’s at UC-Davis now, last season. I could have transferred to somewhere else in Orange County, but I wanted to play with my best friends. So I’ve had to wait until senior year to show what I can do.”
What he’s done is complete 220 of 378 passes for 2,441 yards and 27 touchdowns for the 8-5 Sea Kings, who visit La Serna (10-3) Friday in the Southern Section Division 4 championship game.
“He’s super humble and super nice and is well-liked by his teammates,” Sea King coach Kevin Hettig said. “And when it comes to physical skills, he checks all the boxes.”
The Annett family (L-R): Brady, Ami, Kaleb, Colby and John David a decade ago.
Photo: Courtesy Annett family
Loyal
Annett has become a star all right, but it’s all about team for the tall gunslinger.
“Football is 11 on 11,” said Annett, a three-star recruit. “And you’ve got to be prepared to play your best. It’s also a team game and I love it that you must rely on your teammates. You put your trust in them to win the game.”
Though Annett is of Scottish and Irish descent, Kaleb is a Hebrew name. It means faithful.
“Kaleb is very loyal,” said the player’s mother, Ami, a former Texas Tech hurdler. “He could have left and been a starter at a lot of different programs in Orange County. But his friends are at Corona del Mar, and he loves the coaching staff and the scheme and the players and the school.”
Kaleb Annett has passed for more than 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns in his first season as a starter.
Photo: Courtesy Greg Biggins, 247Sports
Artistic bent
Annett’s parents, Colby and Ami, met at Texas Tech University. He was a handsome former prep quarterback. She was a blonde star hurdler and relay runner on the track team. Ami held the school 100-meter hurdle record for 10 years.
The couple wed, put down stakes in Dallas and three quarterback-playing sons quickly followed – Kaleb, Brady, and John David. Though the family eventually moved west where Colby and his brother Blane began a commercial real estate business, it all started in Big D.
“In pre-school Kaleb was drawing Texas Tech and Dallas Cowboy football helmets every day,” Ami said. “His teacher told him that most people don’t even play college football and he needed to draw other things. Kaleb came home and said, ‘My teacher says I have to draw other things, but I’m going to prove that I can play college football.”
Leader
Kaleb Annett gets some air while passing down field in a recent game.
Courtesy photo: David Woolbert
Annett doesn’t draw helmets now. He lights it up on the football field. And he has no regrets for staying at CDM.
“There’s a brotherhood here and I know everyone says that, but here they really preach it,” Annett said. “Like I’ve been playing with my best friend Russell Weir since I was 6 years old and Dillon Lane and Michael Lynch, too.”
No one-trick-pony, Annett has a 3.8 grade point average, works for a catering company, and leads a youth group at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach.
“I think it keeps him grounded to serve others and not just himself,” Ami said.
Kaleb poses with his dad Colby and the Boise State coaching staff during a visit.
Photo: Courtesy Annett family
All about team
Annett committed to Boise State on July 25 and plans to study business with a goal of going into commercial real estate like his dad. But first things first.
Asked what his goals are, Annett couldn’t think past the immediate.
“My personal goals are to win a CIF championship with my teammates, continue to get better each day, and to enjoy these last couple of weeks with my best friends,” he said.
John Murphy is the sports editor for the Century Group Media of Southern California.
Kaleb Annett committed to the Broncos in July, before he made his first high school start.
Courtesy photo: Annett family
Back in the day: Kaleb (center) flanked by Brady (left) and John David (right)
Courtesy photo: Annett family
(Photos below courtesy of David Woolbert)
