Ryan Zanelli scans football fields as a pastime, and he can usually spot the best option for his passes.
But his talent for decision making doesn’t stop there.
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The La Habra senior recently navigated the often daunting college landscape to find a school that will allow him to pursue his football and academic goals.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Zanelli committed to the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton business school, picking the Ivy League over playing in the higher-level FBS ranks.
“Fantastic decision,” La Habra coach Frank Mazzotta said at the Orange County public school media day on Aug. 14.
“I made sure of it before I tweeted it out that (Wharton) is the No. 1 business school in the world.”
Zanelli, who leads No. 8 La Habra into its season opener at Upland on Thursday, received scholarship offers from FBS independent Liberty in Virginia and FCS Fordham in New York and Lehigh in Pennsylvania.
Ivy League schools such as Penn don’t offer athletic scholarships, but they do play FCS or Division I-AA competition.
“For me, it was just looking at all my options,” said Zanelli, whose father, John, attended Columbia of the Ivy League.
“I had some great schools (to choose from), but I was really comfortable (at Penn) and obviously the education aspect is really appealing, being set up for life in terms of after football.”
Penn’s football program has become increasingly attractive for Orange County high school recruits.
Zanelli will be Penn’s second Orange County quarterback in recent seasons.
Former JSerra and Saddleback College quarterback Nick Robinson (6-2, 205) is a senior at Penn who has already earned a degree in philosophy, political science and economics.
Robinson is one of six former JSerra players on the Penn team, which includes former county standouts Luke Hoggard (Edison) and Ryan Cragun (St. Margaret’s).
In the recruiting process, Robinson gave Zanelli a tour of the Penn campus, located in Philadelphia.
“They have a ton of SoCal kids,” Zanelli said of the Quakers.
Zanelli, who earned a 4.2 grade-point average in his last semester, will again scan for receiving targets Thursday at Upland, the reigning CIF-SS Division 2 champion.
The left-handed passer completed 61% of his attempts last season en route to 3,180 yards and 42 touchdowns. He was intercepted nine times.
He was selected the Freeway League’s offensive player of the year and became the Highlanders’ latest college prospect at quarterback. Eric Barriere (Eastern Washington) and Zach Fogel (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) are former La Habra quarterbacks playing college football.
Mazzotta praises Zanelli for his intelligence operating the Highlanders’ spread attack.
“We realized last year right away his ability to make decisions pre- and post-snap,” the veteran coach said. “He gets us in and out of a lot of things. I have a lot of fun with it. I really trust him.”
Mazzotta said Zanelli called 70% of the plays at an offseason 7-on-7 passing tournament.
“We have so much (installed) because of his ability to handle it all,” Mazzotta said.
Last season, Upland beat La Habra 24-12 but Zanelli passed for 348 yards and two touchdowns.
Upland returns highly-recruited linebacker Justin Flowe and will introduce first-year coach Darryl Thomas, the team’s former defensive coordinator.
Zanelli will counter with an offense that features emerging wide receiver Kris Koontz, Washington-committed tight end Mason West and Ohio State-committed Clark Phillips III.
The key will be giving Zanelli the precious seconds to scan the field. If the Highlanders provide that, their quarterback will take care of the decision making. Just as he did with Penn.
“He needed to find the right fit for him and it lined up nicely … on so many levels,” his father, John, said. “Too many kids overlook an Ivy League education so they can play at a Power Five school. … These are life-long decisions.”