When the System Fails Young Athletes: The Bishop Montgomery Transfer Saga and What It Really Means

By DeJon Jernagin, CA-Recruits/AZ-Recruits

I’ve seen a lot in my years playing professional ball and now running CA-Recruits, but the Bishop Montgomery situation hits different. These kids didn’t ask to be pawns in someone’s gambling scheme. They didn’t choose to have their season ripped away. Yet here we are, watching adults argue about bylaws while young men’s futures hang in the balance.

Let me tell you something from experience: when the system breaks down, it’s always the players who pay the price.

The Reality Behind the Headlines

The facts are damning. Bishop Montgomery accepted over 20 transfers, fueled by a local operative dropping $50,000 per family—plus rent—to stack a roster for betting purposes. When I played, we had guys trying to shave points. This? This is a whole different level of exploitation.

The school did the right thing firing the head coach and forfeiting the season. But here’s what bothers me: those four kids who landed at Mesa High—Kainalu Skipps, Caleb Tafua, and the Anetema brothers—they were victims, not perpetrators. Their families got caught up in something that probably seemed too good to be true because, well, it was.

Now they’re being labeled as mercenaries, transfer cheaters, or opportunists. That’s garbage.

The Double Standard Nobody Wants to Talk About

I played at the highest level. I know what it’s like when the rules work for some people and against others. When I was recruiting for CA-Recruits early on, I watched coaches flip entire rosters while preaching “loyalty” to 16-year-old kids. I watched programs land five-star talents with mysterious “scholarships” that nobody questioned too hard.

But let four displaced California kids find a home in Arizona, and suddenly everybody’s concerned about competitive balance?

Arizona Interscholastic Association slammed the door shut with emergency bylaws—after these kids transferred. That’s convenient timing. It protected the status quo while pretending to address the problem. Meanwhile, Boogie Anetema goes 20-for-30 with 185 passing yards and 58 rushing yards in Mesa’s upset of Salpointe Catholic, and people act shocked that talent is talent regardless of zip code.

His brother Kingston caught six balls for 63 yards. Caleb Tafua, a four-star Texas A&M tight end commit, hauled in 10 catches for 94 yards. Kainalu Skipps had 10 tackles, two for loss, an interception, and a fumble recovery.

You know what that tells me? These kids can play. They deserve to play. And they shouldn’t be punished because adults made criminal decisions.

What This Means for Young Athletes and Their Families

Here’s the lesson, and I’m speaking directly to every parent reading this: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

When someone offers to pay your rent, cover moving expenses, and drop $50,000 on your family for your son to play high school football, that’s not opportunity—that’s a transaction. And in transactions, somebody always gets used.

These families thought they were giving their sons a chance at exposure, better competition, maybe a college scholarship. Instead, they became part of a gambling operation that destroyed a season and left their kids scrambling for eligibility.

From my professional playing days, I can tell you: the people who really care about your development don’t lead with cash. They lead with coaching, relationships, and a proven track record of getting kids to the next level. At CA-Recruits, we’ve built our reputation on connecting athletes with legitimate opportunities—not shortcuts that blow up in their faces.

Arizona’s New Reality: Are They Ready?

Mesa went from 2-3 and floundering to 3-3 and suddenly in playoff contention. That’s what elite talent does—it changes trajectories overnight. Friday’s win was the program’s 700th all-time victory, and it came on the backs of four kids who weren’t even on the roster a month ago.

Is that fair to Arizona programs who played by the rules? I don’t know. What I do know is this: if Arizona high school football wants to compete nationally, they need to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations about transfers, recruiting, and what “competitive equity” actually means.

In my playing days, we didn’t have transfer portals or NIL deals, but we had guys switching teams mid-season for better opportunities all the time. The only difference was nobody called it “transfer culture”—they called it “making a business decision.”

These four young men made a business decision after their business got shut down through no fault of their own. Arizona gave them a second chance before slamming the door on everyone else. That’s not principle—that’s panic.

The Bigger Problem: Who’s Protecting These Kids?

I’m going to be blunt because somebody needs to say it: high school athletics has a predator problem, and we’re not addressing it.

We’ve got operatives offering families money to move kids around like chess pieces. We’ve got coaches building super teams while telling their cuts they’re “not good enough.” We’ve got recruiting services hyping 14-year-olds to generate clicks. We’ve got gambling interests infiltrating youth sports in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

And when it all falls apart? The kids take the L.

Bishop Montgomery’s coaching staff is gone. The operative will probably face legal consequences. The school forfeited a season. But Kainalu Skipps, Caleb Tafua, Boogie Anetema, and Kingston Anetema? They’re the ones whose names are in every article, whose eligibility is being debated, whose motives are being questioned.

That’s backward.

What Needs to Change

From my perspective as both a former professional athlete and someone deeply embedded in the recruiting world, here’s what needs to happen:

1. Protect Displaced Athletes: When programs implode due to scandals, there should be immediate pathways for athletes to transfer and compete without sitting out. These kids didn’t cause the problem—they shouldn’t be collateral damage.

2. Investigate Financial Incentives Aggressively: California and Arizona need to work together to identify and prosecute adults who exploit families through recruiting schemes. Make examples of these predators.

3. Standardize Transfer Rules Across State Lines: The patchwork of regulations creates chaos. If you’re eligible in one state, you should have a clear path to eligibility in another—especially when circumstances are extraordinary.

4. Educate Families: Parents need to understand the warning signs of recruiting schemes. At CA-Recruits, we’re committed to providing resources that help families navigate this process legitimately.

5. Stop Punishing Success: If a kid transfers legally and performs well, that’s not a scandal—that’s sports. We need to celebrate talent, not resent it because it came from somewhere else.

The Old-School Truth

When I played, we respected the game. We respected the grind. And we respected the fact that talent rises regardless of where it starts.

Boogie Anetema didn’t ask for this controversy. He just wanted to play quarterback. Caleb Tafua is headed to Texas A&M—he’s supposed to be focused on his senior season, not defending his eligibility. Kingston Anetema and Kainalu Skipps are trying to earn college looks in a compressed timeline.

They all got dealt a bad hand through no fault of their own. Arizona gave them a chance to keep playing. They seized it. That’s not cheating—that’s resilience.

And honestly? That’s exactly the kind of mentality that translates to the next level.

Final Thoughts: Watch What Happens Next

Mesa is now must-watch TV for the rest of the season. Will they make a playoff run? Will the four California transfers continue to dominate? Will other Arizona programs complain about competitive disadvantage?

I’ll be watching closely, not just as a reporter but as someone who’s lived the consequences of being caught in systems that weren’t built to protect players.

These young men deserve better than to be remembered as the “controversy kids.” They deserve to be remembered for how they responded when everything fell apart—by finding a new home, suiting up, and balling out.

That’s the old-school way. That’s the right way.

And if Arizona high school football can’t handle that, maybe they need to toughen up.

DeJon Jernagin is the owner of CA-Recruits and AZ-Recruits, leveraging his professional playing experience and recruiting expertise to provide authoritative coverage of prep sports across the Western United States. Follow for continued coverage of this developing story and insights into the recruiting landscape.