Forced to grow up fast, La Jolla High QB Jackson Diehl blossoms into a dual-threat star

La Jolla Athlete of the Week

By Don Norcross

Aug. 25, 2023 1:25 PM PT

Jackson Diehl was a revelation during the 2022 high school football season, throwing for 2,225 yards and 28 touchdowns.

When the 2023 season opened Aug. 18, the La Jolla High School senior quarterback showed off a new element to his game. He threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns ... and rushed for 174 yards and three more scores as La Jolla beat local rival Bishop’s, 41-19. Two of Diehl’s touchdowns on the ground came on runs of 57 and 54 yards.

“He’s got some moxie to his game,” La Jolla coach Tyler Roach said. “He’s surprised a few folks, even internally on our staff.”

‘Stepped up’ after tragedy

Diehl gets inspiration from his mom.

Six years ago, he and his family took a waterskiing vacation to Lake Powell at the Utah-Arizona border. He was wakeboarding with one boat while his parents, brother and sister occupied another boat nearby.

The fun was halted when Diehl noticed helicopters hovering above the houseboat where the family was staying. Diehl’s mother, Stephanie, had suffered a heart attack while waterskiing. A helicopter flew her to a hospital in Ogden, Utah, where she died the next day. She was 41.

Jackson Diehl (left) poses with his siblings and father at the memorial service for his mother, Stephanie, in 2017.

Stephanie excelled in sports at La Jolla High, just like her boys do. As Stephanie Edwards, she won three consecutive CIF volleyball championships and was named CIF Division III Player of the Year as a senior. She shined on the softball field, too, pitching the Vikings to a Western League title.

Stephanie played volleyball at Princeton, interned for the San Diego Padres during their World Series season of 1998 and remained active in sports as an adult.

When Jackson was playing Little League baseball, Stephanie would grab a catcher’s mitt, strap on shin guards, sit atop a bucket and play catcher as he practiced pitching. She tossed footballs with her boys, too, throwing a tight spiral.

Early in this season’s opener against Bishop’s, Jackson uncorked a spiral of his own, connecting with his brother, Carson, a sophomore wide receiver, for a 52-yard touchdown. To honor his mother, Carson wears No. 13, the number Stephanie wore in college.

Stephanie’s parents were in the stands, cheering on their grandsons.

Chuck Diehl, the boys’ father, was coordinating video coverage of the game.

“Everyone in the stands was looking at me, [thinking] ‘Oh my God, you’ve got to be so psyched,’” he said.

“This season, playing with my brother, these are moments that don’t last forever. I want to make the most of them while they’re here.”

— Jackson Diehl

On a sun-splashed afternoon this week, Jackson sat in a folding chair next to the La Jolla High track as students scurried about. Asked how his mother’s death impacted him, he said: “I feel it changed me, made me mature a lot faster than all my other friends. I took more responsibilities at home, helping out my siblings.”

Jackson helped his father make meals and helped clean the house. When he turned 16, Jackson played chauffeur, driving Carson and their sister, Nicole, to school and practices.

“He stepped up and became more of a man at 11, 12 than someone should have to at that age,” Chuck said. “He stepped up and really helped me out.”

Double threat

La Jolla High School coaches have added more designed run plays for Jackson Diehl.

Before Jackson commanded the Vikings’ huddle last season, La Jolla was led by another talented quarterback with the first name Jackson — the 6-foot-5 Jackson Stratton. As a sophomore, Stratton guided La Jolla to a 10-5 record, the San Diego Section Division III title and the Division 4-A state championship game, where La Jolla lost to Escalon High School.

Between the pandemic-shortened five-game 2021 spring season and a 2021 fall campaign cut short by injury, Stratton threw a combined 38 TD passes and just four interceptions. He’s now playing at Colorado State University.

“When Jackson Stratton came as a freshman, we knew [he] was special,” Roach said.

By contrast, Jackson Diehl was shy, tall and gangly as a sophomore. But gradually he has improved. He started on the school basketball team last season.

“What I failed to realize, and to Jackson’s credit, he’s a sneaky-good athlete,” Roach said. “He’s really matured the last couple of years. We saw it last year in small spurts when he’d break the pocket, make a play and we’re like, ‘Wait, where did that come from?’”

Now the Vikings design run plays for Diehl, who gained many of his 174 rushing yards against Bishop’s on read-option keepers.

“He runs it well and throws it well,” said Scripps Ranch High School coach Marlon Gardinera, whose team faces the Vikings at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at La Jolla. “All I know is we’re having to spend a heckuva lot of time preparing for him.”

La Jolla High quarterback Jackson Diehl says he would like to attend a big university and major in sports management.

School and studies come first

Diehl, who carries a 4.12 grade point average, has not drawn a lot of football attention from colleges. He attended camps last summer at Pennsylvania and Princeton. He said if a good opportunity comes from a good program, “I would definitely think about [playing].”

But, he said, “it’s definitely not [scholarship] ride or die.” He would like to attend a big university and major in sports management and said it’s unlikely he would play at a Division II or III university.

“I don’t think that’s what would be best for me in my future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Diehl is soaking up his senior season. He particularly enjoys playing with his brother. Jackson has thrown Carson thousands of passes in the street. They last played together five years ago in flag football.

When the boys were young, the family bought big, fluffy couches. Carson loved running into them, making diving catches. By nature, Jackson was more methodical and analytical.

“There’s your quarterback and there’s your receiver,” Chuck Diehl said.

Reflecting on the impact his mother’s death has had on him, Jackson said: “I feel like it’s made me more considerate of other people. And I feel it’s changed the way I see things. I’m not going to take anything for granted.