Archbishop Riordan’s fearsome 2025 roster has gotten even stronger.
The Crusaders, who already boasted one of the best collections of football talent at any high school in the Bay Area – if not the best – added another highly touted player this week.
Three-star wide receiver/defensive back Kyle Welch, formerly of The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale, announced on Wednesday that he would be transferring to the San Francisco powerhouse ahead of the fall season.
The announcement means that the West Catholic Athletic League school will now have five wide receivers with Division I scholarship offers – St. Francis transfer and Utah commit Perrion Williams, Oregon State commit Cynai Thomas, Boston College commit Wesley Winn Jr. and Harvard commit Judge Nash. All but Winn are seniors.
“It’s going to be great,” Welch told the Bay Area News Group on Thursday. “It’s going to be definitely hard for defenses to cover all five of us.”
Welch became especially interested in Riordan after playing with Crusaders quarterback Mike Mitchell Jr. on the 7-on-7 circuit during the offseason. Welch had interest in Riordan as early as his freshman year, but playing with Mitchell pushed him over the edge.
“We just clicked,” Welch said. “It was great. I already knew about Riordan, and I wanted to transfer there before I went to King’s. My dad was looking at Riordan, but we were too late, so I ended up going to King’s.
“And over the summer, I was just like, ‘Dad, I think Riordan for my senior year wouldn’t be too bad of an idea.’ I wanted to compete at the WCAL level and just showcase that I can still be electric in a higher division against better competition.”
King’s Academy coach Dante Perez, whom Welch calls a “family friend,” was disappointed to hear one of his best players would be leaving the Sunnyvale school. Welch was TKA’s leading receiver in 2024 and one of the Knights’ top offensive playmakers.
But he understood Welch’s decision, which Welch said he was considering and communicated with Perez this summer.
“He’s a leader of the team,” Perez said. “It’s one of those things where maybe it’s a better fit, or what he wants to do. So yeah, obviously it’s going to affect us. It’s hard to replace a great talent like that. The kid is amazing. Colleges, they know his name and he made a lot of noise because of how good of a player he is.
“But we’ll be OK. We’re going to be OK. Our team, we have a really good, strong core group of kids who are hungry. It hurts to miss Kyle. I hope nothing but the best for him. But I think the guys that we have, we’re going to be OK.”
Welch announced his transfer in a post on the X platform on Wednesday. Fifteen days earlier, on July 22, he posted a video of himself weightlifting with his TKA teammates on campus.
Perez said Welch was not with TKA for the start of preseason practices, which began this week in the Central Coast Section.
“It was something that we’ve conversed about,” Perez said. “His desire to play in the WCAL, wanting to play some higher competition week after week. It was something that was on his mind that we talked about. But he sees that it’s something he wants to do.”
Welch said finances were also a factor in his decision to transfer. He noted that Riordan offered him more financial aid than King’s Academy did. The schools have similar tuition: King’s Academy is $27,975 for a high school student, and Riordan is $28,000, according to school websites.
Riordan coach Adhir Ravipati did not respond to multiple requests from BANG on Thursday for comment about adding Welch to his team’s roster.
It remains to be seen if Welch will be immediately eligible to play at his new school. Welch told BANG he has moved from Fremont to Oakland, which could constitute a valid change of residence, according to CIF bylaws. The CCS will be the ultimate arbiter of Welch’s eligibility.
In the meantime, Welch is excited about the possibilities ahead at his new school. Not only does he plan to excel on the football field, he also has an interest in Riordan’s audio engineering program and mentioned the campus’ international community as a selling point.
“I love their programs outside of football, because everyone has to hang the cleats up at one point,” Welch said. “It’s a very, very strong community. It’s very diverse. We do have a lot of overseas attendees that are from Italy. We have kids from Rome. We even have kids from Greece. And I do a lot of audio engineering, and their audio engineering programs are really great too, so I’ll definitely be taking some in my senior year.”
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On the field, Welch has big goals for himself in 2025. Welch, who currently holds scholarship offers from Sacramento State, Portland State and Georgetown, hopes to receive Power Four offers after a breakout season.
“Hopefully, I need to be over 750 receiving yards,” he said. “I’m looking to get that, because we’re definitely going to the playoffs. So I’m going to have a lot of games to do so. I definitely want to PR on touchdowns. I have to break six touchdowns, because that’s been my PR both years.
“I’m looking to overall become a smarter football player. Coach Adhir does a great job of making us not only better football players, but smarter football players.”
Welch is not the only high-profile transfer changing high schools in the Bay Area in recent weeks. Fresno State commit Jhadis Luckey, the top running back in the North Coast Section who rushed for over 2,000 yards last season at California High in San Ramon, transferred to Clayton Valley for his senior season.