Justin Herbert may be the pride and joy of Sheldon High School, but he is not the only athlete coming out of the 6A Eugene-area school to make the transition to Division I Oregon football.

Sheldon has more alumni on the current roster than any other school, accounting for four athletes. Central Catholic in Portland, Oregon, and Centennial in Corona, California, tie for second with three players each.

Those former Sheldon athletes are a mixture of walk-ons and scholarship-winners, the most well-known being freshman starting quarterback Justin Herbert. He is joined by fellow quarterback Taylor Alie, redshirt junior linebacker Ivan Faulhaber and freshman offensive lineman Ryan Phillipo.

Though they haven’t always played together due to age differences, this group of Ducks grew up in similar friend groups, neighborhoods and teams. That familiarity enabled a high level of comfortability when transitioning into Oregon’s football program.

“It made it a lot easier coming into a program that’s a little different than our program that we had back at Sheldon,” Phillipo said. “Having Taylor and Ivan here really helped me learn the process a lot better because they already knew what was going on.”

Herbert and Phillipo have played football together since they were kids. Phillipo was Herbert’s offensive lineman for four years while at Sheldon, so they saw significant playing time together.

“Me and Justin have been friends forever,” Phillipo said. “Being able to have a kid that you’ve known since first grade and been on the same team with since the first grade has been awesome.”

According to Les Phillipo, the linemen coach at Sheldon and Ryan Phillipo’s father, Herbert took snaps with Phillipo under center at one point early in Oregon’s fall camp.

“To have the person you’re familiar with catching the snap and a person you’re familiar with snapping it to them during practice — it makes things a little bit easier to go to that next level,” Les Phillipo said.

Oregon Ducks linebacker Ivan Faulhaber (52) waves as he leaves the tunnel. The No. 12 Oregon Ducks play the Georgia State Panthers in Eugene Oregon on September 19, 2015. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Ryan Phillipo and Herbert were just freshmen when Alie and Faulhaber led the Fighting Irish to the 2012 Oregon state football championship. The two were years apart in age, and Herbert said that Alie was a valuable mentor in high school.

“In a freshman game, I ended up throwing a pick and [Alie] came up to me and slapped me on the back of the helmet and said, ‘Get after them,’ ” Herbert recalled. “I remember that.”

In his recent transition into the spotlight at Oregon, Herbert said that Alie has been as helpful as ever.

“He’s been a huge mentor,” Herbert said. “He helps me whenever I need it. Like a question, or anything on the protection — I go to him. He’s the easiest guy to go to.”

Mitch Herbert, Justin Herbert’s brother and a wide receiver at Montana State, also credits Alie’s mentorship for improving his brother’s game.

“That’s been really important for him to have a fellow QB like Taylor to talk to,” Mitch Herbert said. “He definitely won’t be scared to talk to him.”

Mitch Herbert also considers Phillipo’s presence on the team “huge” for his brother.

“Just the fact that they’re comfortable with each other is really important for his progression,” he said.

Quarterbacks coach David Yost has seen the effect that Alie and offensive intern Tyler Osborne — also a Sheldon graduate — have had on the young quarterback.

“[Alie and Herbert] have a great relationship,” Yost said. “I know Taylor really went out of his way to try and help him and make him feel comfortable and all that, so that’s a real positive.”

Osborne, whom Dakota Prukop credited to helping him quickly learn the offense, played four years of football at Sheldon, as well. But he has followed in the footsteps of his father, special teams coach Tom Osborne, and is in his fourth year interning for the Oregon football team.

“It was really cool to be able to help him out just from a kind of big brother type thing at first,” Osborne said. “Then we end up finding out that he’s really pretty good.”

Faulhaber, like Alie, is three years older than Herbert, and is good friends with Mitch Herbert, as well. Faulhaber and Justin saw a lot of each other growing up and are close friends.

“It’s pretty amazing — I knew he was going to go far and kind of do his thing but I didn’t know it’d get to this extent,” Faulhaber said of Herbert. “It’s really cool to see him develop as a player and as a person. He’s matured a lot.”

Two of the last three Sheldon quarterbacks have started for Oregon, so the Fighting Irish must be doing something right.

“Sheldon’s had an outstanding program for the last several years, so they’re developing some athletes, and I think proximity [plays a role in recruiting],” Oregon offensive line coach Steve Greatwood said. “A lot of those kids are walk-on kids that we’ve welcomed into our program that have done an outstanding job.”

Les Phillipo credits the Sheldon’s “team-first” mentality for those athletes’ smooth transition to Oregon football.

“There are several kids that are [on the Oregon team and] you know they want to play; they are more into it for themselves,” Phillipo said. “But at Sheldon, we’ve always taught and preached being a part of a family type of thing first. You do whatever it takes to make the team better, and so our kids are not necessarily into it for their own glory; they’re into it for making the team better.”

The Oregon Ducks host the No.5 Washington Huskies at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Oct.8, 2016. (Eric Cech/Emerald)

Sheldon has a history of producing Oregon standouts. Quarterback Chris Miller played for 10 seasons in the NFL and captained the Oregon offense from 1983 to 1986. He also was the last true freshman to start at quarterback before Herbert.

Tyler Osborne admits about himself that he “wasn’t the greatest football player of all time,” but enjoys coaching his fellow Sheldon alumni now.

“I always joke with these guys,” Osborne said, “We’ve got the three best Sheldon guys that are taking reps at quarterback in the same room between me, Taylor and Justin.

The chemistry that comes from growing and learning together, especially starting at such a young age, is something that Osborne appreciates about this year’s team.

“It’s pretty cool being able to see those guys each day and kind of know where they came from.”

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee