2021 Season Preview: Artesia Bulldogs

<strong>Artesia 2021 Preview</strong> Head Coach: Jeremy Maupin Mascot: Bulldogs Twitter: @artesiafootball; @jeremy_maupin Colors: Orange, Black and White Enrollment: 793 Spring Record: 2-3 Star Players: QB Nathan Taylor, RB Jake Barrera, WR Kody Watson, WR [player_tooltip player_id="138074" first="Devyn" last="Fierro"], LB [player_tooltip player_id="26259" first="Dominic" last="Pacheco"], S Davian Molina, CB Thomas Riley. Breakout Star: QB Nathan Taylor. Overview: Artesia had a passing-oriented offense under former head coach Rex Henderson. Taylor Null threw for nearly 3,800 yards in 2017 and Clay Houghtaling passed for over 3,500 yards in 2019. Maupin, an Artesia graduate, brings the same throw-first mentality from Los Lunas but plans to add a few tweaks to the scheme for a personal touch. QB <strong>Nathan Taylor</strong>’s older brother Trent was a quarterback for Artesia from 2016-18. Their father coached Maupin in basketball growing up, so he has known the family for a long time. Nathan Taylor showed off a strong and accurate throwing arm last week at Eastern New Mexico’s 7x7 tourney. His deep balls are especially pretty to watch. Senior <strong>Jake Barrera</strong> returns at running back after rushing for 452 yards and 8 touchdowns in 5 games this past spring. He was Artesia’s No. 2 RB behind Kaden Williams in 2019. Somebody must replace [player_tooltip player_id="26164" first="Braxton" last="McDonald"], who’s a preferred walk-on at New Mexico this fall, at wide receiver. Senior <strong>Kody Watson</strong> and junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138074" first="Devyn" last="Fierro"]</strong> get first crack. Both started games in the spring. Senior <strong>Randall Hamilton</strong> is available as well. The big offensive line is experienced. Defensively, Jourdan Rodriguez, another Artesia graduate, is the new defensive coordinator after Stephen Johnston left to become the head coach at Manzano. Senior LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26259" first="Dominic" last="Pacheco"]</strong> is the leader of the Bulldogs defense. Newcomer <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135579" first="Seth" last="Johnson"]</strong> will play middle linebacker. Safety <strong>Davian Molina</strong> is the anchor in the secondary along with CB <strong>Thomas Riley</strong>. Schedule: Artesia’s 2021 campaign begins, as it usually does, with the Eddy County War against geographic rival Carlsbad. They host Hobbs, Cleveland and Lovington at the Bulldog Bowl before beginning district play against Oct. 15 at Roswell. Aug. 20 at Carlsbad Aug. 27 HOBBS Sept. 3 at Belen Sept. 10 at Deming Sept. 17 CLEVELAND Sept. 24 LOVINGTON Oct. 1 RUIDOSO Oct. 8 Bye Oct. 15 at Roswell Oct. 22 GODDARD Oct. 29 ALAMOGORDO Top Storyline: How will Artesia respond to new head coach Jeremy Maupin? Final Thoughts: Artesia is the preeminent ‘Friday Night Lights’ town in the state of New Mexico. That’s why you see a prominent program like Cleveland willing to make the journey to southeast NM during the regular season. The Bulldogs should enjoy plenty of offense this season with <strong>Nathan Taylor</strong> sitting in the pocket and throwing missiles all over the field and <strong>Jake Barrera</strong> sparking the running game. For Artesia, everything boils down to defense. The Bulldogs surrendered 35 or more points in three of their five spring games, including 50 to Goddard and 56 to Hobbs. If Artesia wants to compete for the Class 5A title, the defense must show significant improvement. Jeremy Maupin grew up in Artesia and played quarterback for the Bulldogs. He fully understands the culture and the town. From a distance, it looks like a perfect fit. Coach’s Comments: “I’m excited about where our guys are at with a new coach. . .Nathan Taylor is throwing the ball really well right now. Offensively, we’re going to do a lot of the same things and then add some flair from our coaching staff. We’ll sit down and decide what fits our kids the best. You’ll see us throw the ball around and play two-by-twos. . .Nathan knows the game and sees the game well. I’ll let him call some stuff because he knows what’s open and how to get it there. He has the arm strength to do it all. . .Jake is a very good running back. He’s a very good leader for our team. . .We like our whole crew at wide receiver. . .Our offensive line has a lot of size and leadership. They have a lot of guys coming back this year. That should help us out. . .Coach Rodriguez brings a tough mentality to our defense. He’s from Artesia as well. He already has our guys excited to be playing. We have a good corps back on defense with some new guys mixed in too. . .When you talk about coaching in New Mexico, I don’t know anybody that wouldn’t want to coach at Artesia. It’s exciting. It was tough to leave Los Lunas. We had a lot of good players. But I know a lot of the players’ families here. There’s something special about being home.” – <strong>Jeremy Maupin.</strong> https://twitter.com/ENMUFootball/status/1418692089806741507 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1418792953917624322 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1411800854919798786