2021 Season Preview: Rio Rancho Rams

<strong>Rio Rancho 2021 Preview</strong> Head Coach: Gerry Pannoni Mascot: Rams Twitter: @rioramsfootball, @gpannoni, @RioRamPreps Colors: Navy Blue, Hunter Green, and White Enrollment: 2,597 Spring Record: 3-1 Key Players: QB Dominick Priddy, RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"], WR Javon Jubert, WR Mikey Wood, WR Gage Victor, OL [player_tooltip player_id="26229" first="Cayden" last="Romero"], LB [player_tooltip player_id="26235" first="Fabiano" last="Valdez"], DB [player_tooltip player_id="26231" first="Lucas" last="Lucero"]. Breakout Star: RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"]. Overview: Presumptive starting QB <strong>Dominick Priddy</strong> spent most of the summer playing baseball with his AAU team (he was 1^st Team All-State in Baseball as a catcher for the Rams), but he began preseason camp Monday as the overwhelming favorite to win the job. Pannoni says Priddy has the critically important “it” factor. Three sophomores battled during 7-on-7 season for the No. 2 job:  <strong>Noah Nelson</strong>, <strong>Rayce Ramirez</strong> and <strong>Dominic Valencia</strong>. Whoever plays QB for the Rams will have the luxury of handing off to RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"]</strong>, arguably the top player at his position in the state. He’ll likely play at the next level for a FBS or FCS program. He’s not just an elusive and elite runner, either. He showed in 7-on-7 competition that he is terrific catching the football out of the backfield. The Rams are loaded at wide receiver, even though junior Donevyn Culkin apparently tore his ACL during 7-on-7 season and Daymari Cox moved to New Orleans. That leaves <strong>Javon Jubert</strong>, <strong>Mikey Wood</strong> and <strong>Gage Victor</strong> as three dependable receivers Pannoni is counting on. Along the offensive line, 6-foot-5, 320-pound <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26229" first="Cayden" last="Romero"]</strong> is one of the top 2022 OL prospects in the state and has been offered by New Mexico. The Rams have three additional offensive linemen that weigh over 300 pounds. Senior <strong>Adrian McNeely</strong>, who started as a sophomore in 2019, returns after sitting out the spring season. Defensively, the Rams’ defensive front skews small but features plenty of quickness. New defensive coordinator Phillip Martinez will try to come up with schemes to take advantage of that speed. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26235" first="Fabiano" last="Valdez"]</strong> leads the linebacker corps. He’ll line up at a variety of spots and also play with his hand in the ground, making him a weapon on the second level. Junior <strong>Vascon Smith</strong> joins him at LB along with OLB <strong>Carlos Archuleta</strong>. In the secondary, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26231" first="Lucas" last="Lucero"]</strong> is one of the best safeties in the state. Senior <strong>Marcus Wright</strong> will be the other safety and is growing in confidence. Brothers <strong>Christopher Fox</strong> and <strong>Alex Fox</strong> man the cornerback spots. Schedule: Rio Rancho opens the season with a pair of road contests at Goddard (faced the Rockets at the Wool Bowl in the spring) and La Cueva. Rams get a bye before the start of district play. The annual clash with ‘City of Vision’ rival Cleveland is Oct. 29 at Rio Rancho’s stadium. 8/21 at Goddard 8/27 at La Cueva 9/3 ELDORADO 9/10 CLOVIS 9/18 at Organ Mountain (FOD) 9/24 Bye 10/1 CIBOLA 10/9 at West Mesa 10/15 ATRISCO HERITAGE 10/22 at Volcano Vista 10/29 CLEVELAND Top Storyline: How will Gerry Pannoni fare in his first full season as the Rio Rancho head coach? Final Thoughts: Rio Rancho has been one of the state’s top programs for the last decade, and everything points to the Rams being one of the top teams in Class 6A again. Mark them down as championship contenders. Pannoni, the 2019 National Coach of the Year, came to the Land of Enchantment from Virginia and finally gets an opportunity to coach Rio Rancho for a complete 10-game regular season schedule. With Vigil potentially dominating games, the Rams’ run-pass ratio will be interesting to follow. Vigil has the ability to carry the ball 20-25 times per game. That should open things up in the passing game, allowing Priddy and the wide receivers to flourish. The season finale against Cleveland is again lining up to be a monster game. Don’t be surprised if the Rams are undefeated going into that rivalry game. Coach’s Comments: “Our guys have worked extremely hard. I’ve told them that it’s really about the process and getting better every day. Our guys have really competed. They’re learning how to compete the way I want. We’re in a good spot. . .Priddy has whatever “it” is. But the three sophomores are all talented and have separate talents. Are we set on a quarterback? I don’t think we are right now. Dom has been playing a lot of baseball. So he hasn’t been around a whole lot. He hasn’t gotten as many reps with the first group while the younger guys have. . .Zach can be a nightmare matchup for defenses in the passing game. If he’s in the game, do you put in an extra defensive back in case you want to cover him or do you just leave a linebacker in and the linebacker is not going to be able to cover him. He’s football runner. He can make you miss. He knows how to stick his foot in the ground and make you miss. . .We have a bunch of receivers that can make plays. We have enough talented kids. Mikey Wood has really stepped it up. . .Offensive line, we’re pretty big. We can also be very good. . .Defensively, up front, we won’t be very big but we’ll be fast. We’ll move and play aggressively. We’re not going to ask them to get into somebody’s face and play. We’re going to try to beat them with speed.” – Gerry Pannoni https://twitter.com/zacharyvigil21/status/1421635188975624194 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1412126301410922497 https://twitter.com/CaydenRomero/status/1420280722829365251