Position Breakdown: Top 10 Quarterbacks in 2024 Rankings

We revealed our first 2024 prospect rankings on Monday. We’ll now take an in-depth look at each of the positions, starting with the quarterbacks. Here are the Top 10 2024 quarterbacks (listed by ranking) in the state of New Mexico: 1. [player_tooltip player_id="275488" first="Elijah" last="Brody"], Cleveland: After serving as [player_tooltip player_id="139521" first="Evan" last="Wysong"]’s backup in 2021 as a sophomore, Brody will likely get an opportunity to earn Cleveland’s full-time starting QB job in preseason camp. However, which school he attends in 2022-23 took an intriguing twist Monday when his father, former New Mexico Lobo Landrick Brody, was named head coach at West Mesa. So, will Brody stay at Cleveland or join his father at West Mesa? Whichever school gets [player_tooltip player_id="275488" first="Elijah" last="Brody"] will clearly benefit from his size (6-3, 185 pounds), strong throwing arm and high football IQ. 2. [player_tooltip player_id="275457" first="Landan" last="Frost"], Aztec: Frost grabbed Aztec’s starting QB job in the preseason and enjoyed a solid season with 18 TD passes and just 8 interceptions in 11 games. That’s better than a 2-to-1 TD pass to INT ratio, which is impressive for a young quarterback making his maiden voyage with the varsity. The Tigers look set at QB for the next 2 seasons. Now Aztec must build around Frost if they want to make future noise in the Class 4A playoffs. 3. [player_tooltip player_id="275430" first="Brandon" last="Olivas"], Eldorado: Olivas had quite the debut for Eldorado, coming off the bench in mid-September and leading the Eagles to four touchdowns in five possessions, leading Eldorado to a victory over Santa Fe. From there, Olivas went on to appear in 8 games and throw for 500 yards and 7 TD. [player_tooltip player_id="135326" first="Elias" last="Franco"] is a senior, so the job should belong to the dynamic Olivas full-time in 2022. 4. [player_tooltip player_id="275459" first="Wyatt" last="Gomez"], Lovington: The defending Class 4A champions are blessed to have two quarterbacks capable of starting and winning games. Rising senior [player_tooltip player_id="269564" first="Ashton" last="Aranda"] threw for 2,180 yards and 29 TD in 2021. Gomez was his backup and he threw for 661 yards and 8 TD. Gomez has good size (6-1, 175 pounds) and a strong arm. He could be starting many teams in New Mexico. 5. [player_tooltip player_id="275462" first="Kaleb" last="Rodriguez"], Loving: Located southeast of Carlsbad near the Texas border, the Loving football program doesn’t – yeah we’ll say it - get a whole lotta love from many folks in the state. But the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Rodriguez was one of the top quarterbacks in Class 2A last season as he threw for nearly 1,000 yards and 8 TD as a sophomore. His top three receivers all return in 2022, so Rodriguez and the Loving offense should improve in 2022. 6. [player_tooltip player_id="274972" first="Noah" last="Nelson"], Rio Rancho: Nelson served as Rio Rancho’s backup QB behind senior Dominick Priddy last season and got the opportunity to flash his skills. He completed 76 percent of his passes for 272 yards. Nelson is one of the quarterbacks for the New Mexico Legacy 7x7 team, so we’ll get a good look at Nelson over the next few months against local and national competition as he strives to show he should be ‘the guy’ for the Rams in 2022. 7. [player_tooltip player_id="274791" first="Trel" last="Griego"], Farmington: Like most 2024 quarterbacks in New Mexico, Griego served as his team’s backup in 2021. He played behind [player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"], who led Farmington to the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A playoffs. But Furbee is gone and now Griego will be a key figure in Farmington’s transition to Class 6A. Griego has tremendous size (6-3, 225 pounds) and posted some impressive stats last season, completing 21-of-32 passes (65.6 completion pct.) for 331 yards and 3 TD. He’s one to watch over the next two seasons. 8. [player_tooltip player_id="275387" first="Manuel" last="Gutierrez"], Clovis: Since 2021 starter [player_tooltip player_id="134999" first="Milo" last="Acosta"] was a senior, the Clovis starting QB job appears to be Gutierrez’s for the taking.  Gutierrez saw limited duty last season, attempting 15 passes and rushing nine times. So, he gained some valuable experience with the ball in his hands. 9. [player_tooltip player_id="275207" first="Dean" last="Marquez"], Atrisco Heritage: Starting with Marquez, Atrisco Heritage has an impressive array of young talent at the offensive skill positions, Marquez is the QB with 2025 WR Latavious Morris (28 receptions in 2021) and 2024 WR [player_tooltip player_id="274705" first="Marquise" last="Renfro"] (20) leading the way at receiver. The future is bright for the Jaguars after experiencing some growing pains in 2021. 10. [player_tooltip player_id="275478" first="Devin" last="Diaz"], Portales: Diaz emerged last season as one of the promising dual threat quarterbacks in Class 4A. He threw for over 1,000 yards and was Portales’s leading rusher as well. The Rams have always been strong at quarterback, and Diaz should be the next great one in Portales. https://twitter.com/elijahobrody/status/1467651805462941700 https://twitter.com/BrandonOlivasQB/status/1461002388689408002 https://twitter.com/__nelly7/status/1455253658250084352