10 Prospects You Need To Know Right Now
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While you’re waiting for Week 3 of the 2022 New Mexico high school football season to begin, here are 10 Prospects you need to know right now: Hatch Valley fans fondly call RB Layton Gillis Layton Gillis 5'8" | 150…
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Continue ReadingWhile you’re waiting for Week 3 of the 2022 New Mexico high school football season to begin, here are 10 Prospects you need to know right now:
Hatch Valley fans fondly call RB Layton Gillis Layton Gillis 5'8" | 150 lbs | RB Hatch Valley | 2023 State NM ‘The Chainsaw’ for the way he cuts through opposing defenses with his rare combination of speed, strength and elusiveness.
We prefer to call him the Hatch Valley Hercules.
Watching Gillis from the sidelines in last Saturday’s 14-14 ties with Hope Christian, it’s evident his warrior mentality in the weight room has paid dividends on the football field. He rushed for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22 carries while making four tackles on defense from his defensive back spot.
In short, he never came off the field.
For Gillis, his success starts off the field with grueling workouts in the weight room.
“My workouts are intense,” Gillis told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “They involve heavy lifting and hard conditioning. I leave everything I have in the weight room and on the field. I work to be the fastest, strongest and most coordinated player on the field. I take pride in my strength.”
As a senior, Gillis is one of the leaders helping Hatch Valley return to the glory days of last decade when they were one of the dominant programs in the state. Through two games this season, Gillis has rushed for 282 yards and 5 TD on 29 carries. The Bears host Tularosa Friday night.
“My goals are to turn this program around and show my team we can and will be successful,” Gillis said. “I want show my team that no matter who’s on the field, we will win every single rep and we will put forth maximum effort. If we fall short, we have to get back up, fight adversity and learn to overcome problems.”
Gillis devoted his summer to working out and attending camps to get better. He attended a camp at UTSA and one in Albuquerque. He has also been invited to play in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl.
Here are nine more players you need to know going into Week 3 (liste din alphabetical order):
Kaden Bell Kaden Bell 5'10" | 150 lbs | K Los Lunas | 2023 State NM , Los Lunas: Rarely does a high school kicker prove invaluable to his team but Bell is one of them. He booms kickoffs through the end zone, his punts have impressive hang time and he calmly boots field goals from distance. He ranks among the national leaders in kickoffs.
Creed Chavez, St. Michael’s: Chavez first caught our attention during 7×7 season with his knowledge, awareness and talent. Last week he was one of the stars for St. Michael’s in their comeback win over city rival Capital. The Horsemen face bitter rival Santa Fe Saturday afternoon at Ivan Head Stadium.
Manny Chavez, Portales: After collecting 97 tackles as a freshman in 2021, Chavez is still making a ton of plays for the Portales defense. He already has a state-leading 33 tackles, 3.5 TFL and 2 fumble recoveries in two games. He’s on pace for 165 tackles in the regular season.
Cesar Gonzalez Cesar Gonzalez 5'7" | 150 lbs | WR Lovington | 2024 State NM , Lovington: Gonzalez has emerged as Lovington’s best intermediate range receiver with 11 receptions in the first two games. The defending Class 4A champions host Santa Teresa Friday night.
Marcquis Henry Marcquis Henry 5'9" | 175 lbs | QB Aztec | 2023 State NM , Aztec: Henry quarterbacked the Tigers when he was a freshman in 2019 before giving way to Landan Frost Landan Frost 6'0" | 165 lbs | QB Aztec | 2024 State NM in 2021. But Henry is back at quarterback for Aztec and he has already thrown for 549 yards (4th highest in state) and 5 TD in the first two games.
Jeremiah Jaquez, Hobbs: Before the season, we talked a lot about Hobbs’ WR duo of Kaden Trevino Kaden Trevino 5'11" | 175 lbs | WR Hobbs | 2023 State NM and Ethan Vanlandingham Ethan Vanlandingham 5'10" | 175 lbs | WR Hobbs | 2023 State NM , and for good reason. But it was Jaquez, a junior, who led the Eagles in receiving last week against Artesia with 7 receptions for 171 yards. Make that a triplet rather than a duo.
Teke Nieto Teke Nieto 6'1" | 215 lbs | RB Los Alamos | 2023 State NM , Los Alamos: Hidden in the northern New Mexico mountains, Nieto isn’t well known outside of his hometown. After two weeks he’s fourth in the state in rushing yards (329) and fourth n tackles with 24. He gets the job done on both sides of the ball.
John Sierra John Sierra 6'2" | 210 lbs | LB Centennial | 2024 State NM , Centennial: The Hawks’ offense has been spectacular in the first two games, but the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Sierra and the defense has played an important role too. They slowed down the Cleveland offense enough to win in Week 1. Then they limited powerful El Paso (TX) Franklin to just 21 points last Friday night.
Cayden Walton Cayden Walton 5'9" | 180 lbs | RB Raton | 2023 State NM , Raton: Not only does Walton lead the state in rushing yards through two weeks, he has a sizeable lead. Most likely, nobody will catch him because Walton should continue to pile up the yardage. Next milestone: 6,000 career rushing yards.