2024 Look Ahead: Capital Goes All In On The Air Raid

A lot of things will be new for the Capital Jaguars in 2024.   New head coach. New classification. New hope.   Along with the new head coach, comes something else – a new offense.   Capital promoted offensive coordinator John Michael Salazar to head coach in early January. In 2023, under former head coach Joaquin Garcia, the Jaguars ran a modified version of the Air Raid, combining elements of the pass-dominated scheme with a good ol' fashioned rushing attack.   This year, the Jaguars are going ‘all in' on the Air Raid.   Salazar, who has been awarded Air Raid Master Certification by former Kentucky and New Mexico State head coach Hal Mumme, credited as one of the Air Raid's inventors along with the late Mike Leach, plans for Capital to run a more pure form of the Air Raid offense in 2024.   “We ran some Air Raid concepts when Coach Garcia was here, but we will be full Air Raid next season, that's for sure,” Salazar told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Being the OC, I was able to put my little twist on the offense. But I could go only so far as Coach Garcia would let me. We ran what I would call a Power Raid offense.”   The Air Raid requires a quarterback to think quickly and throw accurately. Rising senior [player_tooltip player_id='1119613' first='Deaven' last='Montano'] returns after throwing for 1,523 yards and 15 TD in 2023. He completed just under 50 percent of his passes. That percentage must increase by 10 or more points for the Jaguars to enjoy success running the Air Raid.   “I'm expecting big things from Deaven,” Salazar said. “He has a big arm. The arm talent is there. Last year he was learning how to read a defense and find the open lanes. He had to learn that he can't wait for the receiver to get open. He has to throw them open. I feel comfortable with Deaven. His completion percentage will increase. The goal is to get him over 60 percent. He is excited about it.”   The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Montano will have a young and talented receiver corps at his disposal. The group is led by rising seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1594266' first='Jay' last='Madrid'] and [player_tooltip player_id='615716' first='Eli' last='Dominguez']. Other possible receivers include a contingent moving up from the JV ranks. Rising junior Niko Salazar, rising senior Angel Gonzalez, rising senior Chris Sanchez Valencia and speedy rising senior Gerardo Felix Miranda highlight the group. One to watch is rising sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1272735' first='Noah' last='Brewer'], who saw action with the varsity in 2023.   "One reason why I believe the Air Raid will work at Capital is because we have a lot of guys that are basketball players,” Salazar said. “The selling point to these guys who play basketball is the Air Raid will get them the ball in space so they can make a play with their athleticism. We have some decent sized receivers coming back. We should have at least five receivers with a lot of yards. That way the defense can't key on just one or two guys, which is what happened last year.”   Two key concepts of the Air Raid is you strive to get as many players involved in the offense as possible (equal touches = balance) and you force the defense to defend the entire width of the field.   “We want to spread defenses out,” Salazar said.   Operating a pure (or close to it) form of the Air Raid doesn't mean an offense should ignore running the football. Mike Leach's teams at Texas Tech and Washington State typically threw the ball about 80 percent of the time. When Capital does run the ball, rising senior Alan Mourning should get his share of carries. The Air Raid also features swing passes to running backs circling out of the backfield.     Salazar also has to get Capital's offensive linemen familiar with wider splits, another key feature of the Air Raid. Six-foot-4, 270-pound left tackle Ryan Garcia returns for his senior season. Garcia is attracting interest from New Mexico Highlands (visited there on Feb. 9), Princeton, Brown, Marist, Wesleyan, McPherson College and St. Anselm College.     “We're going to coach that up in the spring and summer,” Salazar said about the wider splits for Capital's offensive linemen. “They already understand we're going to wider splits.”                           Salazar, who has been a part of the Capital coaching staff for four years, says his first month or so as Capital head coach has been extremely busy. The Jaguars are returning to Class 5A after spending the last two seasons in 6A.   “It's been a lot busier,” Salazar said. “We've finalized our football schedules, varsity and JV. Dealing with the equipment. Grade checks. The consequences for bad grades fall on me now.”   2024 CAPITAL FOOTBALL SCHEDULE   Aug. 23 at Santa Fe High   Aug. 30 ST. MICHAEL'S   Sept. 6 at Espanola Valley   Sept. 13 at Del Norte*   Sept. 20 LOS ALAMOS*   Sept. 27 at Rio Grande*   Oct. 4 VALLEY*   Oct. 11 Bye   Oct. 18 MIYAMURA*   Oct. 25 at Highland*   Nov. 1 BELEN*   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/johnmikesalazar/status/1750981144307503337?s=20 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/HalMumme/status/1748148266657825244?s=20 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/RyanGarcia70/status/1756132017287143711?s=20 </div></figure>

A lot of things will be new for the Capital Jaguars in 2024.