Top 50 Countdown: Rankings 1-5
About The Tour: During the months of June, July, and August NMPreps.com's Publisher Kyle Henderson will travel the state to preview over 40 high school football programs on their home campus. Hendo's Summer Tour Home Here
Over the next few weeks we'll be releasing our summer New Mexico High School Football Rankings. The Rankings are based off incoming seniors, rising juniors and sophomores, and losses to graduation.
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Mayfield Football is a Machine. Yearly, their top tier coaching staff filled with former and future head coaches transitions wide eyed freshmen into game changing impact players over a three year period to gear up the Trojans for Friday Nights. Reaching the State Title 10 times over the last 13 seasons says it all about the program. As long as a Bradley is at the helm, Mayfield is going to be at the pinnacle of New Mexico High School Football. On offense they are led by NMPreps.com Preseason Mr. Football Candidate Kavika Johnson who blew the roof off as a junior. A+ there. In the backfield they have Payson Rogers who has a massive offensive line to run behind. A+ on the offense because of their linemen. Offensive Coordinator Greg Hennington should be able to drop the hammer when needed. Click Here For A Complete Team Preview of the Mayfield Trojans
3
6A
Head Coach: Heath Ridenour
Hands down Cleveland is the best team I've seen on my early High School Football Tour. Maybe it's a numbers game, maybe it's the quality of the program, likely a combination, but whatever it is Cleveland has something special going on. They have a ton of offensive and defensive linemen, tons of depth as well, which will help protect some rising junior offensive skill position players. Taking over at quarterback is Gabe Ortega who is one of the best overall play-makers from the Class of 2016. Their offense will likely be 50/50 pass and run and they have weapons to score quickly and the size to run out the clock when needed. On defense they lose guys like Desmond Branch and Sterling Napier, but they don't drop off as much talent wise as you would think. With Henry Hattis, Demetry Rodriguez, and Matthew Cook all taking over starting roles, it's hard to believe that they lose many battles inside the trenches. Complete Cleveland Storm Football Preview Here
4
6A
Head Coach: Patrick Johnson
Last year Atrisco Heritage was pretty good, not a top 10 team in my opinion and it showed in the playoffs against Sandia. That's in the past, year their under Coach Patrick Johnson will be impressive. This year, Atrisco Heritage has re-vamped their schedule adding some big dogs to the line up throughout. I've been around the State quite a bit this summer and no one has the team speed that Atrisco Heritage has, no one. They are going to line up with three running backs and a dual threat quarterback and run the option to perfection. It's literally three backs on top of each other with some counter mis-direction and option. They nearly scored 40 points per game last year and they return 9 starters. Their defense needs to be highlighted a bit more, James Romero at the defensive end position is going to be a tough match up for any two linemen you place on him. Linebacker Andre Sanchez is a hard nose back with a great nose for the football. Complete Atrisco Heritage Jaguar Preview Here
5
6A
Head Coach: David Howes
Despite their losses on graduation, I think Rio Rancho will be a step up from last year. Their offense is always going to be there, but if they can step it up on defense, I mean become a A+ defense Rio Rancho is going to win a ton of games and make a real run at it. Their schedule is loaded with Valley, EP Americas, La Cueva, Las Cruces, Clovis, and Atrisco Heritage all in consecutive weeks. Though they likely won't go undefeated they should be battle tested for their loaded district schedule. This was my first time this year watching quarterback Easton Burere and he is the second best pocket style quarterback behind Gentry in the State of New Mexico. He throws a wonderful ball, quick release, and A+ throwing motion. Last year Rio Rancho was hit an ACL tear plague, this year if they can keep guys like Miguel Barreras, Luis Torries, and Ikaika Watters healthy they'll be as good as anyone in the District. Click Here For A Complete Team Preview of the Rio Rancho Rams Here
Kyle Henderson is the New Mexico recruiting director for NMPreps.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.