Luis Perez…
started his football career as many young men have, bouncing around different positions trying to best help his team. Eventually, Luis Perez had decided to leave football behind… at least for the time being. He had decided to focus his time and energy on perfecting another craft, professional bowling.
On the surface, bowling and playing quarterback might not seem like similar sports. Bowlers usually don’t have 250+ pound lineman trying to chase them down and quarterbacks rarely are asked to knock down a set of pins. However, Luis shed some insight that the average viewer might not be able to ascertain,
“Bowling and playing quarterback are more alike than people think. They are both mental games. Maybe you miss a set, maybe you throw a pick. In both sports it’s about being able to battle back from mistakes, to turn a bad situation into a good one. I respect both sports so much because of the mental aspect.”
First Loves are Hard to Forget…
After years of dominating the California bowling scene, Perez tuned back to football. Having never played quarterback before, Luis was up against a difficult task. He had to convince one team that even though he had never took a snap, that he could go win on game day. That’s how Luis landed right in his own backyard at Southwestern Junior College in Chula Vista California. The Jaguars have made a name for themselves in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference with a combined 13 championship titles. Coach Carberry, current Southwestern head coach, was the only one to pull the trigger on Perez.
Coach Carberry might not have known it at the time, but it was a very good call. Luis ended up getting the nod, only after he beat out seven other hopefuls, in the 4th game of the 2013 season, Luis took the field and never looked back.
The Home of Football, Texas
Eventually, Luis found himself at Texas A&M-Commerce, home of the Lions. “Touchdown Luis Perez” would quickly become a phrase that the state of Texas would get used to hearing. Luis finished his career with the Lions with 8,325 yards through the air, 78 touchdowns, a Harlon Hill trophy, (The DII Heisman), and a Division II National Championship trophy. Not too bad for a bowler from Chula Vista.
The Rocky Mountains
Luis had some extra firepower going into his senior season, he spent his Summer in Denver, Colorado with the Jenkins Elite staff. Coach Jenkins had been following Luis for some time,
“I had known that he was going to be a tremendous quarterback with or without us. But I saw the possibility for true greatness in Luis, and honestly being a division two player as well, I saw a lot of myself in Luis. I saw a kid who just needed a shot, and the right coaching, so I invited him out for the Summer.”
Luis took the staffs knowledge and ran with it. After his senior season, Luis set his sights on the goal he had been eyeing ever since he but down the bowling ball and put on a pair of shoulder pads: Becoming an NFL quarterback. Perez came back to Denver to finish what he started. With his goal in sight, Luis got straight to work perfecting his craft.
An unexpected journey…
In another unexpected turn of events, Perez received a phone call from Texas A&M. They wanted to bring Luis out to throw in their pro-day right alongside former QB and College Football legend Johnny Manziel. Luis took his chance and impressed NFL scouts with his incredible accuracy and attention to detail.
After all the work was put in Luis Perez just had to wait a few months to see if his labors would bear fruit. It turns out, Luis’s career had some more similarities with CEO of Jenkins Elite, Tim Jenkins. The Los Angeles Rams, where Jenkins spent his NFL career, ended up signing Luis Perez.
Not much has changed for Perez. He will still walk into mini-camp as the underdog. But that won’t matter to Luis, he’s been there before and he knows what it’s going to take to become the quarterback he wants to be remembered as.
