9-15-2024 10:32am

Las Cruces Centennial HS Quarterback Signs to New Mexico State

Chris Edwards Editor

When it comes to leadership and setting an example for underclassmen Centennial High Schools Zaiden Davis leads the pack shining on from Las Cruces.

As quarterback of the Centennial Hawks, Zaiden Davis says his role is to lead the team and help guide the underclassmen. “I feel like my role is to get them in with the culture of being a Centennial Hawk and take them under my wing,” said Davis.

Centennial head coach Aaron Ocampo describes his quarterback as a great kid who does all the right things. “He’s very passionate, he wants to be good,” said Ocampo. “Right now he’s kind of playing out of position. In the future he knows he’s going to be playing linebacker and right now he’s playing quarterback and playing well.”

That’s right. Centennial’s starting quarterback will be playing linebacker for New Mexico State next season, going from a position of being chased to the one doing the chasing. “I think it’s more like hunting instead of being the victim,” he said. “As a quarterback, everyone is trying to come after you and it’s different being on the other side, being the hunter. I think it’s going to be fun to play defense.”

When he first started playing football several years ago, Zaiden was a quarterback. But his second year in high school, his position changed out of necessity. “I think when he came into high school, he really wanted to play quarterback ad was really pretty good as a freshman,” said Ocampo. “As a sophomore, he was in a battle with Daniel Hernandez, who now plays at Eastern New Mexico, so we’ve kind of been blessed with some good quarterbacks. Daniel was a junior and he (Zaiden) was a sophomore and Daniel had a few more reps than him and we found out real quick that we need to get Zaiden on the field and we put him at linebacker and he just excelled there. He played real well at lineback until Danny got hurt, Danny broke his collarbone, and he (Zaiden) moved to quarterback and we didn’t miss a beat offensively.”

“Sophomore year, our linebacker got hurt and they decided to give me a shot at it, and I’d never played defense before,” said Davis. “I ended up doing pretty good and they kept me there. Then my junior year our quarterback got hurt and so they put me back in there and now we are here, my senior year, playing quarterback.”

“My philosophy is you better have your best athlete on the team at quarterback, especially in high school football, a guy that can move around and make plays with his arm and his legs,” said Ocampo. “I think if you’re a good athlete, you can play a lot of different positions.”

Davis says he always wanted to be an Aggie ever since he was a little boy watching games at New Mexico State. “I was able to go down and see the games as a little kid and it’s my dream to play there,” said Davis. “It’s kind of crazy that it all came true, and it happened.”

“I think he’d be a pretty good linebacker,” said Ocampo. “He hasn’t had the reps that he probably should have had through high school because he’s been going back and forth from position to position, but colleges are looking for guys that are athletes and willing to learn, that are tough kids, and Zaiden is definitely all those things.”

Defenses will try to catch him if they can this season, because next year the tables will be turned.

Article produced in collaboration with By JP Murrieta of the NMAA.