MERCEDES — To play linebacker under Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. you have to be instinctive. You have to be able to read and recognize. You have to play with a motor and find the ball.
“And once you do find the ball,” Adame said with a grin, “make sure you make some noise with your facemask a little bit.”
But instead of telling you, Adame would rather show you. For that, he points out a pair of junior linebackers in David Alvarado and Fabricio Quintanilla.
Alvarado is the veteran of the defensive front seven, a two-year lettermen who has compiled 73 total tackles and 2.0 sacks this season. Quintanilla is the varsity rookie, but he hasn’t played like it, amassing 52 total tackles, 5.0 sacks and one fumble caused.
Alvarado is inside, Quintanilla is outside. It’s made for a potent combination that spears the second-best defense in District 32-5A and a 3-1 Mercedes team ranked No. 8 in the RGVSports.com Top 10.
“We’re like a truck,” Alvarado said. “If anyone wants to step in front of us, go ahead but you’re going to get hit. Put them down. That’s our mentality.”
Defense has always been in Alvarado’s blood. It was during a game on his birthday his seventh grade year that the former running back found his calling.
“We were down against Edcouch-Elsa and I was like, ‘Coach, put me in — put me in at linebacker.’ I was getting angry with losing,” Alvarado said. “They put me in, they saw I was aggressive and I was making plays left and right. Ever since then, I’ve stayed with it.”
Football runs in Alvarado’s family. His older brother Isidro was an all-district standout for the Tigers in 2008.
“They’ve been teaching me ever since I was little,” Alvarado said “They’d hit me hard, they’d push me, tackle me on the street. That’s how I got better.”
The big thing with Alvarado was channeling his intensity. He would get in trouble in school because of his aggressive nature. But Adame groomed him, steered him straight and the results have been impressive.
“Coach is like a father figure to me,” Alvarado said. “Coach knows what he’s doing, and everything he says he knows what he’s talking about. I’ve been improving ever since.”
Quintanilla has the opportunity to be just as good. He runs the third leg of the Tigers’ sprint relay team in the spring and is in the top five leaders in the weight room.
That combination of speed and strength is what allows Adame, who has coached at Mercedes the last 12 years, to call Quintanilla “one of the best I’ve seen at that position in a long time. That’s the fastest and strongest I’ve seen anybody come off the ball.”
Quintanilla, whom Adame said is a leader by example whereas Alvarado feels more than welcome to talk anytime and anywhere, is like his linebacking peer in that offense was never his thing.
“I really like hitting people,” Quintanilla said. “I played offense one game on JV last year and didn’t like it. Defense gives me a chance to hit, go hard and just let it all out.”
Sounds like the perfect Tiger linebacker.