BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
Football’s relationship with the summer is a stronger one than it leads on. Most athletes use the summer break to recharge and prepare for the grueling fall season ahead. Players like Rio Grande City quarterback Jason Perez, and others, are using these two-and-a-half months to criss-cross the state, football camp to football camp, with the hope of catching a pair or a few pairs of eyes of people who might see just how good they are.
Beginning Saturday and running through Sunday, the 2017 Blue-Grey Southwest Regional Combine will bring football players from as far west as California, as far north as Minnesota and as far east as Georgia to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. This will be Perez’s third football camp in three weeks.
“It’s awesome and actually not tiring at all,” Perez said. “You get to be exposed to all of the talent out there and see how you compare with them. Plus, they’re all spaced out with one camp per week or so. It’s a really good experience.”
Perez’s Rattler roots can be traced over five decades with two recognizable athletes who made impacts of varying magnitude in and around Rio Grande City. One of Jason’s grandfathers, James Edwin Peterson (RGC Class of ’63), was an imposing presence as an offensive lineman on the football team. He would later become someone who lent himself to his community as president of the Starr County Farm Bureau and football game official until his passing in 2006. Cesar Perez (RGC Class of ’75), one of Jason’s uncles, played quarterback for the Rattlers and pitched on the baseball team. After attending Sam Houston State, Cesar Perez was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds but chose to earn a law degree and eventually become a lawyer.
“I always grew up with the tradition of being a Rattler,” Perez said. “There’s a lot of pride I feel every time I put on that jersey because I had family that did the same thing. It’s great.”
Perez will be one of four Upper Valley football players invited to the combine in Arlington along with Vela junior linebacker Sam Valenzuela and two McAllen Rowe soon-to-be sophomores: lineman Rodrigo Davila and quarterback Jean-Abdiel Salinas.
Perez played in all 10 games, completing 66.8 percent of his 229 pass attempts and ran 900 yards and 10 touchdowns for then first-year Rattler coach Aaron Garcia. Garcia believes this weekend’s combine, where athletes will be tested in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle and the bench press, among other events, cannot be taken lightly.
“It’s quite an honor for Jason to be invited to this particular combine,” Garcia said. “From what I gather, he’ll be exposed to former NFL players and coaches as well as former collegiate players and coaches. It’ll be an eye-opening experience for him.”