BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — Weslaco High coach Michael Salinas used one word to sum up the success of junior quarterback Jacob Cavazos: consistency.
When Salinas first arrived at Weslaco on March 10, 2017, he saw Cavazos as a talented young quarterback.
“We thought he was very athletic and he threw the ball well,” Salinas said. “A year ago, he was young. He was just a sophomore. We knew he had some room for development.”
Cavazos’ consistency earned him playing time on a crowded depth chart with two senior quarterbacks. And his consistency also landed him the starting job this fall.
Cavazos’ road to starting wasn’t easy, but now that he is here, he has the Panthers’ offense clicking. With a stellar defense on the other side, Weslaco has started 2-0.
To the Panthers, 2-0 doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is their game at 7 Thursday night against PSJA North at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
“We have concentrated on talking to our guys about controlling what we can control and having a 1-0 mentality,” Salinas said. “Making sure that we come out and take it one practice at a time, one quarter at a time and one game at a time.”
The message has been heard.
“Last week was a good week, but now we move on and focus on this week,” senior receiver Devin Dena said. “We have to keep that 1-0 mentality.”
“We worked really hard this past summer,” Cavazos said. “So it is a great feeling to start fast. But it is a long season, so we are going to stick together, take it one game at a time and hopefully we can keep it rolling this week against North. We need to keep that 1-0 mentality.”
Cavazos has suffered two severe injuries during the past two years — a broken collarbone and a torn ACL. Each time, the road back to the football field was long.
“Rehab was a big part of it,” Cavazos said. “I had a good support system. I had a lot of friends and people that were there with me. Rehab was the easy part. I just had to put my mind to it and have people there for me.”
Cavazos’ consistency was yet again on display as he worked harder than ever to recover and make sure he didn’t miss a beat.
Through two weeks, Cavazos has completed 25 of 39 passes, which is good for a 64 completion percentage. He has thrown seven touchdown passes without an interception.
“The biggest improvement was in his understanding of the offense,” Salinas said. “With that, he has gotten a little bit more comfortable. He’s doing a really good job of getting rid of the football in our pass game. And then, he is providing some really good opportunities for us in our quarterback runs.”
Cavazos has carried the ball 27 times for 157 yards and two more touchdowns.
Cavazos said a big part of his development was 7-on-7 over the summer. He worked with every one of his receivers and ran the Panthers’ offense in a semi-controlled environment.
“It helped with getting the timing down with certain receivers,” Cavazos said. “And it helped us learn the offense in total. It helps you understand where the ball needs to go, and where your reads are.”
Cavazos also gives a lot of credit to the two seniors who were ahead of him last year: Marco Leal and Elijah Banda.
“They had a lot of experience,” Cavazos said. “They taught me the ins and outs, reads, and the intelligence required to play quarterback at the varsity level.”
With every game and every pass, Cavazos rises higher and higher on the list of elite quarterbacks in the Valley. In just his junior year, his ceiling is hard to predict.
“Obviously, he has done a good job executing Week 1 and Week 2,” Salinas said. “So, we are just pressing him to continue to get better. He still has some room for improvement. He needs to continue to manage the game and take great care of the football.”
Coming into the year, Cavazos said the team wanted just one thing:
“The team just wants to get better.”
With Cavazos at the helm, the Panthers clearly are.