GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — When McAllen Memorial quarterback Angel Almaguer looks back on last year’s 7-on-7 season, he sees a very inefficient system.
Splitting time with senior quarterback Jonathan Sanchez, Almaguer mostly watched as offensive players ran “random routes,” reading each other at the line of scrimmage.
Taking the reins as the team’s quarterback and leader this season, Almaguer ditched that method, instead working with the coaches to build a playbook, compete with wristbands to be worn during competition.
“I wanted to come out with a different approach, being able to run actual plays that we usually run during games,” Almaguer said. “It works a lot better than it did last year, that’s for sure.”
With Almaguer leading the charge, McAllen Memorial advanced to the 7-on-7 state tournament in College Station for the first time since 2002. Memorial faces Ellison at 2 p.m. today.
Coach Todd Kinney and defensive leader Joey Delgado both credit the team’s success to Almaguer’s desire to lift the Mustangs to something better.
“We wanted to make a change, and we wanted to make history in our books,” Almaguer said. “We just came out more focused, with more heart and more determination.”
After spending the fall watching McAllen Memorial hand the ball off play after play after play, Almaguer sees the 7-on-7 season as a chance to prove himself.
He can’t help but smile when he thinks about how different Memorial’s typical ground-and-pound game is from 7-on-7’s pass-only look.
“It’s very fun,” Almaguer said. “People know that we can throw the ball, we can pass, and it’s great for me. I love it.”
Last year’s offense, both regular season and 7-on-7, was built around two star players: back Trevor Speights and wideout DJ Johnson. The new stable of Mustangs doesn’t have the same size as those two, but the group boasts greater speed and quickness.
Running back JoJo Williams is making an impact with pre-snap motion, and Trevor’s younger brother, incoming freshman Campbell Speights, is impressing early.
Siblings Ethan and Jayce Bazan have also been standouts in the receiving game.
“We have a lot more speed than we did,” Williams said. “Last year, all they wanted to focus on was DJ and Trevor. Now, we have a whole bunch of stars.”
Memorial leaned heavily on Trevor and the ground game last season, leading the Valley with 4,776 regular season rushing yards and ranking just fourth in District 30-6A with 1,042 passing yards.
A split of that nature has been fairly common during coach Bill Littleton’s 13-year tenure, and during spring practice he gave no indications that he was planning any drastic offensive overhaul, even with Speights graduated.
Still, Almaguer sees a chance to change the perception of the program, or at least plant the seeds for a larger passing game. Already, coaches have told him that some of the aerial concepts may be implemented during the fall.
“I think we’ve already opened up our coaches’ eyes that we can pass the ball,” Almaguer said. “Hopefully during this state run, if we make it all the way, we can open up even more eyes.”