By Chris Marcano
Contributing Writer
Although football is advertised as a sport with long breakaway touchdowns, game altering turnovers highlighted by the game’s sharpest talent, there’s always a workhorse on a successful team.
A player who's willing to do the dirty work, who's willing to rise to the occasion when desperation arises, who can drive their team to be better and do whatever they can to help the team succeed.
For Kellis and its football program, cornerback Jason Perez is the workhorse who is a captain due to his unprecedented leadership ability, and who’s impact serves far beyond the stat sheet. Perez started his football career as a freshman playing receiver, but has since fallen in love with defense and now plays corner.
“Sophomore year I actually switched positions, since then I've only played cornerback, I really fell in love with the whole defensive culture, that's where I have the most fun,” Perez said.
What makes Perez stand out is his relentless work ethic, not only in football but in and out the classroom as well. Whether it's doing the extra assignments in school, doing the extra rep in the weight room or giving full energy on all snaps, Perez is always driven to take the next step to be better.
“Whether it's football, school, weightroom, life, whatever it is, there's always an opportunity to get better and grow. Never have a fixed mindset, always have a growth mindset,” Perez said.
But Perez's growth mindset doesn't just go for himself, as he spreads this mentality through the entire team. His teammate’s progress is his main priority, and will always put the team before himself.
“I love seeing my guys improve, of course I always want to be better but seeing these guys become better football players and men, it's one of the best feelings [in the world],” Perez said.
The way Perez holds himself rubs off on the rest of the team, as they view him as a leader and are always listening to what he has to say. Capitan and safety Avery Rodriguez believes his passion helps him step up and be one of the focal points of the team.
“The guys look up to him and he's our leader, honestly. He doesn’t care if it's aggressive, no matter what he's always on someone, but always in a good way. In the summer, we were going through a little rough patch where kids weren’t showing up," Rodriguez said.
"He stepped up and made a speech telling everybody we need to win a playoff game this year, and bad work ethic and things like that arent gonna be the things that take us far, and after that guys stepped up. On the DB core, he definitely makes us all better."
Perez’s strides as a player have been significant, as Head Coach Ben Kulloshas seen massive improvement in Perez’s game. His extra work and relentlessness help contribute to that.
“The [physical] transformation that he’s gone through has been insane, no one has worked harder in the weight room and the results show. He’s agile, athletic, really strong and powerful. Probably one of the most improved players over the past 4 years,” Kullos said.
His teammates have also seen his improvement and helped with their own.
“I work out with him, and we always have a great sweat. We’ve been working out since I got here and we've gotten way stronger together. We've been working our tails off, just being great. Even if we're tired or fatigued, he's on my butt,” Rodriguez said.
Perez’s outlook not only pushes himself, but everyone around him to constantly improve and be better, to never slack off, and to always give it your all no matter what.
“If you pulled all the kids on our team and asked who's the hardest working kid on the team, I have no doubt they would all say Jason Perez," Kullos said.
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