National Signing Day: Arizona College Prep Makes History

History was made last night for the Arizona College Prep football program. In their first full class, the Knights had five Seniors sign to four-year universities during last night's National Signing Day Ceremony. In the program's first three seasons, the Knights had three total players sign to colleges to continue their athletic and academic careers. Another impressive feat is that the Knights only had ten Seniors total in the program this season, meaning 50% of their Senior class will be moving on to play football at a four-year university next Fall. ACP Head Coach, Myron Blueford, who has been the Knights' Head Coach for all four seasons, said this group of players made a major impact in helping him become a better coach.

"For me personally, this was my first head job," Blueford told ArizonaVarsity at Last night's Signing Day Ceremony. "I don't care who you are, you go into it with a little bit of insecurities. Are you good at this? Are you doing the right thing? Are you making the right choices...Kind of all along the way, this was the group that kept reassuring me that we're doing it right. Just as much as I was giving them confidence, (telling them) how good they were going to be, fast forwarding to now, they were giving me confidence as well."

After a rough start going (3-17) in the Knights' first two seasons, ACP won 13 games over the past two seasons, including their first ever region title this past Fall. Blueford credited the growth of his program, especially from the 2021 Senior class, as a key reason as to why the program had so much success over the last couple of seasons.

"We grew together," said Blueford. "I think that's why this is a special class. We started this from dirt. We learned from each other and we grew together. I've become a way better coach because of them...A lot of people didn't know who we were...We just grinded to have success on the field. We grinded to get attention and to get kids sent off to college...Everything kind of aligns, where we send five kids to go play college ball, we're getting a bigger school and we're going to scale quite a bit. It's just a great foundation to build on."

Arizona College Prep will be getting a brand new campus located in south Chandler, that will be opening it's doors in the 2021-2022 school year. The school's upgraded campus comes with a brand new football field, stands, weight room, and state-of-the-art facilities. Blueford expects his program's size to naturally increase because of the higher enrollment numbers, but the family-like culture that has been instilled into the Knights program will not change. Blueford stated that the five Seniors who signed last night, was not beneficial just for those individuals, but a win for the entire Arizona College Prep program.

"The whole "family" thing is not just a word for us," said Blueford. "We really mean it. From Joel Diaz to a Freshman who never plays, they all feel like they're (apart) of the same deal. It's important to all of us to kind of experience and understand that 'Yes it's great for these five kids' but this is a program win. We all won in this situation."