Senior Signing Spotlight: Rick Avelar III

This is the first in a series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 266) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.

SPOTLIGHT: 2/8/20

The celebration on Wednesday night for Rick Avelar III was at Triple Play, a family restaurant that also hosts mini golf and batting cages in Green Valley.

Avelar is something of a "Triple Play" himself combining ferocity at the linebacker position with a commitment in the weight room and stellar work in the classroom. He's on his way to fulfilling a dream he's had as a kid of playing D-I football as he signed a letter of intent with Dayton earlier in the day.

"I felt the academic situation at Dayton was the ideal fit for me," Avelar said in an e-mail interview. "It is a school where I can get a world-class education and continue to play the game that I love at the same time."

Avelar, who has played football since he was seven years old, helped put Walden Grove on the map in the last two years. The school in Sahuarita (15 miles south of Tucson) opened in 2011 and played its first varsity season in 2012. The Red Wolves won their first region title in 2018 and repeated that last season going a combined 10-0 against the rest of their 4A Gila Region competition.

"For this year, our mindset was that we had both the talent and the experience to not only win a region championship, which was our expectation," Avelar said. "But, to do something here that no WG team had done."

What the Red Wolves did was set a school record for wins during a 9-2 season. The defense posted four shutouts and allowed just 116 points all season (10.5 points/game). Avelar followed up a 135-tackle season his junior year with a conference-leading 162. He was named the 4A Gila Region Player of the Year.

Arizona Varsity's Cody Cameron saw Avelar play last September, a month before the 6-1, 230-pound linebacker received his first offer. Avelar had 14 tackles in a loss at Casa Grande and Cameron raved about how he drove his hips through contact and never stopped moving his feet. He went on to say he'd love to watch Avelar play at the next level.

Dayton was the last of six schools to offer Avelar. It came after a visit to the UD campus the last weekend of January. The takeaways for Avelar included the reality that the transition from high school to college is going to be a big one, but it is one he is incredibly enthusiastic about.

"I was excited about the idea of being able to continue not only my athletic, but academic career at such a prestigious institution," Avelar said. "I really fell in love with how much of a priority academics are for the football program and how well the entire university supports athletics as well as the athletes academically."

Another first for Walden Grove is Avelar becoming the first football player from the Red Wolves to sign with a Division I school. WGHS has an enrollment of just 1,100.

"It is amazing that I now have an opportunity to achieve that dream, and to represent not only myself, but my school, showing how far our program has come," Avelar said. "It is an opportunity to show other athletes that even though we come from a small school, that anything is possible with determination and hard work."

Avelar carries a 4.0 GPA and is planning on going down the Pre-Med path in college with the long-term goal to get his M.D. and become a pediatrician.

"This will allow me to spend time helping young people and children," Avelar said. "Which is something that I have always been passionate about."

Dayton is coming off an 8-3 season that included a 6-2 finish in Pioneer Football League games (FCS). Of the 36 members of this recruiting class, 23 of them are on the offensive side. Avelar is becoming just the second player from Arizona to suit up for the Flyers. The emphasis on academics at UD shows with the average GPA of this signing class coming in at 3.68. Dayton will play its annual Spring Game on Sunday, April 19.

Avelar credits the support of his family and friends for all of his success, particularly his parents.

"They have supported me in every way and given me everything they have to make this dream of mine come true," Avelar said. "Another person that has supported me and helped me to this point is my Uncle Andy, who without him, none of this would be possible. Because of him, the game of football has become one of the greatest loves of my life. I would also like to thank the undying support of my coaching staff, who every day gives everything they have and supports in every way possible. I want to thank Coach Ken (Quillin) for teaching me everything I know and being the best linebacker coach possible. I want to thank Coach Brandon (Neilson), who shot my film everywhere, and without him, no one would know who I am. The last person I want to thank is my head coach Corey Noble, for taking a chance on a skinny sophomore and mentoring and guiding me to this point."