(KRQE) – Albuquerque Academy quarterback Andres, AJ, Rivera is currently in his forth season as the Chargers signal caller. He took over as the starter as a freshman, and has been an integral part of a team that has improved each of the last four seasons.
Through six games of his senior year, Rivera has thrown for 1,084 passing yards and nine touchdowns, and has also added a TD on the ground. His Chargers are off to a 4-2 start, and while he has had success on the field, he has also had major success in the classroom.
Rivera recently took the ACT as he goes through the college application process, and his results came in with a perfect overall score of 36. He plans to play football in college and study either statistics or computer science, and his success both on and off the field make him a prime candidate for some noteworthy universities.
“It opens a lot of opportunities for me to attend a couple of prestigious schools. I mean like I can knock on the door at MIT and have that be an option,” Rivera said. “I’ve got a couple of places, Wash U I’ve been talking to a lot, MIT a little bit, Rhodes a couple places like that.”
As a four year starter, Rivera has seen a drastic change in the program. Prior to last season, AA had failed to reach the playoffs in eight straight years, and even more recently, the program routinely rostered less than 20 players. Now the program has grown to around 50 players, and Rivera hopes to set a standard for the future of Charger football.
“I think that right now we all have a sense that we’re building a program, we’re building something here to last and that’s been the attitude since freshman year. We knew it wasn’t going to come over night, this success wasn’t going to be a flash, we intend to be here and build that, so I think that’s the attitude the attitude that we instill in some of the younger guys. Just get to get them bought into all four years and really commit to this program to build it, and I think that’s why a lot of the success is coming.”
