Del Valle quarterback Steven Montez signs with Colorado

Del Valle quarterback Steven Montez has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend and play for Colorado.

HIGH SCHOOL— As a senior, he earned second-team All-State honors, along with first-team All-City and All-District 2-5A accolades; he was the El Paso area most valuable player and was selected the city’s player of the year when presented with the Steven Hill Award from ESPN 600. Scout.com ranked him as the No. 12 quarterback in the state of Texas. As a junior, he was the District MVP, earning first-team honors (he was a second-team selection as a sophomore). He compiled some impressive career numbers, including 6,512 passing yards (86 touchdowns), and 8,149 yards of total offense. As a senior, he accomplished the rare 2,000/1,000 (yards passing and rushing, and was just 33 shy of 3K/1K): he completed 233-of-359 passes for 2,967 yards, a 64.9 completion percentage, with 46 touchdowns to just three interceptions. That computed to an NCAA passer rating of 174.9 as he threw for over 200 yards in 11 of 13 games.

He ran the ball 124 times for 1,058 yards, averaging 8.5 yards per carry, scoring an additional 13 times; he had two 100-yard games and a long run of 87 yards. He even punted the ball on five occasions, averaging 43.2 yards per with two placed inside-the-20. As a junior, he completed 152-of-228 passes for 1,776 yards and 27 touchdowns, while rushing for 343 yards on 62 carries with seven scores (he missed three games due to an injury). His sophomore season saw him complete 141-of-249 throws for 1,769 yards and 13 touchdowns, with 45 rushes for 236 yards and five TDs. In all, he completed 62.9 percent of his prep passes (526-of-836) and owned nearly a 6-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (86-15). He accounted for 111 touchdowns when including his 25 rushing scores, and averaged 7.1 yards for his career running the ball (231 for 1,637 yards). Top games as a senior: in a 38-17 playoff win over Palo Duro, he amassed 483 yards of total offense, as he rushed for 234 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, while completing 13-of-24 passes for 249 yards and two more scores; in a 75-16 rout of Riverside, he was 20-of-31 for 280 yards … and nine touchdowns (a city record); and in a 42-23 win over Ysleta, he was 20-of-29 for 295 yards (5 TDs), while rushing nine times for 76 yards. His high-yardage came in a 28-14 win over Eastlake as sophomore, when he was 19-of-33 for 324 yards and two scores. Under coach Jesse Perales, Del Valle was 11-2 his senior season, 8-4 his junior year (district tri-champs) and 8-3 his sophomore season (district titlists). He also will letter three times in basketball (small forward), currently averaging 15.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
ACADEMICS—He is interested in Business (Marketing) as his major at Colorado. He owns a 3.6 grade point average in high school, is a member of the National Honor Society and was the recipient of the U.S. Army Reserve National Scholar-Athlete Award.

PERSONAL—He was born January 14, 1997 in Oakland, Calif. His hobbies include playing basketball, dabbling in the fine arts (drawing and painting), and collecting socks: he has over 70 pair of all colors and designs he rotates through. His father (Alfred) was a college quarterback at Texas Tech and Western New Mexico and played one season in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders (1996). He is just the third high school recruit from El Paso to ever sign with the Buffaloes.

Source: Colorado Athletics Department