Texas High School Football Recruit Mishak Rivas

College Recruiters in Texas and beyond revere Weslaco's Mishak Rivas as a "super athlete." Mishak, standing at 5'6 and 141 pounds, has a 40-yard dash time of a brisk 4.53 seconds and a 4.35 second time for his short shuttle runs. Rivas has a vertical jump measuring 33 inches and is said to be one of the state of Texas's most talented high school running backs..

Honors Rivas Has Earned
Rivas, a running back was named to the AP Second Team in Division 5A his Junior Year. Rivas was named the Valley Morning Star All-Valley Male Athlete of the Year in 2007. His performance on the football and track teams allowed him to win the VMS All-Valley AOY award. Rivas became the first junior to earn this honor.

Football Statistics
Rivas rushed for 2,028 yards and 27 touchdowns in the 2006 football season. During that year, he rushed for over 200 yards in four consecutive games against San Benito, Brownsville Porter, Los Fresnos and Harlingen. During his junior year, Rivas became the seventh player in Valley history to rush for more than 2,000 yards. In 2005, Rivas rushed for 1,234 yards and averaged 10.2 yards per carry.

Not only does Rivas play football for the Panthers, he is also a member of the varsity track team. As a sophomore, he won first place in the long jump competition at the Region IV-5A track meet. Rivas was also a part of the 1,600 meter relay team at the event, and help the team to take home the gold-medal.

The Influence of Religion in Rivas's Life
Mishak is not the first person in his family to play football for Weslaco. His older brother, Kelshall was on the team in the 1990's. Much of Rivas's inspiration comes from the death of his best friend Michael Mata, when the boys were in the eighth grade. They had planned to join the Weslaco Panthers football team together. Rivas says he now plays in honor of Mata, wearing tape around his wrists that read "Michael Mata."

Rivas has reportedly turned to religion to find answers when Mata passed away. An eighth grade student at the time, he used his Christian faith to work through the loss of his best friend. He came to the conclusion that God had his own reasons for calling Mata up at such a young age. Rivas is said to find comfort in his religion and is not afraid to stand by his faith. He believes that he owes the success he has achieved so far in his life to God.