KEY POINTS

  • Santi "Showtime" Cruz is drawing attention in American football
  • Cruz has earned comparisons to NFL star Patrick Mahomes
  • The 10-year-old kid is projected to be the No. 1 NFL draft pick

A 10-year-old quarterback is carving his own path in the sport but is already drawing comparisons to one of the best football players in the world.

The media has been raving about Santi “Showtime” Cruz, a fourth-grader quarterback from Midland High School in Texas.

Aside from getting some love from his hometown, Cruz is now being dubbed as the “next Patrick Mahomes.”

In fact, he even got the chance to personally meet and take a few pointers from the Kansas City Chiefs superstar.

“I met Patrick Mahomes yesterday,” Cruz said on Whistle Sports. “He actually signed my football right here. He gave me some advice. It was fun we got to throw some passes.”

Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes is the favorite to win the NFL regular season MVP award in his first season as a starter. In this picture, Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, Dec. 13, 2018. Peter Aiken/Getty Images

According to Cruz, he started playing flag football at the age of four and he “immediately” fell in love with the sport.

To date, Cruz is already a state tackle football MVP and All-Star. Like most aspiring football players of his age, he is also hoping to make it to the NFL someday.

As early as now, the Midland native is already brimming with confidence and being recognized as the projected No. 1 quarterback in the NFL class of 2029.

“’Be the player their coach warned them about.’ I like this one because it has a good mentality behind it,” Cruz explained.

“I think coaches are already warning players about me,” he added.

While Cruz’s skills have evidently developed over time, his father and personal coach Brandon revealed that he realized his son was destined to be a quarterback right from the get-go.

“His first year playing quarterback was [during] his second grade,” Brandon recalled. “He threw a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. That’s really when it hit for me that I have a quarterback on my hand.”

“I realized right away that he had a high IQ for the game and his athletic ability started to mature as his age,” he added. “I started to go to the next level probably after his second year.”

Midland High School football coach Sergio Franco, on the other hand, assessed that Cruz has tremendous footwork.

Atop the athletic abilities, Franco also stressed that he has been impressed by the youngster’s “eagerness” to master the quarterback position.

“I’ve always enjoyed watching his footwork,” Franco said. “He’s a great kid. He’s just got such great feet especially for his age, he’s IQ is pretty good for his age. He does a lot of things really well.”

“I’ve been impressed really by his footwork and his eagerness to learn the [quarterback] position.”