Arizona College Prep's Marco Palafox pursues college football dream in Mexico

Chandler Arizona College Prep two-way lineman Marco Palafox had Division II, III and NAIA options in America.

But when a coaching friend in Mexico reached out to ACP coach Myron Blueford to see if he had any players of Mexican descent who might be interested in playing college football there, Blueford immediately thought of his starting senior center.

"He took a trip out there and loved it," Blueford said. "Its 100% scholarship so he couldn’t pass up the opportunity."

On Wednesday, Palafox's college football dream will be realized when he signs his letter of intent to play for Universidad de las Americas Puebla (The University of America), which is the equivalent of an NCAA Division II program.

He will have to cover his insurance and overhead costs, but everything else is paid in f ull. And if Palafox decides to go into a Master's program when the 4.0 student is done with his undergraduate studies, that will be covered as well.

And he gets to play football, perhaps right away as a rotational defensive linemen at 6-foot-1, 270 pounds.

"They definitely want me to develop my first couple of years," Palafox said. "Get myself up to a D-II type of level of football. And getting adjusted to defensive line, instead of offensive line."

When he was on his recruiting trip to Puebla, which is aboutf a 90-minute drive to Mexico City, Palafox loved the campus, saying the "pictures don't do it justice." He connected right away with the players, even one of them offering up his cleats to go through a workout.

And he found out how the roster is comprised.

"They have a couple of Americans on the team," Palafox said. "They told me they really like to recruit Mexican athletes, because they can't get a lot of American athletes. They have about 10% of Americans in the school, but they were only recruiting three outside of Mexico players. One from Spain. One from Holland. And I'm one of the three, which is pretty awesome."

Palafox said his grandparents are from Sonora, Mexico. Hia parents were born and raised in Nogales, Arizona, and attended Arizona State University. Marco was born in Mesa and was at ACP when it was at the Erie campus, before the high school was relocated to a new spacious campus near Gilbert and Ocotillo roads, with its first football stadium, in 2021.

"One story (my parents) tell me is that they didn't want me to learn Spanish, because they didn't want me to struggle," Palafox said. "So I learned English and developed in my school."

Now, Palafox will try to cram in as many Spanish lessons as he can before leaving for UDLAP. His parents are excited, but he doesn't expect any tears rolling from his mom until he leaves home.

"When we visited, my dad was like, 'You can wear shorts in December,' " Palafox said. "You can wear a T-shirt in January. It's an experience I won't regret."

Blueford is happy that Palafox fell in love with it. He said he may explore the medical field.

"His grad school is paid for," Blueford. "I can't imagine him not staying there and get his Masters. But, if he decides after his undergraduates to leave, all of his credits transfer. It's a full ride. He has to pay for insurance and overhead stuff and he's done."

The last American university UDLAP Aztecas played was the University of San Diego, a Division I school, in November 2016, a 49-25 loss. It was an exhibition game. The team had been undefeated in Mexico.

The Aztecas have won nine Mexican national championships dating to 1949. They won three ONEFA national championships in a row from 1995-97, before winning four more titles from 2010-16. There are 16 teams in their conference.

One of the reasons for their success is being able to grant scholarships to guys like Palafox.

"They're starting a semipro league in Mexico, too," Palafox said.

Palafox said in the beginning, he'll take both English- and Spanish-speaking courses. He didn't even think of playing college in Mexico with his focus on the small college offers he was getting from the Midwest. Then Coach Blueford mentioned the Aztecas. His mind was open.

He felt like the players embraced him like family right away.

"When I went out there, I didn't have my proper shoes on," Palafox said. "To talk about the team, one of the captains said, 'Hey, do you need shoes?' I said, 'Yeah.' He took the shoes right off his feet, gave them to me and said, 'Go work.'

"They're excited to work. They're excited to get after it. Coming from ACP, family is a big thing. I didn't want to go to a school, where you're just another number. It's family there. They hold about 80 kids on the roster. They help each other out. Seniors come to freshmen and offer their help."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert