Nicholas Coronado, Who has Thrown 43 TD Passes in 2021, Takes Home Freak of the Week Honors

California's leading passer, Nicholas Coronado, scores eight touchdowns to take home Freak of the Week honors

John Garcia Jr. | Oct 27, 2021

Image by Brandon Brown

"Freak" is a term thrown around too much in the sports world, but sometimes, it's the first phrase that crowds the cranium when a gaudy athletic feat takes place.

What about an entire game's worth of head-turning and gasps?

SI All-American continues its salute to these dominant high school football players in a weekly feature, aptly titled 'Freak of the Week,' going out to a remarkable Friday night performance. It wasn't an easy call, even among Californians, with several impressive performances under consideration for the honor.

Nicholas Coronado did it on Friday night, scoring eight total touchdowns in helping Tracy (Calif.) Kimball win a shootout over Manteca (Calif.)High School, 58-41. The senior quarterback threw for 500 yards and seven touchdowns in addition to rushing for another 38 yards and a score.

"Yes 8 touchdowns..." he told Sports Illustrated. "Getting better every weak and going into the week with a fresh mind. Studying film and seeing what the defense is going to show me on Fridays helps me prepare for a successful night. It helps me put my guys in the best position for them to go make a play."

The slender 5'10" senior deferred most credit to his Jaguar teammates despite leading the state of California in passing yardage and touchdowns.

"Just buying in as a team every week and competing at practice is the biggest thing," he said. "Making each other better helps going out on Fridays and executing the game plan our coaching staff puts together. It’s not only me, the love goes to my linemen and my wide receivers for doing the dirty work and making plays."

Coronado is up to 43 touchdown passes against just four interceptions through nine games. In addition to completing 68.8% of his pass attempts, he has 3,321 yards through the air and another 361 as a rusher. The athletic talent has six more touchdowns on the ground in 2021.

College opportunities are starting to come in on the heels of the gaudy numbers, not to mention a 4.1 GPA.

"Recruiting has been going well," Coronado said. "I have just received an NAIA offer from Lawrence Tech University Monday. Been in contact with a good amount of coaches talking about schools and how the offense looks. Most importantly to me is to build a relationship with the coaches talking to me.

"But other than that just going through the process and taking it week by week and going out to perform on Fridays."

Kimball takes its high-flying offense, averaging 50 points per game in 2021, on the road to Manteca (Calif.) East Union on Friday night.