THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

Manny Ramirez has had to make his move around the defensive side of the ball and each time he’s moved, he’s seen it as a new challenge. The senior moved from nose guard to defensive end this year, but he’s shown that effort has been the easiest way to help him get to where he needs to be. “Going from nose guard to defensive end, I realized that all you have to do in football is show effort and if you show effort in the game, it’ll make up for all the little mistakes and techniques that you messed up on,” Ramirez said. “If you put in the effort, everything takes care of itself and that’s what I do. Moving to defensive end was challenging, but putting in the effort has helped me.” He’s played at other positions than nose guard and defensive end, playing at linebacker in the early days of his high school career. “My freshman and sophomore years, I played middle linebacker and then they moved me to defensive end my junior year,” Ramirez said. “That didn’t go so well so then they put me over at nose guard and that went well. They needed me on the end this year so they put me put back there. So far, it’s been good.” He feels like he’s been able to show how versatile he’s been after switching to different positions. “I think I’m able to show that I’m able to play both positions now,” Ramirez said. “I can move to wherever on the field they need me and to do anything.” One of Ramirez’s biggest things in the offseason that he had to address was his speed. “This offseason was me growing,” Ramirez said. “I wanted to get better, I wanted to gain weight but also get faster. I wanted to work on speed because that was a weak end for me. I wasn’t very fast last year. This offseason has helped me grow and that’s what helped me this year. “We do ladders and a lot of them as well as a lot of leg workouts during exercises and that has really helped me.” He’s earned the praise from Permian head coach Jeff Ellison. “Manny’s done a good job of getting some rotation time in at nose guard and then we moved him to defensive end a couple of weeks ago,” Ellison said. “He’s a pretty good kid. He’s pretty fast. I can remember a play against DeSoto where they threw a 12-yard completion and he ran down and he ran down there and knocked the ball loose from his defensive line position. “He’s one of those kids who works hard. He’s making plays and helps the other guys to step up and make plays. He’s a good leader for us. He’s highly motivated all the time. He’s always making plays.” The Panthers are coming off their first win of the season, beating Palm Desert (Calif.) 47-14 last week at Ratliff Stadium. “It just showed us what we’re capable of,” Ramirez said of last week’s win. “We knew the whole time what we were capable of, but that just showcased what we’re capable of.” Permian has played no shortage of tough nondistrict opponents this year, going up against DeSoto, El Paso Franklin and Southlake Carroll, but Ramirez believes the experience from playing quality teams will help the Panthers in the long run. “I think that these early games that we’ve had have really helped us out and will help us grow so that when district comes, we’ll be ready to make a run,” Ramirez said. “We’ll be used to playing the high-motor teams and I think it’ll just help us get prepared.” Despite getting off to an 0-3 start before last week’s win, the goals haven’t changed for Ramirez and his teammates. “Our biggest goal is to just win district and go on a run,” Ramirez said. But coming off a win has made practices this week feel much better. “Practices have been more alive,” Ramirez said. “We’ve been more focused now that we have our first win. Now it’s just a matter of keep winning and staying focused.” He knows what to expect of Los Fresnos when the Falcons face the Panthers at 7 tonight at Ratliff Stadium. “We know Los Fresnos runs our offense, so I’m hoping we can shut it down really quick since we’re so used to our Permian offense,” Ramirez said. “If we can do that, we’ll be fine. We can adjust to it pretty easily.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

PERMIAN'S RAMIREZ MAKING AN EFFORT FOR PANTHERS

MICHAEL BAUER

Odessa American | 9/26/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Permian Athletics