Jesse Davis is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover NFL YET College Prep Academy for AZPreps365.

The NFL YET College Prep Academy was established based on a vision to stop the spread of violence and allow kids proper access to education in South Phoenix.

It was NFL YET CEO Armando Ruiz, Sr. who got things started by putting in a bid for NFL YET after Phoenix hosted Super Bowl 30 in 1996.

The need for change was evident for Ruiz as he and others grew up witnessing high levels of violence in South Phoenix.

“In 2007, one of our football players was killed,” NFL YET football head coach Marcel Lopez said. “He was shot off campus and that was devastating for our community.”

Ruiz’s experiences with violence growing up motivated him to want to change his community.

“I was in my twin brother's house and we started to talk about the number of kids we knew who had been killed just from the violence at that time, and it was 36 kids that we were able to name,” Ruiz said. “We knew this was a crisis and this was our response.

“The idea was that young people who might normally not have as much access to high-quality education would be given that opportunity."

There had never been an NFL YET school in Arizona before and it was only the fourth NFL YET to be established in the country.

In the first round of applications, the NFL would accept 10 schools and then cut the list to three.

The cost for fundraising was expensive as each school needed to come up with $1,000,000, but it was the need for change that motivated Ruiz and others to find the money.

“Bank of America provided $250,000 and then it was Pinnacle West that provided the other $250,000,” Ruiz said.

Other contributors included Maricopa Community College and the city of Phoenix.

It was a chance for the community to come together and create something special for kids to feel safe going to school.

“Knowing that our kids are safe here, knowing that they're going to have an opportunity to play sports and do things that maybe at a bigger school they wouldn't have a chance to do,” Lopez said. “It makes it meaningful, it gives you a sense of purpose as to why you're doing this.”

At the time the odds for Ruiz and his family to win the bid for NFL YET appeared to be low.

Things even went as far as the mayor of Phoenix at the time, Skip Rimsza, claiming “Hey you're not gonna get it, it’s been promised to the Tempe Boys and Girls Club already,” Ruiz said.

The turning point in the campaign was when they made it into the top three candidates. At that point, Ruiz knew it was a battle against the Tempe Boys & Girls Club.

“We had to come up with something different. We spent $10,000, which was a huge amount of money for us ... to make a short video about who we were,” Ruiz said.

The video displayed kids, teachers, administrators and managers tossing a football around campaigning why the NFL would enjoy a partnership with them. It was this kind of outside-the-box thinking that won the NFL YET bid, in Ruiz's eyes.

The decision was ultimately made by the Super Bowl Committee, whose office was located on 24th Street and Camelback.

What sealed the deal for NFL YET, Ruiz believes, was at the end of the video. One of the managers tossed the football from one side of the board room to the chair of the committee, Bill Shover, who had the ball hit his hands. The ball then flies up in the air before Shover catches it.

Everyone immediately stood up with excitement during the filming, and there was a feeling in the room that it was meant to be.

“When everyone stood up I knew in my heart we were gonna get it,” Ruiz said. 

Skip to the present, and students see their opportunity with access to sports programs and education that was not available years ago.

“I think it’s an honor having the NFL on my hat, my helmet and my pads. I think it's a really great experience to be playing for a team that is sponsored by the NFL,” junior running back Jayden Fox said.

NFL YET has a 90% graduation rate and a 97.1% minority enrollment rate.

“This is home and you want to give these kids an opportunity and make sure they're safe,” Lopez said. “When you had all this violence that was happening at the time in the 90s in that three-mile radius, there were just a number of murders that happened.”

Ruiz has created a place that is built upon hard work, commitment and compassion.

“We all understand the level of patience and the amount of work behind the scenes that you have to put in every day for you to be who you want to be,” Fox said.

It is the response to violence that Ruiz hopes will inspire others to create change like he did.

“What changes the trajectory of people’s lives is education. Our motto was let's go change the world,” Ruiz said. “Violence is evil and the way you respond to evil is goodness.”