Photos courtesy of Yeung Photography/Arizona Rattlers

By Jose M. Romero / @RomeroJoseM

For FOX Deportes

MESA, Ariz. – The pilot of the aerial show that is Arizona Rattlers arena football is a 27-year-old coach and substitute teacher who has permanently relocated to the Phoenix area from Southern California. With a family to support, the quarterback is looking for a similar off-the-field job in his new town. 

Nick Davila is his name, slinging the rock indoors is his game, Davila, a Downey, Calif., native who played at the University of Cincinnati before finding his groove in the AFL, has thrown 11 touchdowns in a single game this season and has nine games with more than 300 passing yards.

All that on a playing surface with boards on the sides about half the size and width of an NFL field.

Arizona is 12-3 and leads its division. They’ve clinched a playoff spot, hoping to get back to the Arena Bowl championship game after falling short of the league title in the final seconds last season.

“It’s not necessarily the players are faster (in outdoor football), it’s the field is smaller, so you have to make a quicker decision in the pocket and you have to get rid of the ball more quicker with more touch and anticipation,” Davila said of the nuances of being an arena QB.

Of course, Davila loves the fact that he’s asked to throw the ball “95 percent of the time,” which he calls the fun part of the game.

To not like Davila is to not like the everyday working man. There’s really no other way to say it. Davila, like other arena league players, isn’t going to get filthy rich playing this game, and Rattlers fans can relate to him and his teammates, since most players have to have second jobs either during the season or in the offseason to make ends meet.

“A lot of our fans are … blue-collar kind of people, and that’s the kind of people we are,” Davila said. “We’re not getting paid the big bucks like the NFL. Fans like that because they know what we’re going through and we’re just like them, we’re just able to play football.”

Photos courtesy of Yeung Photography/Arizona Rattlers

Davila got his degree in history but teaches a variety of subjects when called in.  He’s considering a different career, though, something more consistent with a more regular salary.

For now, though, he has football. Davila won an afl2 (lower division of arena football) title in Spokane, Wash., in 2009, and is in his fifth season in the sport. He was named AFL MVP last season after leading the Rattlers to their first Arena Bowl since 2004.

A good baseball player growing up, Davila was able to transfer a strong throwing arm to football. That with his size – 6-foot-3 despite coming from a family with no one taller than 5-10 – helped make him a good football player, too.

“Most Latino backgrounds, we’re hard workers, and that was one thing in football, especially at quarterback. You have to be a hard worker,” Davila said. “It just happened to work out for me.”

Davila’s father Fernando was a minor-league baseball pitcher. Nick preferred to play baseball most often until he reached high school, when he got into football. A broken collarbone kept him from getting scholarship offers from big schools, so Davila spent two years in junior college before transferring to Cincinnati on scholarship.

Though he didn’t play as much as he would have liked in college, Davila did get invited to a mini-camp with the Cleveland Browns in 2007. It didn’t work out, but Davila is satisfied with the life he’s led and loves to watch the NFL.

“We’re die-hard Oakland Raiders fans,” he said. “That’s how we roll. We had season tickets when they were at the (Los Angeles) Coliseum. I used to roll with my pops and all his buddies. It was fun times. I used to look up to Bo Jackson, and even though he was a rival quarterback, I always admired John Elway, the way he played the game and how hard he played it.”

Davila’s father is from Mexico and his mother, Marsha, is from East Los Angeles. He expressed pride in his heritage, and although Arizona is home now, he mostly misses the time his son could have around his grandparents and relatives.

“You always gotta be proud of where you come from and who you are. That’s going to shape the kind of person you’re going to be,” Davila said. “I’m glad I had parents that worked their butts off and taught me you gotta earn stuff. That’s how I try to live my life and teach my 2-year-old son. You can’t just go around socking people.”

Pause for laughter.

“I know he wants to be like Oscar de la Hoya. You gotta watch out for him,” Davila said.