Andrew Meyer is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North High School for AZPreps365.com.

PHOENIX – Eli Manzanares was the starting quarterback at North entering the 2025 season. He tore his anterior cervical ligament early in the season after two separate injuries to his knee.

“It felt like nothing was there to hold it together,” Manzanares said.

It started in week four. His knee buckled near the end of the game while making a cut during a run. Manzanares said he was down for 5 minutes afterward.

He said that it was initially ruled an MCL sprain.

He played the next game without issue.

The following game after that is when the tear occurred. 

On the first play of the game, a hit to his knee from the helmet of another player would cause the injury. 

Manzanares said his body was moving to the right, but the hit to his knee caused it to go to the left, snapping the ACL. 

Eli waited two weeks for the swelling to go down before getting surgery to repair the tear. He said that it fully reconstructed his knee.

Now the long process of recovery begins.

The ACL is a band of tissue that connects the femur in the thigh to the tibia and shin, and stabilizes the knee.

Manzanares' tear was straight, cutting the ACL in half.

Eli said it was like his leg was frozen after the surgery.

“You basically are learning how to walk again, how to run again,” he said.

His good friend and teammate, Johnny Kalonji, has dealt with similar issues. 

Kalonji has torn his meniscus twice, once while playing basketball, and once while playing football.

When Eli tore his ACL, Johnny told him a bit of what to expect.

“[I told him] how much the pain is gonna hurt,” Kalonji said.

He said the hardest part of his recovery is happening currently with jumping. 

It has been nearly seven months since the surgery. Manzanares said he has no restrictions and continues to do strength building.

He said he’s not worried about the first time he can play with contact again.

“I’ve done football for so long, like, I know I’m gonna be timid but I think when I [get] first hit on the leg, I think I’ll be fine,” Manzanares said. “As long as I put my head down and, you know, keep building strength, there should really be no reason for me to worry when I get back on the field.”

Manzanares has been playing football since he was 7 years-old. 

He said he first became interested in football when he saw a Monday Night Football game his father was watching. He signed up for football the next day.

He wasn’t initially a quarterback.

He said he was a plug-and-play guy because his father was the coach. However, he always gravitated towards quarterback.

“I love being quarterback because [of] just how much pressure it is," he said. "Like, I love having the weight of the world on my back. I excel when pressure is in front of me. So, I always knew quarterback was my calling, but it just took a little bit for me to get there.”

The road to being a quarterback hasn’t always been easy for Eli.

His father, Carlos Manzanares, said that Eli had to overcome the stigma of being a short quarterback as he didn’t reach 6 feet in height until his junior year.

Carlos said Eli trained with Mike Giovando, who runs a quarterback academy in Phoenix, for seven years to refine his skills. 

Giovando trained New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Beyond the training, Eli has had pressure to perform academically.

Carlos said Eli had to maintain straight A’s because of the financial investment his family has made into football.

“He hasn’t let us down,” Carlos said.

The ACL injury is just another obstacle to overcome for Eli.

He said he’s learned to enjoy the process more. He said he enjoys being able to go out and play on Fridays and Saturdays and hopefully Sundays.

“At one point clocks hit zero for everybody,” he said. “Football is not just who I am, that I am also a person outside of it.”

He is committed to play football at Knox College in Chicago.

He said it will be an open competition.

“I know I’m gonna be good walking into campus and I’m gonna fight for a job [on the] first day.”