Luis Francisco Perez (born August 26, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. He played college football at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that, he played junior college football at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California. He was awarded the Harlon Hill Trophy in 2017 as the best football player in NCAA Division II and led the Lions to their second national championship in football during the 2017 season, their first since 1972.
Early years
Perez was born in San Diego, California, to Juan and Carla Perez. His father was a professional soccer player in his native country of Mexico. Perez grew up in the Rancho Del Rey neighborhood of Chula Vista, California and started playing quarterback at a young age in Junior High.
As a child, Perez went bowling with his family. Eventually, he started attending a bowling league every Tuesday at age nine before being entered into tournaments. He soon became a top rated amateur in California, bowling 12 perfect games with the plan to go to a university on a bowling scholarship.
He attended Otay Ranch High School. Perez played sub-varsity football his first two years, in addition to basketball. He was moved to tight end to play in ORHS's Wing T offense, but stopped playing football due to frequently being moved to different positions, never playing varsity football. He graduated from Otay Ranch in 2012.
College career
Southwestern College
Perez walked on as a football player at Southwestern College in his hometown of Chula Vista with no experience at the high school varsity level. He was recommended to switch positions but ignored it, instead opting to start as the 9th of 9 quarterbacks on the depth chart for the Jaguars, but eventually became the starter due to injuries and transfers of other players, earning the second spot on the depth chart during the fall camp of 2013. At the third week of Southwestern's 2013 season, the starter was injured, leading to Perez's debut for the team against Los Angeles Pierce College, throwing for 250 yards, two touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown, leading the team to a win. He played roughly half the season before injuring his leg. He started again the next season and led the Jaguars to a conference title and all conference honors throwing for 280 in 3 or more games and his best game of the season being against San Bernardino, throwing for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns on 31–44 attempts.
Texas A&M–Commerce
After his 2014 season at Southwestern, Perez visited NCAA Division I schools in hope of a scholarship including UC Davis, Oklahoma State and several others because of what he described as "living on that Division I dream." Perez transferred to play for Texas A&M–Commerce, a Division II school in Northeast Texas. He redshirted his first year on campus during the 2015 season while the Lions won their second straight Lone Star Conference title with fellow Southern California native Harrison Stewart as the starting quarterback. The 2015 Lions qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time since 1995.
Perez nabbed the starting quarterback job over fellow redshirt transfer Gabriel Rodriguez in 2016. In doing so, he became the first player of Mexican-American or Hispanic descent to start at quarterback for the Lions. The Lions won 10 regular season games and repeated as Lone Star conference champions. The Lions defeated Colorado Mesa in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, their first win in the Division II playoffs since 1991, before bowing out to the Grand Valley State Lakers in the second round. Perez was first-team All-Conference, a Harlon Hill Award nominee, and Honorable Mention All-American.