St. Pius star Hershul Olloway Jr. dazzled on the football field and track
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About Hershul Olloway Jr.
School: St. Pius X
Class: Junior
Age: 17
Born: Albuquerque
Sports: Football, Basketball, Track and Field
College choice (verbal): New Mexico
Parents: Hershul and Jolene
Sibling: Jaelyn, 14
Honors: Class 4A First Team All-State running back; 100- and 200-meter 4A state champion
Continuity: How many athletes can say they’ve had the same head football coach for literally their entire life? Olloway can. His uncle is St. Pius X coach Curtis Flakes II, who has coached Olloway since he was 5 years old, since Pee-Wee flag football.
Open choice: Although Olloway lives in the La Cueva district and could have played with the Bears, St. Pius was where he wanted to be. He did play some YAFL seasons for La Cueva.
“Something about (Pius) is just special, being able to grow academically as well as spiritually. It was a great opportunity, and I was fortunate to have some of my best friends with me.”
Singular focus: After two straight state runner-up finishes in Class 4A, Olloway and the Sartans are very much wanting to get over that hump.
“At the end of the day, it’s important to win the game,” he said. “Whether that’s me having 100 yards, 200 yards … it’s just important that we come out with wins this season.”
Centered: Football, Olloway said, is a cornerstone in his life. “It’s always there, to an extent. If I’m having a bad day, there’s still football. If I’m having a good day, there’s football.”
Hershul Olloway Jr. dodged and darted his way to a spectacular season in the fall. He shed the pads and sprinted his way to more glory in the spring.
Today, the St. Pius junior, and future University of New Mexico Lobo, has paused long enough for the Journal to recognize him as the Metro Male Athlete of the Year for the 2025-26 school year.
“One of the top players in New Mexico,” said Sartans quarterback Isaiah Carpenter. “It makes my job, my life, a hell of a lot easier.”
Built in a mold similar to that of one-time Manzano superstar Jordan Byrd, Olloway’s legs carried him to a 1,930-yard junior season for the Sartans, and 28 touchdowns. There were few backs (in any class) that were as electrifying in the open field as Olloway.
Basketball was a bridge between fall and spring for him; last month, the 5-foot-7, 170-pound Olloway earned Class 4A state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and anchored a 4×100 state-winning relay.
“Extremely special,” said his football and track teammate — and cousin — Curtis Flakes III.
Olloway just last month gave a verbal commitment to play for UNM. And while he may not be built like a prototypical running back, Olloway brings plenty to the table. His flash, his flair, his playmaking ability, all contribute to today’s Journal recognition.
“What separates Hershul is his football IQ,” St. Pius coach Curtis Flakes II said. “He’s always been smart. He watches film, he sees things happen before they happen. That’s what separates him from a lot of high school athletes.”
Olloway is poised for another monster season in the fall for the Sartans, who have played in, and lost, the last two 4A state championship games.
And everything points to something even bigger for Olloway as a senior if all the dominoes fall the right way.
“I’m not done yet,” Olloway promised.
Carpenter expects his teammate to top 2,000 rush yards next season.
“Probably his tenacity and work ethic,” Carpenter said, describing Olloway. “He strives every day to be a better person — not just on the field, but off.”
Of course, Olloway is a complete package as a running back. In open space, defenders are largely helpless to get a glove on his shifty frame. With a step, those same defenders are almost completely helpless to chase him down.
Carpenter said his backfield mate is so much more than blazing speed in a compact body.
“A lot of people don’t necessarily notice his speed right away,” Carpenter said. “He knows he has that speed, but he knows when to shift gears.”
His elite wheels, combined with his vision and remarkable patience before hitting the hole, create what 4A football already sees, an elite running talent. Think Darren Sproles, a prolific scatback who carved out a fine NFL career despite a modest 5-6, 190-pound frame.
Olloway is a double-edged sword in the best possible way. While his improvisational skills make him a threat anywhere on the field, conversely, his skill set opens up numerous — and plotted — offensive horizons.
“It lets our offensive coordinator expand our playbook and be able to run different kinds of stuff,” Flakes III said.
With that in mind, UNM offered Olloway a scholarship, one he has accepted. The Lobos will have multiple options in how they deploy Olloway, including as a kick returner where the open space he craves would be more readily available. But this only paints part of the picture as to why Olloway is staying home.
“Just being around the program, the game-day visits, just some of the practices I’ve been to … it’s special,” he said. “The belief they have in coach (Jason) Eck, what coach Eck is building, is something I would like to be a part of.
“And it’s something I could see myself really benefiting from, not just as a football player but as a person who will eventually graduate from college and move into life. I can see the program playing a major role in becoming a better person.”
Olloway said the UNM commitment is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to play football at the next level,” he said. Which, he added, continues to fuel him. “I’m one of the best players in the state, so it’s important for me to continue to work at it and continue to grow.”
It’s part of an arc his family has observed for years.
“He’s always been a hard worker, ever since he was little,” said Jolene Olloway, Hershul’s mother. “He always had a drive. When he sets a goal, he does anything he needs to to attain that goal.”
Said coach Flakes: “He’s a hard-working guy, he works hard, he pushes his teammates, he holds them accountable.”
His modestly proportioned frame, Olloway said, won’t be a hindrance at the Division I level.
“That’s something that motivates me to work harder, to be honest,” he said. “I may not be the biggest, but I pride myself on being one of the most explosive and the fastest. When I do get to the next level, just showing the hard work I put in … (I’ll show) I’m as good as anyone else.”
It is unlikely that Olloway would play football and run track for the Lobos, but he said he’d be open to the idea down the road.
He was arguably the metro’s second-best sprinter, after Sandia’s Chigekwu Nwagbo.
“One thing I like about track is, it’s me versus you,” Olloway said. “It comes down to who wants it more. That’s something I like about that competition. You look to the person left of you, you look to the person right of you, and you’re like, I’m not losing to them. And that pushed me to run faster times.”
In the immediate future, Olloway wants to put St. Pius on his firm shoulders and help the program win what has, of late, been an elusive blue trophy.
“We were actually just talking about that,” he said of himself and his teammates. “That’s the one thing we’re missing. We have to get that state championship.”
However it plays out, these couple of classes at St. Pius have elevated the entire Sartans program back to an elite status it had not enjoyed for a number of years.
“We were able to bring back a special spark to St. Pius that hadn’t been there for a while,” he said, “that we hope will last years after us.”
James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.
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