New Era: UTRGV Football hits field for first full team practice

EDINBURG — The sounds of college football rang out from Richard R. Flores Stadium on Monday night as the UTRGV football team took the field for its first full team practice open to the public. The sounds of shoulder pads colliding was accompanied by music from the UTRGV band and performances from the UTRGV cheer, dance and drill teams in front of a crowd of 2,478 on hand to catch the Vaqueros in action.

In one year, those sounds will be coming from Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium Edinburg, the home of UTRGV Football, as theVaqueros officially kickoff Division I football in the Rio Grande Valley on Aug. 30, 2025 against Sul Ross State.

“That was awesome to see that many fans here. It kind of reminded me of an NFL training camp practice,” UTRGV head coachTravis Bush said. “This is their team. This is the Valley’s team. Obviously our home facility being under construction right now limits us to getting a lot of open practices there, but to be able to come out here, especially right now with one of our first practices, to let them see that this is real and see those decals on the helmets and hear them cheering for the good plays. It was a cool atmosphere. I think our guys loved it. They were fired up. We had guys that said they never played in front of this amount of people in high school, so it was cool.”

From front left to right, Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Aidan Lakobsohn, Atzel Chavez Jr. and Zion Brown attend NCAA college football practice Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. (Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com)

Before the Vaqueros kickoff in 2025, Bush and the UTRGV coaching staff are building a program from scratch beginning with a roster of 92 for this year’s practice season, the majority of whom are true freshmen who were playing their senior season of high school football at this time last year.

“It was great. I guess I’m not familiar with the support from the Valley, but seeing them now, it’s real. They’re out here, forsure,” freshman quarterback Aidan Jakobsohn said. “It was definitely different compared to practice to be under the lights with the defense full-speed coming at you, but I thought we handled it well and we’re just going to keep working to get better.”

The practice began with special teams taking the field at 6:30 before the rest of the roster joined for warmups and individual/positional drills. The most noise from the crowd, however, came during 7-on-7 drills and 11-on-11 action that closed the show.

Texas Rio Grande Valley players attend NCAA college football practice Monday Sept.09,2024 at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg. (Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com)

“It’s amazing, man. You gotta understand most of us have come from different places and we’ve never played with people this good, so now the fact that everyone is good and 100% at every position, it just makes everyone better every single day and it’s the greatest feeling,” freshman offensive lineman Roman Hernandez said.

Junior defensive back MJ Heard Jr. is one of the most experienced college football players on the UTRGV roster after spending the last two seasons playing at Davidson in North Carolina. He said his time in the Valley and getting to know his new teammates has been special.

“My first thought is family. They welcomed me with open arms and my family felt comfortable here,” Heard said. “It’s beautiful out here. I know it gets a little hot but it’s beautiful, just right. Also, the food — the fajitas, I love some fajitas. Man, the barbecue is pretty good, as well, so it’s been a good experience.”

Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Mehkhi Blue during an NCAA college football practice Monday Sept.09, 2024 at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg. (Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com)

The UTRGV roster also features 18 Rio Grande Valley high school football products after a few more players were added through walk-on tryouts: QB Sergio Aparicio, Fr., PSJA North; OL Mehkhi Blue, Fr., Harlingen MMA; K Jose Contreras, Fr., Los Fresnos; OL Gabriel Dougherty, So., McAllen Rowe; DL Abram Garcia, Fr., La Joya Palmview; DL Danny Garcia, Fr., PSJA North; OL Dante Garcia, Fr., PSJA North; RB Fabian Garcia, Fr., San Benito; TE Jake Garcia, R-Fr., Donna High; TE AJ Gonzaque, R-Jr., Mission Veterans; OL Frank Medina, R-Fr., San Benito; LB Horacio Moronta V, Fr., Mission High; OL Jamarion Owens, R-So., Mercedes; OL Jon Pitts, Fr., La Joya High; RB Jamal Polley, Fr., Edinburg Vela; WR Jaxson Shupe, Fr., Edinburg Vela; TE Nick Tovar, Fr., Brownsville Veterans; OL Joe Derek Vecchio, Fr., PSJA North.

The UTRGV football team will continue the 2024 season practicing Monday through Thursday at the Vaqueros PerformanceCenter in Edinburg. The Vaqueros will have two off weeks during that time with the last day of practice falling on Nov. 21.

Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Josh Nunez during an NCAA college football practice Monday Sept.09, 2024 at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg. (Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com)

“These guys are all in,” Bush said. “Going back to the last time we did this (at UTSA), guys would come in and guys would quit.We’ve added 13 guys, nobody is wanting to leave this thing, and we still got guys knocking on the door wanting to be a part of it but we’ve had to limit the numbers. These guys are just eating it up right now. They’re there everyday, they’re working their tails off, they’re all-in and it’s a fun group. Going back to the caliber of guys we were looking for in this first class and the leaders and the mentality of the guys that love to compete and work, that’s what you’re seeing everyday.”

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