By FREDDY GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
RIO HONDO — For Rio Hondo’s Armando Ruvio life just can’t get much better at the moment.
On Wednesday afternoon, at the Rio Hondo gymnasium, the 6-foot-5 offensive lineman solidified his future by inking his letter of intent to play football at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX.
“I feel great and I’m very excited about this experience,” said Ruvio. “Honestly when I went to go and visit (the campus) it felt like home but just a tad better. I met players and I talked to coaches and I really like it and I knew it was the school for me.”
With teammate John Ryes inking his letter of intent back in March, it was Ruivo’s turn to grab a piece of the spotlight.
“Mando has a great opportunity there at Sul Ross, they’re thinking he can go in there and start right away,” said Rio Hondo head football coach Rocky James.
“He’s going in shape and he’s going to start in the summer so he can start working. I think he has a great opportunity to do something special and hopefully he sticks with it because Sul Ross is a great place for these guys to go.”
Ruvio’s playing career began on defense but before long coach James saw a better fit for him.
“He was a very good offensive player,”said coach James. “He played defensive tackle for us his junior year then we needed offensive lineman so he moved to offense and I knew that was his ticket to college as an offensive tackle.
“He showed great leadership and he’s a great kid, if you sit down and talk to him you’ll love him. His teammate John (Reyes) and him have been dreaming about this day for a long time and they were both able to sign for different schools that’s a pretty awesome deal.”
Ruvio will begin school in the summer and study Kinesiology with an emphasis on becoming a coach someday.