BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Jeremy Duran grew up as a Dallas Cowboys fan, and he has been playing quarterback since he was 4, so when he took his first steps onto the field for a game at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, the moment was breathtaking.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Duran said. “It was such a cool moment. I had goose bumps.”
Duran, who is 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds, has played at the highest levels of youth football, and in 2014 he was part of the first team from the Valley to win the Texas Youth Football Association state championship. The opportunity to play at the Cowboys’ stadium came when he was invited to play for the USA National team in the International Bowl.
Duran has played for the Mission Mustangs since he was 8, and he will be a freshman at Mission High next year.
“I am really excited about my first year at Mission,” Duran said. “I really like the fact that they have a winning tradition, and I want to keep it going.”
Part of that winning tradition comes from current coach Koy Detmer.
Duran has looked up to Detmer for a long time. He attended one of Detmer’s camps in the Valley before Detmer was at Mission. From then on, Detmer and Duran have had a solid relationship.
Duran has always had the mind of a quarterback. He inhaled the Mission High playbook as soon as he saw it. Duran has been watching film from his games for as long as he can remember. He studies the game in a way few do. Detmer saw that in Duran, and the coach has helped fan those flames.
“I talk to coach Detmer a lot, because he has been to the highest level of football,” Duran said. “He gives me a lot of pointers about what is your read, how to make this throw or that throw.”
Much of Duran’s will to learn comes from his dad, Omar Trujillo. Trujillo saw how much Duran loved football right away, and he wanted his son to be able to pursue that passion. He also didn’t want to force anything on Jeremy, so he always let him choose what he wanted to do. Jeremy plays a lot of sports — basketball, baseball and track — but he has always had that love for football.
The family suffered a setback when Duran’s first football team, the RGV Snipers, seemed to be falling apart. Trujillo saw the group’s talent and wanted to preserve its chemistry, so he and Chris Von Wald, the president of the Mission Mustangs, put their heads together and decided to bring the players from that team over to the Mustangs.
Von Wald and Trujillo combined forces and quickly built the most dominant youth football team in the Valley.
Following a few years of development, the Mustangs went 32-0 last year. They have added more teams and coaches in recent years. They were even featured on Esquire Network’s “Friday Night Tykes.”
“Being on TV like that is very difficult,” Trujillo said. “Everyone becomes an expert on how you should coach your team, or raise your family. Still, the experience was great, and the exposure it gave my boys was crucial.”
Jeremy has three brothers: Justin Duran, who is 13, Trystan Trujillo, 10, and Tate Trujillo, 8 months.
Justin is also a Mustang and has played receiver for Jeremy for years.
Jeremy still remembers a key play that he and Justin combined on to help the Mustangs’ run to that first state title.
“It was like a 27 route, a slant in the corner,” Jeremy recounted. “I had some pressure, so I rolled out, and I pump-faked. Justin came in and then went out, because we do that a lot, and we have that connection on the field. And then I lobbed it to him, and he caught it.”
The completion was on a two-point conversion try late in the state quarterfinals, and those two points sealed the win for the Mustangs.
Jeremy embodies a change in attitude for Valley athletes.
“Honestly, I think the Valley has gotten a lot better at football,” Jeremy said. “We just have to go compete. I think we are equally as talented (as bigger-city teams). We just need to get past that mental game. It is all in our head.
“Every other region looks at us like, ‘The Valley can’t play. They aren’t good enough. They play other sports.’ Everybody doubts us, but they don’t know that we are equally talented, and we work harder than anybody else, and that we can beat anybody in the whole state.”
Jeremy talks big, but he has earned that right.
“When we first started with the Mustangs, we would go up to San Antonio or Austin, and you could tell the kids were like, ‘Oh, wow, we are playing Austin or whatever.’ You could see it. There was fear,” Omar Trujillo said. “After so many times of playing these guys, it’s not like that anymore. They have seen it all, and they have played against it all. We beat size, we beat speed, and we beat power.”
Jeremy has played against teams from Dallas and Houston for much of his career. He has been to Division I college camps at Baylor, Texas and UTSA. He has even played on Dallas-area teams with only one Valley teammate.
On the football field, Jeremy is tough as nails, ultracompetitive and a fearless leader for his teammates.
But off the field, he is a warm person who is a joy to be around. Jeremy has a huge heart and an inviting smile. He has always made fast friends with new teammates, and he has fun with his buddies at trampoline parks or just in the backyard tossing the ball around.
Jeremy is grateful for all of the sacrifices his family has made to help him pursue his dream of being a football player. He credits his dad for helping him.
“He’s been my biggest fan, my coach, my biggest mentor,” Jeremy said of Omar. “He has taught me everything I know.
“For years, we would just play catch, throw the ball. He would take us to the park. We would play baseball, or run routes. Play basketball sometimes.”
The two bonded over athletics, and that allowed Omar to earn the trust of his son and help him succeed. Now, Jeremy is closing in on paying it all back by putting on that Eagles jersey with his dad in the stands for a varsity game under the Friday night lights.
Jeremy doesn’t know when that will happen, exactly. Could be this year, or a few from now, but he said he will do whatever it takes to get there.
“Whatever team I am on this year, it will be a great experience for me,” Jeremy said. “I think I will have a good shot at playing JV quarterback. I might have a little chance for varsity, but I don’t know. I am so excited to work hard every day and prove I belong.”