By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
Before the start of the 2019 season, Jose “Meme” Cruz made a promise to Brownsville Lopez coach Armando Gutierrez.
“He told me, ‘You know what? I’m going to be one of the best quarterbacks next year,’” Gutierrez said. “And I’m like, ‘Cool. Now that you’ve told me, prove it.’”
After countless hours of extra work in the weight room and offseason 7-on-7 training, the senior Lopez signal caller can rest his case. He is The Brownsville Herald’s 2019 All-Metro Football offensive player of the year.
“It’s crazy, I never thought about it,” Cruz said. “We never talked about big numbers or the future, we talked about game-by-game. … I never expected this, and I feel like I deserve it.”
And game by game, Cruz amassed jaw-dropping numbers for Lopez as a dual-threat under center in his final season. He threw for 1,625 yards in 10 games, tossing 18 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
Despite Lopez’s disappointing 2-7 finish, Lopez coach Armando Gutierrez said his quarterback’s drive to compete as one of three seniors on a young team fueled his ascension, as he fulfilled his desire to become one of the most talented players in the Rio Grande Valley at his position.
“That’s one of the things I think is different about Meme,” Gutierrez said. “When plays go good, we sit and we talk about it. When plays go bad, we sit and we talk about it. We always have that open line of communication. … At the end of the day, when he channels that in a positive way, he sees things in a different light.”
In four of his performances, Cruz recorded at least 400 all-purpose yards, including a season-high 519 yards in a shootout loss to La Joya Palmview. He threw for five touchdowns and rushed for two scores in that game, collecting 224 yards on the ground and 295 through the air.
He averaged 5.7 yards per carry and racked up 1,264 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns in 2019.
Gutierrez said Cruz unleashed his potential as a passer after a halftime of a contest against Rio Grande City. Cruz came out firing, even in the midst of a blowout loss.
“(From that point on) I found myself, and no one could stop me,” Cruz said.
Two weeks after the Rio Grande City game, Cruz’s completion percentage was 50 percent or better for five straight weeks. His top target, Jacob Cortinas, had a team-high 232 receiving yards against Mission Veterans Memorial, and he spread the ball around to other talented skill players like Jesus Serrata and Jonathan Munoz.
“He started seeing the field differently because he had (the) space to,” Gutierrez said. “That was a huge turning point for us (offensively).”
Gutierrez introduced concepts and hired assistants with whom he had connected during his tenure coaching in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which gave Cruz the opportunity to thrive in a spread offense.
Initially, it was unclear whether or not Cruz would buy in. But the statistics and the results have, in effect, spoken for themselves even louder than the Lobos’ quiet and confident leader.
“When I first got here, they were like, ‘You can depend on him, but he might not really work hard,’” Gutierrez said. “He has some of the traits of other Valley athletes. … Coming from here, I have a really deep connection to these kids because I know what they’re going through.
“I think we gave him the structure, and he said, ‘All I have to do is put in the hard work.’”
Cruz did, and he and Gutierrez believe his example bodes well for the future of the program.
“This is huge for him,” Gutierrez said. “It’s also huge for us. At the end of the day, he’s going to leave a legacy and his picture is going to be on the wall. The middle school kids will come through and find it. And one day when he’s successful – because I know he will be – he’ll come back (to Lopez) and give back.”