By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
Port Isabel made official its hiring of Brownsville Veterans Memorial offensive line coach Juan “JT” Torres on Monday night.
The Tarpons’ new offensive coordinator is a Brownsville Hanna alumnus who will be reunited with his high school coach and former boss at Weslaco High, Tony Villarreal III.
“Obviously, I’m very excited to have this opportunity,” Torres said. “To move to Port Isabel and help Coach Villarreal establish this program. … The fact that I’ll be able to help get the Port Isabel program up and running is a big honor. I’m just ready to hit the ground running, and to get to know the kids and the coaches.”
Torres was a defensive player who transitioned to the other side of the ball after a brief stint as a defensive coach in his first job at Saint Joseph Academy. The longest stint of his 16-year career spanned six years working under Villarreal at Weslaco High. Also, he was the offensive coordinator at Edinburg Economedes and worked at Brownsville Lopez for two seasons before he was hired by Brownsville Veterans Memorial coach David Cantu.
Torres credited Villarreal for making him the Panthers’ offensive playcaller for the freshman team, and he has since spent 12 years as an offensive coach.
“Calling plays in a game at any level is a big rush and a big responsibility,” Torres said. “So I was very happy now, looking back, that he made that decision to move me to the offensive side of the ball.”
Torres complimented Cantu, his former boss, for the program’s handling of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and its preparation for teaching the playbook and administering workouts via Zoom.
Cantu praised his outgoing offensive line coach in return for his dedication to teaching his craft.
“We at (Brownsville Veterans) are extremely thankful to Coach Juan ‘JT’ Torres and thrilled for him and his family on this promotion to offensive coordinator,” Cantu said. “He does everything first-class. The best way to describe him professionally is that he’s a teacher first. He takes pride in educating young minds and definitely prepares as though he were teaching his own two sons.
“On the field and court, Coach Torres is a tremendous motivator, understands the importance of life lessons we can teach as coaches, and is one of the brightest minds in the coaching circles. The Tarpons are the fortunate ones in this, and all the coaches, teachers, administrators and students he interacted with at (Brownsville Veterans) will be pulling for Port Isabel. They are getting a GREAT ONE!”