BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
The time had come. Surrounded by family and coaches inside Mission Veterans’ football facility on Friday morning, senior quarterback Diego Hernandez opened the manila folder in front of him and signed his letter of intent to play college football at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio. The signing marked a first in Mission Veterans’ football history.
“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Hernandez said. “To be the first (Division I recruit) out of this school, it’s a huge blessing to me. I’m starting to recognize and look back at all the times I had at this school. How the coaching staff, my teammates and community were good to me. It’s an honor.”
Born in McAllen, Hernandez came up through the Mission Consolidated Independent School District, attending Bryan Elementary and Mission Junior High. When he walked into Mission Veterans High School as a freshman, Hernandez did not envision falling in love with football.
“I was all about golf, really. My thing wasn’t football at all,” Hernandez said. “During the offseason of my freshman year, Coach (David) Gilpin would have me come and play 7-on-7s, but I was always a tight end. I never played quarterback. One time I was warming up before 7-on-7s with the starting quarterback at the time and we were just throwing the ball back and forth 45 yards. And Coach was like, ‘What are YOU doing, throwing the ball 45 yards?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m just throwing,’ and I had a glove on. Then Coach said, ‘You’re going to play quarterback for us.’ At first, I didn’t like it, because there were seven quarterbacks and I was the seventh quarterback. But I worked my way up, stayed persistent, listened to my coaches and got where I am.”
In 2016, Hernandez threw for 4,175 yards and 45 touchdowns, ran for 455 yards and 11 scores and was named The Monitor’s All-Area Player of the Year. Gilpin knew what he had in Hernandez’s football potential and did his best to get his star quarterback’s name to the masses.
“I believed he was capable of playing Division I football,” Gilpin said. “I called all the big schools in Texas. I didn’t want to sell Diego short and say, ‘Well, we’re going to look at a Division II.’ I wanted to at least make the attempt for DI. He’s got the size, arm strength, accuracy, intelligence and toughness. There’s not a whole lot else that they need at that level. I think Incarnate Word made a very good choice.”
Hernandez selected Incarnate Word over the University of Texas at San Antonio and non-Division I offers from Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Lutheran University and Mary Hardin-Baylor. The opportunity to live and attend school in San Antonio was too appealing to overlook.
“(Incarnate Word) felt like the most homey place to me,” Hernandez said. “San Antonio is a great area. My last game was played at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio and right across the expressway is the university. It’s right in the middle of the city. My brother’s a student at UTSA, and when he went to San Antonio, I was like, ‘Wow, I want to go to San Antonio too.’”