A reception celebrating the signing of Brownwood Lion senior lineman Derek Longoria to play football with Southern Methodist University was held at Brownwood High School Thursday afternoon.
Longoria committed to play for SMU next fall and celebrated with his parents, Robert and Vera Longoria, along with teammates and coaches. Longoria showed his trademark beaming smile and spoke of his excitement to play with SMU.
“I’m definitely excited to play for SMU,” stated Longoria. “I feel very fortunate to be going where I am going and I’m not going to blow it.”
Longoria stated that he plans to come home often to visit his friends and hopes that many of them will get to play at the colleges they choose.
“I am definitely going to stay in touch,” said Longoria to his teammates. “Thanks for being there for me.”
When asked if there is any sadness regarding teammates going in different directions for college, Longoria stated, “It’s sad, but I still get to play against Jaxon. I’m going to miss my guys, but I’m so excited I get to play football again.”
Mr. and Mrs. Longoria were proud of their son’s accomplishments and of him meeting a lifelong goal.
“I’m excited for him, his whole life he’s wanted to play college ball,” stated Vera Longoria. She also told of how Derek met Zack Line a Running Back for SMU who is from Michigan and stated how lucky Derek is to be a close to home, especially his parents during college.
“I’m excited he will get to mature in such an excellent program, an up and coming program,” stated Robert Longoria. “I have high hopes.”
Coaches spoke of the opportunities that Longoria will have playing for SMU.
“We are all proud of you and expect big things,” stated BHS Coach Charles Howard.
“I’m proud of these guys going to play college ball. In my past 30 years of teaching there have been only 2 players I have seen sign to D1 teams,” stated BHS Coach Brett Lang. “They should all play, they were a great team and I hope there’s more of them that get to play college ball. To have two in one year, that’s awesome. Unbelievable.”
