MJC football reloads as it looks to continue success starting with Saturday’s home opener
In Modesto Junior College head coach Rusty Stivers’ first season, he didn’t send any players to Division I schools. That was in 2015.
“My first year, we had zero Division I recruits, and that year, (San Joaquin) Delta had a running back go to UNLV,” Stivers recalled at MJC Football’s media day. “I told our recruiting guy, ‘I would do anything just to get one guy to go to a Division I school.’”
After last season, the Pirates sent 17 players to NCAA Division I, II and NAIA four-year schools. And there are a handful of returning players this year who have Division I interest.
The Pirates went 8-3 last season, ending the year with a 36-14 home win over Diablo Valley College in the Grizzly Bowl. They kick off the season Saturday at home against Laney at 5 p.m.
Stivers says this year’s team has 24 sophomores, a lot of them using the third year given to all junior college athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and no position group is more experienced than the linebackers. Peyton Bradford and Cam Snow, both Oakdale graduates, anchor the Pirates’ defense as both sophomore linebackers serve as defensive captains.
“We’re really experienced in that area.” Stivers said of his linebackers.
Alex Ramirez, a 6-foot-2 sophomore offensive lineman from Beyer, and running back Jacob DeJesus (Manteca) are the offensive captains.
On Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Pirates scrimmaged City College of San Francisco. It was a tuneup against one of the best in the state and everyone from returners to freshmen played well.
Players ‘feeling good about themselves’
“What was nice is we had a lot of guys right out of high school play,” Stivers said. “Their first college experience was that, so the way that they played on offense and defense, they came away feeling good about themselves.”
DeJesus excelled playing with Gino Campiotti and Turlock graduate Anthony Frias, who will play a lot in his first season at Kansas State and was a star on special teams in the return game. This year, he will be one of the focal points of the offense. When he didn’t tuck the ball to run, Campiotti — who is fighting for the starting quarterback spot at the University of Massachusetts — looked for DeJesus.
Freshman quarterback Luke Weaver (East Union) found DeJesus often during last week’s scrimmage against City College of San Francisco. “They connected quite a few times,” Stivers said.
Weaver, whose brother also played at MJC, has a good grasp of the offense and is “processing things faster than everyone else” according to Stivers.
The Pirates, who are also talented on the defensive line, are very new in the secondary after sending three defensive backs to Division I programs. Of the Pirates’ 12 defensive backs, 10 are freshmen.
Despite their youth, they held their own against the defending state champions.
“I feel like we did pretty good,” said freshman Victor Rojas (Davis). “There’s still some things to improve on, but I feel like we have a lot of potential here. A lot of our secondary last year went D I, so we have that expectation.”
Fayzon Allen (Downey), Tre Moreland (Manteca) and Austin Munguia (Ceres) are among the large group of freshmen in the secondary. Danny Hernandez (Ripon) and Sam Betancourt (Beyer) are the group’s two sophomores.
“My plan was always to come here and just find my way and fight for a starting position,” said Rojas, who gained interest from NAIA schools during his senior year. “This was my number one option. (Defensive coordinator) coach Abbasi and (secondary) coach Jackson are great coaches, and me and my teammates already have such a great bond. It’s great here.”
Keeping locals in football
Central Catholic’s dominant 2021 backfield is teaming up again as Pirates. The Bee’s Player of the Year Aiden Taylor and his running mate Julian Lopez are two of five running backs on the MJC roster. All are freshmen. Lyon Colon (Manteca), Alonzo Jackson (Kimball) and Kimoni Stanley (Sierra) round out the running back room.
Taylor passed on a preferred walk-on offer from the University of Washington, staying local for the chance at earning a full scholarship, similar to what Frias did after graduating from Turlock High.
“We’d have conversations here and there and he kind of convinced me,” Taylor said. “Washington was a good opportunity, but coach Stivers presented a lot more opportunities that he felt that he could give me here at MJC. I came here over the summer, watched the first practice and I fell in love with it. I’m having a great time.”
While Taylor had plans to play in college, Lopez’s path could have been completely different. After rushing for nearly 1,400 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior, Lopez received one late scholarship offer. He was close to going to trade school before Stivers got to him, convincing him to give the game one last shot.
In typical Julian Lopez fashion, when the opportunity presented itself, he ran with it.
“He came to me and talked to me it was like, ‘We can really use you, you have a lot of potential,’” Lopez said. “So I came out there and talked to the team, met everybody and I really enjoyed it. It’s a great program. It makes me want to play.”
The fact that he already had one offer made Lopez feel like with the right amount of work on the field and in the classroom, he could earn another.
“I feel like I would regret it if I didn’t try,” he said. “I enjoy it, I love doing it, so why not give it another try?”
For Modesto Christian graduate Everett Hunter, MJC gives him the chance at more exposure. He is one of three tight ends on the roster, including returning starter Holden Baldwin (Turlock), who received preseason recognition from JC Gridiron. At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Hunter can create matchup problems for most defenses.
Back in love with the game
Other than playing three seasons of youth football and one year on JV at center, Hunter didn’t have much experience, or love, for football until his senior year. Basketball took off for him and in his sophomore year he started getting interest from college coaches.
“My senior year, I was like, ‘I’m gonna just have fun with it,’” Hunter said. “Then I felt like I fell back in love with it (football).”
He wasn’t able to get much film in his senior year after breaking his thumb and suffering a groin injury.
“I decided to come here because coach Stivers and coach Peterson really saw something in me,” Hunter said. “I was a guy that they really wanted to put their time into and I could feel that they were really genuine in trying to get me to come here.”
Stivers’ players speak highly of their expectations this season, and team chemistry is just as important as gaining first downs. He knows every year there’s a challenge in junior college football as most of the roster leaves, whether they go on to play at the next level or not.
In his recruiting, he gets players to buy in and play for each other, which is why they’ve been so successful at turning the program around with local talent.
“I tell them my experience,” Stivers said. “It’s more about the guys you’re playing with than anything else. Most of my wedding party came from playing at MJC. Really, it’s not about the coaches. It’s about the guys you’ve read about and played against in Pop Warner. There’s a special bond reading about each other and then playing here at the college.”
