SWJCFC MEDIA DAY | Broncos won national title in ’21; looking to get back on top

TYLER – The Southwest Junior College Football Conference has a couple of first-year head coaches this season: one is in Cisco (SWJCFC MEDIA DAY | Cisco’s Rizzio, an unlikely leader for underdog Wranglers (etblitz.com)), where Charlie Rizzio has taken over, and another is at New Mexico Military Institute – where the legendary Roger Staubach once played – and Oliver Soukup is now the head man.

Coach Soukup steps into large shoes, because he replaces Kurt Taufa’asau, who left Roswell – after winning the NJCAA national championship two and a half years ago – to accept the head coaching job at New Mexico Highlands, a four-year program.

It won’t be easy to replace Taufa’asau; he went 27-10 at NMMI (nicknamed “Nemmi” by its coaching staff) and took the Broncos to three straight bowl games, in addition to the NJCAA national title and the SWJCFC title that first season back in 2021.

Soukup joked with Rizzio, who called himself “just a crusty old defensive coordinator” when he got to the podium at Southwest Junior College Football Conference Media Day in Tyler, at Hollytree Country Club on Thursday, just before Soukup took his turn.

“Three weeks ago, Charlie, I was that old crusty defensive coordinator who just went home, sat on the back porch, and now I’m doing paperwork that I didn’t even knew existed,” Soukup said, to laughter from the media and the crowd.

The Broncos went 9-3 a season ago and to the Heart of Texas Bowl. As for Soukup, he’s the sixth head coach in Broncos’ history.

“There’s great competition week-in and week out,” Soukup said, of the conference, “and I forget who said it before me, but top to bottom, it’s a competition every week.”

He allowed those in the room a glimpse into his own private day, in that many of his players were actually arriving in Roswell while he was at media day in Tyler.

“Right now, just getting to know my guys and being around them – it’s crazy, because a majority of them are coming in today,” he laughed. “I’m sitting over here, and I’m texting, I’m calling, I’ve got a guy getting off a plane from New Zealand right now. That’s kind of a unique perspective as to what we’re doing.

“I’m one of those guys, I don’t like a lot of apps on my phone. Now, I’ve got WhatsApp and TikTok – that’s the only way I can talk to some of these guys. That’s a really neat perspective. I’m a face-to-face guy. I love getting around ‘em, hugging my guys’ necks and celebrating things in life with them. I’m really excited to get back. In fact, I told them all when I get back in from here around 11 o’clock, I’m gonna be sitting there, because there’s gonna be a bus pulling up from Albuquerque with a group of players flying in. I can’t wait to see ‘em.”

Following the success the Broncos have had is different, Soukup said, for him.

“I’ve always been following a situation where they’ve been 2-9, or 1-11, or whatever,” he said. “And now I’m in a place where they won a national championship two years ago, and were in the conference semifinals and everything like that a year ago. It’s really unique and fun, and I don’t have to build it from zero.”

He spoke about some of his returning players, including running back Joel Jones, who averaged 5 yards a carry last year, as and wide receiver Chris Hardman, a 6-foot-6 wide receiver whom Soukup has learned a few things about.

“He’s a terrible basketball player, evidently,” he said, to laughter from the crowd, “which I don’t get, but I think he’s a pretty good receiver in watching him. We’ve got to figure out a way to get him more balls. He only had 10 receptions last year. But he’s a dynamic target that can stretch the field.”

Another receiver he named was Kendall Jones.

Soukup called the quarterback position a wide-open battle, “a wide-open deal.”

“We’ve got four guys coming in and a fifth guy from New Mexico,” the coach said. “…It’ll be fun and interesting to see that. We’ll get settled in and see who the quarterback is pretty quickly. I’m a firm believer, as a defensive guy, that if you’ve got two quarterbacks, you don’t have any quarterbacks. So, we’ve got to get that figured out pretty quick. Those guys know that; they’ve been told that, and they understand that.”

Soukup said his offensive line would be new, but not really young.

“Most of our guys last year have gone on to four-years,” he said, noting that they still have experience behind them, particular two that had a lot of playing time.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Broncos will be young up front along the line.

“We’ve got a guy, Genesis Felise (Ioka),” Soukup said, “probably one of the best defensive leaders I’ve ever seen in a short amount of time. …He’s a pretty dynamic player from Washington.”

Linebackers Damon Mayberry and Nate Wallin both back will be big, Soukup said.

And he noted he had never been more comfortable with the cornerback position in all of his time in coaching as he is going into the 2024 season with this group at NMMI.

The Broncos open the season on a bit of a different note: on a Thursday night, Aug. 29, at Hutchinson, one of the NJCAA final four – Hutch was ranked No. 1 for much of the season last year in the NJCAA poll, then lost in the semifinals to East Mississippi Community College.

Game two for NMMI is Saturday, Sept. 7 against club-team Utah Islanders.

Game three, and the conference opener, is at none other than Kilgore College, on Sept. 14. So all three of the Broncos’ first three games are on the road.

NMMI finally gets a home game on Sept. 21, against Blinn. Then it’s back on the road for two games: at Tyler Junior College on Oct. 5, and at Cisco Oct. 12.

A home game against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO), a team that went winless the entire season a year ago but who’s recruiting seems to have greatly improved, is slated for Oct. 19, and the Broncos play at Trinity Valley the following week, on Oct. 26.

The final two games: at home against non-conference Snow (Utah) College on Nov. 2, and at home against Navarro to close out the regular season on Nov. 9.

The top four teams in the conference make the SWJCFC playoffs, and that begins the following Saturday, Nov. 16.