Back with the Blue Devils

WEEKLY BLOG: 4/14/19

The recent elimination of junior college football in Arizona not only deprived a healthy crop of senior players the opportunity to begin their educations and possibly get a second chance at advancing to a Division I institution via football, it put a lot of quality coaches out of work.

Fortunately, one of those assistant coaches was able to land at a place he's familiar with. Glenn Posey, who was the offensive coordinator at Pima Community College and spent three years on the Aztecs' staff, is returning to Sunnyside High School, where he was the Blue Devils' head coach from 2011-2015.

The position became open when Roy Lopez left the program in November after three years at the helm. Posey was hired in January.

"It's great to be back home," Posey said in an e-mail interview. "I missed the Friday night lights."

Posey said the best part about coaching at Pima CC was preparing his student athletes to face the great competition in their league (Arizona Community College Athletic Conference). He feels it was not only a great experience personally, but he learned some things he can bring back to Sunnyside.

"I worked with some great football minds," Posey said. "Brian Hernandez and Daniel Linden helped me get to another level mentally in the game of football. I learned some awesome pass game concepts as well as adding more tools to our run game."

In addition to his 30-24 record as the head coach at Sunnyside, Posey had a three-year run at Flowing Wells a decade earlier and went 18-13.

But it is at the South Tucson school where Posey first made his mark as an All-State wide receiver for the Blue Devils before playing at Northern Arizona in the late '80s.

During his playing days in Flagstaff, Posey was exposed to some very talented coaches. Three of the staff for NAU under Larry Kentera in 1988 went on to become NFL head coaches (Brad Childress, Marty Mornhinweg, and Bill Callahan).

"It was great for me to learn the game from some of the best coaches," Posey said. "I still use most of the concepts I learned in college in our offense today!"

Since taking over a few months ago, Posey has seen the Blue Devils make great improvements in the weight room as the team prepares for spring ball in a couple weeks.

"We only had six guys make it into the 1,000-pound club in the first max out," Posey said. "Six weeks later, we had 21 guys. We are on the right track with work ethic and commitment levels."

Posey served as the offensive coordinator last season at Pima and will call the offense for the Blue Devils. He has hired two of his assistants from PCC, Thomas Romack and Dan Wickland, to run the SHS defense. Romack will be the defensive coordinator.

Sunnyside finished 5-5 last season and rushed for 218 yards per game. Martin Arvizu led the team on the ground as a junior with 692 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 9.7 yards per carry. The defense will be young as the top seven tacklers from last year's team were all seniors.

Emanuel Samaniego is a Division I prospect for the Blue Devils. The 6-4, 275-pounder can play on both sides of the line and will be just a sophomore next season.

Some of the other sophomores looking to make an impact on varsity are Rene Fragoso (ATH), Eddie Lopez (WR/DB), and Mike Delgado (RB/LB).

In the junior class, players to watch are Andrew Gonzalez (LB), Rey Galaz (OL/DL), Jaime Bravo (OL/DL), Obed Craft (LB), Ricky Escalante (LB), and Aaron Zetina (OL/DL).

Finally for the seniors, in addition to Arvizu, the Blue Devils have Harvey Gonzalez (OL/DL), Jacob Torres (FB/LB), and Mario Chavez (WR/DB).

Sunnyside went 12-18 under Lopez and hasn't sported a winning season since Posey's last season in 2015 (6-5). That doesn't stop the new head coach from having high hopes for the future.

"We have one expectation and that is to win a state championship," Posey said. "We are working hard to compete this year! We just want in the tournament and keep earning 48 more minutes."

Posey is appreciative of the support from the Sunnyside school and district including Superintendent Steve Holmes, Director of Secondary Schools Jose Gastellum, Principal Ricky Torres, Assistant Principal Stephanie Ponce, and Casey O'Brien (coach and P.E. teacher).