<body><div>Up until last season, Rudder junior right guard Juan Gutierrez never understood the basic functions of football.“I remember in the spring before he’s going to sophomore year, I was trying to go over the rules [with him],” Rudder head coach Eric Ezar said.What he always understood though was working hard and creating opportunities to get into the game. And that’s exactly what he’s done the past two seasons.“I just just think he’s just a hard-hat guy. He’s gonna bring his lunch pail to work,” Ezar said.Although Gutierrez participated in athletics in eighth grade at Davila Middle School, he lost interest over the summer, turning to work to make money. He didn’t plan on playing until then-offensive line coach Jimmy Davis convinced him.Davis came to Ezar with eagerness about Gutierrez.<h2>People are also reading…</h2>“When Juan didn’t show up for freshman football, we were like, ‘Where is he coach? You got to find that kid, he’s like your best lineman,’” Ezar said.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=09IApT_0vjnMdFP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=09IApT_0vjnMdFP00" width="1609" height="1287" ><figcaption>Rudder’s Juan Gutierrez blocks against Nacogdoches at Merrill Green Stadium this past Friday. Meredith Seaver</figcaption></figure>Due to not being at enough practices, Gutierrez missed out on the first two games of his freshman season.Gutierrez quickly found his way to becoming a starter on varsity as a sophomore last year and Ezar attributes his success to hard work.“He’s just a really hard worker,” Ezar said. “He’s one of those kids that just, like, of all the kids in our program he just works and I’ve always said that if I had to pick one dude in a dark alley who was going to defend me, I’d pick him because he’s tough as nails.”Gutierrez was the lone full-time varsity starter returning from last year, but has quickly built a connection with his fellow lineman.A tradition has been checking up on each other the morning of the game and keeping in contact throughout the day, even having a class together. One other perk they have is understanding and speaking Spanish.“We all speak Spanish, we understand it and it’s just a quicker, faster way to throw off people and communicate way better than in English,” Gutierrez said.The communication has become a set culture for the group, even blaring Spanish music during practice, and getting pumped up during drills through the music.“Sometimes we go out to eat and just be [together] outside of school and we don’t worry about football, don’t worry about any grades and just have fun and be teenagers,” Gutierrez said.Gutierrez’s main “bring-your-lunch-pail-to-work” influence is Rudder offensive line coach Ryan O’Bryant, who served as the 12th Man several times throughout the 2008 and 2009 seasond on the Texas A&amp;M football team.“You got to be a guy who’s a walk-on [to be the 12th Man] who all he’s going to do is overachieve, and so he’s made that offensive line overachieve and he’s kind of built them in his image,” Ezar said.Another culture pillar to the offensive line has been not to take a play off, something O’Bryant consistently offered with the Aggies.“Being physical, being tough, knowing exactly where you need to go and keeping it simple,” O’Bryant said.” I learned a lot of that from Coach Jim Turner, who’s a legend in the offensive line world, so those are the things that I emphasize for our offensive line.”For Gutierrez, O’Bryant has seen the success he’s put in.“He’s always had a toughness to him,” O’Bryant said. “Last year was his first year on varsity and he brought a level of toughness as a sophomore that stood out when he was pulling his tenacity with our zone-blocking scheme.“His experience, his ability to communicate, his ability to lead by example and his ability to challenge other offensive linemen, have made us a better group.”Gutierrez and the Rangers are looking for their second 5-0 start in program history when they travel Friday to face Fort Bend Willowridge (2-2) at 7 p.m. at Hall Stadium.“We’re dealing with 15-to-18 year old kids and as you go, if you look in the mirror and you think you look good, you look good,” Ezar said. “I think that in football terms, you feel like you’re a pretty good team. Kind of carry yourself with a little bit of swagger, a little bit of confidence, I think that’s good and I think it makes practices easier, so I think it is a great advantage, but there’s always traps.”According to Ezar, the Eagles will be one of the most athletic teams Rudder has played so far.“They don’t have the depth of some of their teams we played, so that’s something that’ll be a little bit of a weakness for them,” Ezar said. “But they haven’t really got anybody hurt, so their first team is pretty good.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Rudder football's Juan Gutierrez finding his footing with undefeated Rangers

Up until last season, Rudder junior right guard Juan Gutierrez never understood the basic functions of football. “I remember in the spring before he’s going to sophomore year, I was trying to go over the rules [with him],” Rudder head coach Eric Ezar said. What he always understood...