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BANGOR TOWNSHIP, MI – When Jon Horton raises his voice, he doesn’t often recommend that his players shout back.
But the fifth-year John Glenn football coach loves to tell the tale of his high-volume exchange with lineman Isaac Espinoza.
“There was a moment a couple years ago when we started yelling at each other,” Horton said. “He said ‘I’m not the player you think I am!’ And I said ‘Yes, you are! You just don’t believe it yet!’
“I tell that story all the time because it’s a great lesson: If you stick to the plan and believe in what we’re doing, it’s going to work out. And I’m so excited to see the player he’s become as a senior.”
After sparking Glenn to a 43-13 victory over Essexville Garber with powerful contributions on both sides of the ball, Espinoza was voted MLive Bay City Player of the Week for Week 3. He drew 57.6 percent of the 17,267 ballots to edge runner-up Brody Fox of Mio.
It was the kind of performance Horton envisioned for Espinoza from the start, and the kind he’s seen him deliver more and more during his three-year varsity career.
“He’s the epitome of what we’re trying to build here,” Horton said. “He shows up every single day to workouts, he doesn’t miss a camp or a training day, and he’s a physical player. He’s one of the kids we earmarked as an eighth grader of being what we needed as our foundation.”
Although it took some convincing – sometimes at high decibels – Espinoza emerged as a vital cog for the Bobcats. The 5-foot-11, 250-pounder is part of the bedrock of the offense line at guard, playing with a passion while paving the way for a vaunted running attack.
Glenn averaged a whopping 12.6 yards per carry in the win over Garber, wearing down the opposition to score the four touchdowns in the final 15 minutes of play.
“He knows his job and does it violently,” Horton said. “He loves pancake blocks, he loves finishing plays. If a play lasts six seconds, he’s going to be blocking for seven with intensity and effort.”
With the Bobcats a bit banged up on the defensive line, Espinoza filled in on the other side of the ball and helped control the line of scrimmage.
“He’s not going to have any Aaron Donald pass-rush moves, but he’s going to knock people back,” Horton said. “And he was huge for us in short yardage.”
As one of the team captains, Espinoza leads the Bobcats back into action tonight when they host Saginaw Swan Valley at 7 p.m. at John Loop Field.
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