Marble Falls football’s Aguilar signs with Mary Hardin-Baylor

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior Joaquin Aguilar (seated, center) signs his National Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor surrounded by his parents Maria (seated, left) and Joaquin, Sr. (seated, right), grandmother Socorro (standing, left), sister Jazmine and brother Diego. Courtesy photo

Marble Falls High School senior football player Joaquin Aguilar, Jr. made his commitment official to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor recently.

The Mustangs celebrated with a signing ceremony May 11.

“Ever since I started playing in high school, that’s always been a dream cause I love the sport,” he said. “Going into my junior year, that’s when I really decided that that’s what I wanted to do for my future as well get a degree in business.”

Aguilar is joining a collegiate program regarded as one of the best in the country. The Cru captured two official national championships in 2018 and 2021 and more than 18 American Southwest Conference titles since 2002. The athletic department competes in NCAA Division III.

“They just do a lot of great things around athletics,” Aguilar said. “And it’s a great team.”

The Aguilars and UMHB coaches began talking in January, he said, after Mustangs head coach Keri Timmerman connected the two groups at first by phone and then through game tape.

“Mary Hardin-Baylor is a place that craves discipline,” Timmerman said. “They want kids that want to win and want to be successful. When I got here, one of the first things he told me was his desire to play at the next level. College football isn’t for everybody. And he was one of those kids that clearly it was. He wanted it to be apart of his life, and so he built himself into a player that was able to put himself in that opportunity, that Mary Hardin-Baylor came looking. So yeah, I think he’s just going to be a great fit there.”

After the Cru coaches watched Aguilar’s video, they paid a visit to Marble Falls a couple of weeks later. The family decided to take a visit to Belton after that.

“After talking on the coaches, they told me that I had been offered and from there, I accepted it,” the Mustang said. “It was in late February. I think it was a week after they offered. I had some time to think about it, and after a while, I told myself that this was what I wanted to do, and it was just a great place to keep playing football.”

Though UMHB recruited Aguilar as a running back, he is bringing much to the program.

He started as a tailback in 2023 in the last year the program operated the slot-T offense. Even then his field vision and speed were apparent.

Timmerman was hired in December 2024 and began installing his spread offense. But Aguilar remained as the starting running back. In two years, he has 209 rushes for 1,160 yards and 16 touchdowns and 25 catches for 253 yards and two scores. He also played on the defense where he had 24 tackles and two interceptions, served as the placekicker and anywhere else he was needed.

“He’s one of those kids that’s just a good player,” Timmerman said. “He works hard, has a great attitude. One of the things that stands out about him is he has natural ability to find work on the field. He can be a defensive back, he’s a great cornerback, play some safety. But also he’s able to fit in the slot or running back, so he’s just a multifaceted kid, and he found ways to contribute, being a punter, being a kicker, just all those things.”

CAPTION: Marble Falls defensive back Joaquin Aguilar (20) does his part for the North all-stars helping to gang tackle the South’s ball carrier during the second annual Hill Country Coaches Association all-star game May 9 in Wimberley. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

As Marble Falls got more and more into district play this year, Aguilar spent more time on the defensive side, which allowed younger brother Diego, a freshman, to fill in at running back.

“(UMHB coaches) said that I was a great player on the field anywhere,” the older Aguilar said. “Because I play multiple roles, they said that I was just an athlete. And that’s the type of player they wanted on their team.”

Timmerman said Joaquin Aguilar “fell in love with the weight room” and used his spring to get better physically through those sessions. His ability to shed tacklers, hold his spot on the soccer pitch, use his leg to be accurate in kicking field goals, and be faster on the track has been apparent throughout his high school years.

“There’s a natural tendency when you’re doing a sport like soccer, especially, where you’re just running consistently and for long periods of time and that’s what your practices are like and what your games are like, that it’s easy to lose weight and it’s also easy to run your body down,” the Mustang skipper said. “And once he started realizing what the weight room did for all three of those sports, he just fell in love with it. We saw his strength grow and his speed increase. His 40-(yard dash) dropped, his 100 (meter) and 200 (meter) times dropped. We just saw him consistently get faster.”

The athlete was also a captain for the football and soccer teams this year that accomplished a personal goal.

“Voted on by the kids,” Timmerman said. “You can’t fake your way into a captain’s position. The kids believed in the players, loved him and thought the world of him. And coaches trusted him. You don’t get that by just talent alone.”

The son of Maria and Joaquin Aguilar, Sr. will major in business management.

He said he learned plenty as a Mustang that he believes will help him on the next level.

“The only way to improve is through hard work,” he said. “You can’t take days off and want to be lazy. Every rep, everything you do, you have to do it to your best ability and you just improve.”

CAPTION: Marble Falls running back Joaquin Aguilar (center) follows the block of Burnet receiver Trevin Park (10). Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro