Burnet football’s Coronado signs with Howard Payne

CAPTION: Burnet senior Josiah Coronado (seated, center) signs his National Letter of Intent to play football for Howard Payne University as parents Eddy (seated, left) and Chelsea and siblings Kingsley(standing, left), Jonahven, Joliana and Kingston look on. Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

Burnet High School senior Josiah Coronado will play football for Howard Payne University.

He recently made his commitment official during a signing ceremony.

Coronado was the Bulldogs’ leader when it came to the rushing attack.

He had 164 rushes for 975 yards and eight touchdowns and caught eight passes for 88 yards and a score in 10 games. While those stats speak for themselves, Burnet head coach Ben Speer said they only tell part of the story.

“He was always about doing what’s best for his team and putting the team in front of his own needs,” he said. “This is rewarding because he’s always known he wanted to play football on the next level, and it got a little bit frustrating there in mid-season when he got injured.”

He noted the team felt Coronado’s absence, too.

“We struggled severely on offense, trying to find an identity without him,” he said. 

The three-year letterman came back in time for the Class 4A Division I playoffs and helped the Bulldogs defeat Andrews 21-7 thanks to 20 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns and caught a pass he took to the end zone from toted 41 yards out. 

“For him to sit out those several games and then come back to have a season he did and help push us through to the second round and get us a win – that was the difference, two rushing and then one receiving,” Speer said. “We knew that once we got him back that we had a great shot of winning that game, and I think that just speaks volumes, not only the athlete but how much trust he got from teammates, just knowing ‘alright, we have 22, we have a shot.’”

The other part of Coronado’s game is his refusal to be tackled by one defender. Speer said the Bulldog wouldn’t go down on first contact and forced defenses to gang tackle him to keep him from getting extra yards.

“Some of that is his natural ability,” the coach said. “It could be threefold; it could be natural ability, it could be instinct, and then coaching that you take pride and ‘Hey, that first guy’s not going to get me. It may take three of them to bring me down. But the first guy is not going take me down.’ Attitude and ability that he has and some of his natural instinct – he has great vision, good patience in the backfield; he was patient enough for blockers to set up things and then when he saw a crease, he would hit it. And if he had to make a guy miss, he was going to make him miss and get to the next level. You’d like to say that’s great coaching, well, a little bit maybe. But the majority is the attitude of the kid, the athlete. In Josiah’s case, it’s natural ability and instincts. He’s just that type of football player. He would excel wherever we put him and work hard on it and do a good job.” 

During the regular season, Coronado was the primary running back to get the ball into the red zone. But in short yardage situations, coaches called for packages that may have allowed his teammates to score. Speer said the senior didn’t complain and didn’t worry about stats, which spoke volumes about his character.

As the season unfolded and the offensive linemen saw how close he was to being a 1,000-yard rusher, they took pride in helping Coronado achieve that, Speer said. 

Meanwhile, Coronado worked diligently to become a complete back, which included becoming a better pass protector. 

“He’s only going to get better,” the coach said. “So excited to see what his future holds.”

Now that Coronado is about to graduate, Speer noted he left his mark.“He definitely left a legacy with the No. 22, leaving here and definitely really hard shoes to fill,” he said. “And no one is going to be Josiah. We’ll have to find a couple guys that give us good looks. He’ll be hard to replace.”

CAPTION:  Burnet senior running back Josiah Coronado drags South tacklers with him as he runs for a first down during at the second annual Hill Country Coaches Association football game May 9 in Wimberley. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro