David Gutierrez Jr. makes his college pick

Socorro High School's gentle giant made his decision as to where he would play football after receiving multiple college offers. David Gutierrez Jr.'s choice of the New Mexico Military Institute on Feb. 5 suits his plans for a possible military career in the Marines.

As a two-time defending state champion heavyweight wrestler, Gutierrez had been holding out for a wrestling scholarship, but the college rosters for wrestling are small, and even smaller when considering that he wanted a military-environment school.

So, without waiting until he was pursuing a third state title, "Junior" made his commitment to NMMI.

NMMI made it's offer after watching Gutierrez's performance at the New Mexico All-Star football game. Word had been getting around about the powerful and fast defensive lineman. Gutierrez can line up anywhere on a defensive line and combined with his wrestling talent he might make the perfect pro-style defensive end.

"I wanted to go to a military school. I like the discipline over there, and then they just were shooting for me. I feel like I should be loyal to them and get my two years of school. I hope, after I get my associates, I can become a higher rank in the military," Guiterrez said. "That's what I'm looking forward to. God willing, let's hope everything works out. Just go from there. Build a life off of that."

There are certainly questions about how good Gutierrez could have been at football if he had also dedicated so much time to his admitted first love.

Socorro football coach Damien Ocampo has run that kind of question through his mind more than once.

"Junior is a great athlete. He's always been a great athlete. His biggest development over time has been his toughness and competitiveness, his knowledge of the game, and his overall smarts. He understands blocking schemes. He understands what's coming at him," Ocampo said.

The Broncos are headed up by new coach Oliver Soukup, who just happens to have played with Ocampo back in 2000 at New Mexico State. Soukup knows what he's getting, and Gutierrez is a talented diamond in the rough. If he continues to develop, he is capable of playing beyond the junior college level.

"Junior is a super smart kid, so at the next level, he's got a lot of room to grow athletically, and he'll be able to go against a lot of guys that are probably a lot bigger and more talented than he sees here," Ocampo said. "His learning curve is going to be big, but mentally, be fine. He's going to be playing for a guy that I played with in college. He's a guy that's put guys out to the NFL."

Gutierrez's focus on wrestling kept him out of some football games this season, but it didn't keep him from leading the team in per-game tackling with 8.6 stops per game. His 60 tackles included 41 solos.

As he prepared for his signing in front of friends and a bunch of group photos, Gutierrez was thoughtful about any advice he would have for a freshman this year.

"Have fun and enjoy every minute of your time because it all goes by in a blink. Enjoy yourself," he said.