The last time Jovoni Borbon made headlines around here was as a quarterback at Buena High School leading the rejuvenation of the program under Joe Thomas from 2016 to 2019.
Borbon passed for 5,666 yards with 46 touchdowns in his career with the Colts while completing 349 of 635 pass attempts.
He turned a Buena program that went 0-10 his freshman year to an 8-3 team that advanced to the state playoffs when he was a senior.
Borbon is back in the public eye locally for committing to a Division I program — as a long snapper. He is headed to SMU.
110% COMMITTED‼️‼️@SMUFB @Coach_Horny @Coach_Naivar @SpecialTeamsU pic.twitter.com/X3i7uf0tgi
— Jovoni Borbon🏈 (@jovoniborbon) February 12, 2022
His size at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds as a senior at Buena affected him from being recruited as a quarterback.
Working to no end to find spot on a Division I roster, Borbon established himself as a long snapper with the Maricopa Mustangs in the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference the last two seasons.
That decision and his diligence put him in position to commit to SMU’s program. The Mustangs are entering the first season with Rhett Lashlee as coach. Former Salpointe standout linebacker Trent Strong will be a third-year player in SMU’s program.
“This has definitely been a journey, but I never gave up and never lost my faith,” Borbon mentioned to AllSportsTucson.com. “I had to go through two position changes (he was also a safety) and battled through tons of adversity.
“I have put in countless hours of training to try and master the craft of long snapping and still continuing to learn everyday.”
Borbon added that he trains in a gym every day of the week “working on every aspect of my body” while maintaining a 3.80 GPA. He will earn his Associate’s Degree at Paradise Valley Community College in May.
“One thing I would say to any of the kids who may have dreams of playing Division I football is to never give up,” Borbon mentioned. “My favorite quote states, ‘There is nothing different from you and I, I just never gave up.’
“Everyone’s path is difficult, but take of advantage of it and make connections along the way.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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