Elijah Garza was only away from McAllen Rowe for one season, having moved to Roma for his junior year. But the program he returned to this offseason might as well have been a different world than the one he first left.

The players are up at 6 a.m. every morning for practice, but there are no tired eyes in sight. The mental conditioning is just as important as the physical. Garza, a quarterback, didn’t know how to read defensive coverages like Cover 2 and Cover 3 before this spring. Now, he’s making pre-snap audibles while the defense yells at each other to watch a screen pass because it’s second-and-long.

“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked in the offseason before,” Garza said.

Jamaar Taylor, a former Texas A&M wide receiver and 2004 NFL Draft selection, is the spark behind the Warriors’ new energy. He’s spent his entire post-playing career in the Rio Grande Valley, serving as the offensive coordinator at PSJA, Edinburg Vela and, most recently, Weslaco East. Taylor was perfectly happy as an assistant, but he always told himself there was one school in the area he’d become a head coach for – McAllen Rowe.

“When I played or coached against any McAllen schools, it always seemed like they were just a few plays away from having the ability to be great,” Taylor said.

Taylor believes his lessons learned in a life of football have prepared him to find those plays.

He played his high school football at Mission, just five miles West of Rowe, under legendary head coach Sonny Detmer. Detmer had two sons who achieved collegiate success; Ty was a Heisman Trophy winner at BYU while Koy set Colorado’s school record with 40 touchdown passes. The eldest Detmer brought a college schedule to a high school program, and Taylor has done the same at Rowe. His athletes are no longer just playing the game; they’re students of it.

Under Detmer’s leadership, Taylor became a Division I football recruit in an area that typically doesn’t produce many. Since he didn’t have any mentors in the recruiting process to lean on, Taylor chose Notre Dame for the golden dome brand and the Rudy movie over Texas A&M. It also didn’t hurt that Urban Meyer was a hell of a recruiter.

When Taylor told Texas A&M head coach RC Slocum of his decision, Slocum’s answer taught him his first lesson - the importance of building trust with your players.

“He told me, ‘Whenever it gets cold and you get lonely, think about Texas A&M. And we’ll be here,’” Taylor said. “Sure enough, he was a man of his word.”

After one season at Notre Dame, Taylor transferred to Texas A&M. It was a consequential decision in that day and age of college football - transfers were ineligible for one season at their new school. But Taylor learned how to be a good teammate in the season he sat out, realizing that running perfect reps on the scout team was just as important as playing on Saturdays. While a star player himself, that year forced him to walk in the cleats of backups, which has provided better perspective as a head coach.

Taylor became a star player for his junior and senior seasons at Texas A&M. His college career ended when he tore his ACL against Nebraska in 2003, just 36 yards shy of becoming the program’s all-time receiving yards leader. The injury cratered his NFL Draft stock, going to the New York Giants in the sixth round. He made 13 appearances in two seasons, flashing his big-play ability with over 24 yards per catch as a rookie. Taylor was just never the same after the injury.

But after a few years away from the game, he realized his journey with the sport didn’t have to end.

“I needed to be involved in football,” Taylor said. Whenever football is taken from you as a young man, you’re so used to the competitive aspect and the schedule, having that structure. So getting away from that, it was heartbreaking.”

Taylor’s coaching is helping lead the next generation, but it’s also healing the hole in his heart that his playing career left. Every time he sees a player hold his teammate accountable or finish through the line on a drill, he feels a little more whole.

“They understand that I am somebody who really loves effort and loves guys who are all about ball,” Taylor said. “I’ve got a lot of dudes like that, so the future is bright.”