High schools countdown: Eddie Lopez seeing results from intense Tumamoc Hill training

Name: Eddie Lopez

Rundown: Lopez is a junior cornerback for Sunnyside, measuring at 6-foot, 160 pounds.

Who he is: In the anything-but-normal offseason for high school football players, Lopez’ socially-distanced workouts might have been the most unique in Tucson, even bordering on insanity.

Several times this summer, Lopez ran — yes ran — up Tumamoc Hill not one, not two, but three times during a three-hour workout session.

The Blue Devil corner started getting up early in the morning once Tumamoc reopened to the public in late May and trained on each of the three trips up and down the hill with a specific purpose.

“The first time up I ran non-stop even if it was a slow jog,” the junior said, emphasizing the need to build stamina.

After the first trip back down to the base of the hill, Lopez put on a weighted vest and went through sets of 20-yard sprints up the hill, alternating between short periods of rest and quick burst up the incline to improve his speed and durability. The third time up, when the fatigue starts to set in, was the most grueling as Lopez rotated between forward sprints and backpedaling up the incline.

“I’m a corner so I gotta work on dropping back,” Lopez said.

The round-trip of 3.1 miles multiplied by three times totaled a 9.3-mile workout — not too shabby. Now that Sunnyside football is back on the field with games expected to start later this month, the Blue Devils’ leading tackler from a year ago is already seeing the results from his trips up Tumamoc Hill.

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“Everything with my footwork, it helped me a lot,” Lopez said. “I’m able to push past the fatigue now.”

Proof he’s good: Even after leading the team in tackles in 2019 with 112, Lopez has his eyes set on more. As one of the young standout players for the Blue Devils squad that lacked a veteran presence last season, Lopez said two things stuck out to him about what he’s learned most in his first couple of years.

“Never give up, especially in the weight room,” he said. “The other is to always go 110%.”

That belief is consistent with head coach Glenn Posey’s that the weight room is the building block for achieving success.

“The weight room is the foundation of your program,” Posey said. “And what you do in teaching kids work ethic and the development of their bodies as well as their minds of breaking barriers.”

Posey has noticed the work ethic in Lopez and has plans to utilize him all over the field this fall.

“He’s going to play a couple different positions. He might play corner then some safety,” Posey said. “He’s just a dynamic athlete.”

He said it: “I just want to go out there and be a star this year and also see my teammates be able to have their chance to shine.” — Lopez