Editor’s note: Over the next three weeks, the Star is counting down the top high school football players in Southern Arizona. Up today: Marana quarterback Elijah Joplin.
Name: Elijah Joplin
Rundown: The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Joplin will start at quarterback for Marana.
Who he is: The blueprint to becoming a great quarterback at Marana High School was created by former Tiger Trenton Bourguet, who’s now a walk-on-turned-scholarship quarterback for the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Bourguet, who was named the Star’s No. 1 Southern Arizona high school football player entering the 2018 season, amassed 7,612 yards and a Class 5A state record 89 touchdowns. During his junior season, Bourguet threw for 2,984 yards and 38 touchdowns. His touchdown mark in 2017 was more than Kedon Slovis (USC), Jack Miller (Ohio State), Tyler Shough (Texas Tech), Jacob Conover (BYU) and Jack Plummer (Purdue), when they were some of the most well-regarded prep players in Arizona.
Long story short, Bourguet’s stat-stuffing, eyebrow-raising career may never be replicated again, but Marana’s newest star quarterback Elijah Joplin is hoping to have a similar career trajectory.
“I try to model my game after him. He’s been a mentor,” Joplin said of Bourguet. “He’s such a great leader on and off the field. He would always rally everyone together and always make it about the team.”
Unfortunately for Joplin, once he found a groove as a sophomore starting quarterback, the 2020 season was shuttered for COVID-19 concerns.
Joplin wasn’t always the guy at Marana. He was the backup quarterback to begin the season and was installed in the game during the second half of the season-opening 18-6 loss to Maricopa. The following week, Joplin completed 19 of 27 passes for 282 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while rushing for two touchdowns.
“I thought it was in the best interest for the team to give him an opportunity. … I just wanted to give the offense a spark, and Elijah came in and got us in the end zone with a touchdown to Isaiah Roebuck,” said then-head coach Louie Ramirez, who’s now an assistant coach at Scottsdale Saguaro.
“Being a weird year that it was, I gave Elijah the green light and we scored 35 points against Walden Grove with Elijah at the helm. He just gave another element to our offense.”
In a 32-27 win over Tucson High, Joplin went 10-for-11 passing for 122 yards and a touchdown.
Playing quarterback wasn’t always Joplin’s aspirations during his youth football days. Unlike his father Lee Joplin, who was a standout linebacker at Amphitheater, Elijah wanted to be a running back or a wide receiver, but since he was the “only player on the team who could throw the ball,” he was “thrown into” playing quarterback. He loved every aspect of the position.
“You control the game and you’re the guy, which I like,” he said.
Now the leader of Marana’s offense with a full season to look forward to, Joplin is adjusting to new head coach Philip Steward, a former standout linebacker at the University of Houston, and his offensive system, which Ramirez expects to be a trouble-free transition.
“I’m just excited to see him flourish and develop in Coach Steward’s offense, and just continue to develop as a player as he transitions going into his junior year, because the sky’s the limit for him with the offensive weapons he has surrounding him at Marana,” Ramirez said.
Proof he’s good: Not only is Joplin a star quarterback at Marana, he’s also a member of the Tigers’ basketball squad and a high-jumper for their track and field program.
He’s also tough as nails.
“First time playing quarterback, he takes a sack and tries to catch himself rather than taking the hit and falls and breaks his finger,” Ramirez said.
“He comes out of the game and says, ‘Coach, I think I’m good for the next play.’ He hands the ball off and then comes to me and says, ‘Coach, I can’t even grip the ball right now.’ So, seeing him do that, going 11-for-12 (passing) and putting us in the end zone, taking command of the huddle — those two-and-a-half games really just showed that the future is going to be bright for Marana, knowing what he’s been able to do thus far.”
He said it: “Elijah is a leader, guys look up to him, guys respect and listen to him, he’s extremely decisive and he can command a huddle with his presence. He’s got that swagger to him and is very even-keeled. I think a big part of that is his basketball background. I mean, he’s a hooper. He’s got that ice-in-his-veins-shooter mentality and he translates that to the football field, which I love.” — Ramirez
