Vijil catches on

Eastern Washington University football players can’t seem to find the words to describe what teammate Raul Vijil does once he catches a short pass over the middle.

The Eagles smile and shake their heads at the way the senior wide receiver dances around and then breaks into the open, leaving flailing defenders behind.

“A lot of the guys joke around about my hips and feet, how they look like they’re going one way and I’m going another way,” Vijil said. “That comes from soccer. There is a lot of changing direction and constant motion.”

Head coach Paul Wulff can’t describe it, but he can explain it.

“What you see is he has phenomenal flexibility in his hips, great feet and balance so he can maneuver out of the tiniest little areas,” he said. “That combination allows him to spin on a dime, turn, cut, outmaneuver people.”

Whatever it is, Jesse Hendrix wants no part of it.

“I’m definitely glad I’m not out there going against him,” said Hendrix, a defensive back. “He’s definitely not easy to cover. That’s why he gets so many yards after catch, so much Y.A.C. He’s got those soccer feet.”

Vijil is a lifelong soccer player and former Pasco High School star. He took up football only when his friends talked him into it before his senior season.

Considering that limited experience, Vijil’s performance is astounding.

In six games he is averaging 15.7 yards a catch on 34 catches for 535 yards, and probably only a handful of those passes were caught 10 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage.

For his career, he has averaged 15.5 yards on 57 catches. Prior to this season he had only two touchdowns, both last season when he had 32 receptions. Now he has three more TDs, including the clincher at Montana last week.

“He runs a lot of the shorter routes so he gets the ball quick,” said quarterback Erik Meyer. “What makes him so good is the way he makes guys miss. When they double (All-American) Eric Kimble and Raul is in single coverage, that’s a mismatch to me.”

Vijil never had time for football because he was always on multiple soccer teams and played basketball. But once he joined the powerhouse Pasco program, there was no turning back.

“It came pretty simple to me,” he said. “I didn’t have second thoughts. Especially when you’re winning, it’s fun.”

Big, padded guys trying to crush him was not a concern.

“Soccer is not as physical, but it’s a contact sport,” he said. “My mom was definitely nervous, my dad would tell me about it. He always wanted me to play. He loved it.”

Vijil averaged more than 20 yards on 30 receptions in high school, which included seven catches and a championship-game record 207 yards in a 20-3 win over Bethel.

The Eagles came calling.

“The one year he played he was awfully good,” Wulff said about offering a scholarship to a soccer player.

“He was a playmaker,” EWU wide receivers coach Keith Murphy said. “It’s hard to teach a guy to make plays. The second thing I looked for is: Does he have good feet? If you can’t get open, it doesn’t do you any good.”

There was only one other thing for the coaches to consider: Vijil’s commitment to football.

“He was a good enough player in high school, we figured if he bought into being a football player – and you don’t always know when they played one year of a sport in high school if they’ll have a ton of passion for it for the next five in college – he would be an awfully good player,” Wulff said.

Everything about Vijil’s football experience has been a pleasant surprise for his family.

“We were surprised he decided to play,” said his mother, Janie, a middle school teacher. “We felt that maybe he would feel let down because everybody knew how to play football.

“It took us by surprise that he did so well.”

The state championship has been the highlight so far, even more than the one the Bulldogs won in soccer when Vijil was a sophomore, because of the way the community supports football.

But there were more surprises in store.

“When Eastern came around and offered him a scholarship, we told him it was up to him,” Janie said, mentioning that several of his friends were encouraging him to take a soccer scholarship. “When he chose football we were again surprised.

“I think of everything what we are more surprised is that he has stuck it out.”

“Soccer players get a bad rap for being soft,” said Murphy, another former soccer player. “The only things he lacked were strength and knowledge. Through experience, he has learned to use his strength and balance to his advantage. We had to teach him aggressiveness because in soccer you pass and run away (to an open spot).”

The experience has been all positive for Vijil, although he lights up whenever he talks about soccer, which he plays as much as possible.

“I missed it a lot the first three years, but being a football player has been great,” the graphics communications major said. “I’ve loved all five years here.”

Which means Wulff has to be searching for more futbol players?

“I’m looking for more Raul Vijils,” he said.

That needs no explanation.