ALUMNI REPORT: Awards pile up for former Broncos star Hofmeister

If the past two years are any indication, the holiday season is an award-winning time of year for Vista Murrieta graduate Ryan Hofmeister.

Last December, after pacing the Broncos to the Southwestern League title and their first appearance in the CIF Southern Section Inland Division title game, the then senior linebacker earned spots on both the All-League First Team, the All-CIF SS Inland Division First Team, and was voted The Californian's All-Valley Defensive Player of the Year.

Even with all that, and stats which included: 195 total tackles, 10 sacks, two forced fumbles and two recovered fumbles; Hofmeister only received offers from four-year programs on the East Coast. And, according to Broncos' former defensive coordinator and now offensive coordinator Eric Peterson, he wanted to stay on the West Coast.

So off to Riverside Community College he went, to play for former San Diego State and Palomar College coach Tom Craft. The Tigers, who had gone 1-9 the prior season, made a quick turnaround with the likes of Hofmeister and other Riverside County stars like Riverside North's Maurice Cox on their roster.

And come November they were 9-1 and primed for a bowl game against Los Angeles Harbor. RCC won its first bowl game in 17 years ----31-14 ---- and the honors began rolling in again for Hofmeister, who was named the Central Conference's East Division Defensive Player of the Year.

"He was a great player on the field, and really led by example," Craft said. "He's one of the smartest players I've coached, and he really saved us this year. You don't turn a 1-9 program to 10-1 team and not have a guy who is so dominant. He was a huge part of our success."

All his junior colleges and prep accolades were over-shadowed when UCLA called with an offer ---- a full-ride to play for the Bruins next fall. It was an opportunity he had been hoping for the year before, but, even with 4.5-second 40-yard-dash speed, most programs never looked past his 5-foot-11, 190-pound stature.

"Ryan is a testimony of a great student who has everything in order academically, but gets overlooked athletically," Craft said. "In high school, when people thought about him at the next level it was hard because he's small. But he's highly intelligent, on and off the field; he just needed a platform to prove himself, and it worked out just how we thought it would."

Since high school, Hofmeister put on 20 pounds and grew two inches and that helped him on the field as he led the Tigers with 137 tackles, including 44 solo wrap- ups, 10 tackles for losses and five pass break-ups. With all that, Hofmeister proved irresistible to UCLA and earlier this fall, he made a verbal commitment to play for the Bruins.

The agreement will be made official on Wednesday, when Hofmeister, will sign his letter of intent.

"It really worked for a kid like Ryan who has such a great work ethic," Peterson said of Hofmeister taking the junior college route.

"He's one of the best football players I've coached. He's experienced a lot of adversity and gotten through it and that's just a testament to who he is and to his mother."