Garcia’s Homecoming Helps Hardin-Simmons Return to ASC Supremacy
ABILENE, TEXAS — Over the years, the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys have been known for, among other things, racking up huge numbers through the air on offense. Former offensive coordinator Alan Wartes, the man who helped put many Cowboy quarterbacks and receivers on the map, retired from coaching to run his Air It Out Passing Camp, not running camp. But recently, it’s been the running backs that have carried the offensive load for the Cowboys, and their latest star rusher is home, again, in Abilene.
Noah Garcia signed with West Texas A&M, a Division II program, after leaving Cooper as the leading rusher in program history, but he didn’t stay in Canyon long. A hamstring injury kept him sidelined during summer workouts, and it led to homesickness, especially with a baby girl on the way. “I would go to practice every day; I just didn’t want to be there. I just wasn’t into football at the time. I ended up talking to my mom, and I would cry every day. I would call Coach Hadnot (James Hadnot, who played at HSU and is a current coach for Cooper), and he would try to get me to stick it out and just be there for me, really,” Garcia said.
So that led to stop number two, Cisco Junior College. Garcia transferred there to play for Ryan Taylor, who had just led the Wranglers to their first Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship in the spring of 2021. Garcia said, “Coach Taylor recruited me in high school. I called him and told him what was going on. I wanted to leave, but I still wanted to go to school and play. He told me my offer was still on the table if I could just get there as quickly as possible.”
Garcia did just that, leaving West Texas A&M the next day to go home to Abilene and heading to Cisco the following morning. He ended up redshirting that season, and when Taylor left to take over at Navarro College, Noah had another decision to make. He could have followed Taylor to Corsicana, but being close to home was the main reason he returned to the Big Country anyway.
Enter Hardin-Simmons and head coach Jesse Burleson. “Coach Burleson called me when I was about to leave Cisco and enter the transfer portal,” Garcia said. “He told me that I should be home, and he had a spot for me, and I would do big things for him. I met with Coach literally the day the Cisco coaches told me they were leaving for Navarro. When I talked to Coach B, I just knew it would be the right place.”
Hardin-Simmons tried to stay in the Garcia recruiting chase when Noah was a high school star, but Burleson quickly realized he might be in a race he could not win. “Cooper had just finished up with Tyrees Whitfield, a great player, and you’re thinking what are they going to have coming next, and you see him as a sophomore. We were like, Oh my gosh, this guy is pretty dang good. We stayed on, developed a little bit of a relationship with him, and tried to stay in the fight recruiting him as long as we could. He obviously ended up going a different route, but whenever that opportunity came back around, we jumped all over a chance to get him back here.”
Stop number three on the Garcia college tour was not perfect from the start, however, as he was limited to just 52 carries for 386 yards in five games because of a high ankle sprain. “I tried to practice and do what I could. I came back for the Sul Ross game and messed it all up again,” he said. “It was very frustrating. I was ready to get back on the field after all the stuff that was going on. I felt like I was always getting hurt and just didn’t really know what to do. But all the support that I had and the people around me just told me to keep going. Keep going and push through it. God has a plan for me.”
That support system is likely the biggest group of Hardin-Simmons fans for any one player in the stands on game day. Head to the home bleachers around the 20-yard line near the south end zone, and you’ll find a whole section of Garcia supporters, with most wearing custom shirts or hoodies featuring their favorite player.
“That’s my family, man. Without them, none of this would be possible. They’re my biggest supporters through everything—ups and downs, through it all. That’s what I do it for. My family, my little girl (Kylen, now aged 2). They’re there for me every game. My parents have missed maybe two or three games my whole career, and I’ve been playing football for a long time, since I was about four years old.”
Garcia leads the Cowboys and the American Southwest Conference with 760 yards rushing so far this season. His 84.4 yards per game average is nearly 20-yards per game more than the current number two, his teammate Colton Marshall. Marshall is the only player in the conference with more rushing touchdowns, leading Garcia 12 to 10.
His best game of the year, 144 yards and two touchdowns, came in one of HSU’s biggest wins, a 28-21 victory at now #4 Wisconsin-La Cross in week two. It was in that game that Garcia made a huge impression on his head coach. Burleson said, “We ran an outside zone to the right, and he cuts that thing all the way back like we tell running backs to never do. He did it, made a bunch of guys miss, went the distance and scored. That was a huge, huge play in the game.”
Courtesy: WKTY — sorry for the glitches, there must have been one during this play.
Garcia’s favorite play came in a pivotal win over Texas Lutheran, but it was actually in the passing game. Quarterback Gaylon Glynn hit him on a screen pass, and Garcia did the rest, spinning out of a tackle and speeding 44-yards down the sideline for a touchdown. “I like to get into open space. That’s where I like to play. It’s hard to get me down in open space. That’s where I work a lot at work a lot of my craft. That’s where I like to take the game to,” Garcia said.
Courtesy: HSUathletics.com
For a school known for passing, Garcia is the latest in a long line of quality running backs from Matt Caroll to Tommy Cupil to Lance Moore to Quinton Jones to Jaquan Hemphill and many more in-between. “We want to be balanced,” says Burleson. “I know a lot of people say that, but balanced for us is being able to do either one. It doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily going to be 50-50 week after week after week, but if one week we need to run it more and one week we need to throw it more, then we want to be versatile enough to do both.”
This season, the Cowboys have gained more yards rushing than passing in all but two games and are tied for 27th in the nation in rushing offense at 211.4 yards per game. Garcia, Marshall, and the offense line are a big part of that and one of the reasons Hardin-Simmons has clinched its first outright conference title since 2004, even with Glynn missing two games due to injury. “It hurt to see Gaylon go down,” said Garcia. “I had to step into a leadership role, me and Colton. We knew they were going to put the ball down and run the ball with us. We told each other we were going to have each other’s backs: me, Myles (Featherston), and Colton. It was going to take all three of us to get the job done, and so far, it’s been working because of that O-line. They put in all the work and do what they do on Saturdays for a reason.”
Garcia and company will at least have two more Saturdays to suit up: the ASC finale at East Texas Baptist this weekend and then the playoffs with an opponent, place, and time to be determined on Sunday. The Noah Garcia Fan Club will be there, wherever it is, in full force, hoping their favorite player can find more of that open space he thrives in.
