Last year, twin brothers Cody and Jacob Hollister kicked off their college football season in Yuma, Arizona, about 8 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, as Arizona Western College Matadors.

Lightning delayed the start of the game against Pima Community College long enough that the two teams agreed to just an 11-minute halftime so Pima could begin its 240-mile bus trip back to Tuscon at a reasonable hour.

Such was life in the sprawling junior college Western State Football League. The Hollisters, from Bend, and their Matador teammates TWICE last year drove more than 1,250 miles round trip to play Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, once in the regular season and once in the league playoffs. Crowds at WSFL games usually topped out at a few hundred, or about the same as a Mountain View vs. Bend High junior varsity game.

This season should be a little different for the Hollisters.

Last winter, after a successful stint in Yuma, the brothers both earned full NCAA Division I football scholarships. Cody, a 6-foot-4, 208-pound receiver, is taking first-team reps at Arkansas as the Razorbacks prepare to open their season Saturday on national television at reigning Southeastern Conference champion Auburn. Jacob, a 6-4, 230-pound tight end for Wyoming, also expects to get significant playing time Saturday when the Cowboys start the year at home against Montana. Wyoming, which plays in the Mountain West Conference, has one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country: The Pokes play at Oregon and at Michigan State later in the season.

“It’s been a long journey up to this point,” said Cody about the brothers’ winding routes to Division I football.

After leading Mountain View to its first and only state football title in 2011, the Hollisters had few DI scholarship offers despite rewriting the Cougars’ record book. As a quarterback, Jacob passed for more than 4,400 yards and 65 touchdowns in his Mountain View career and was named Oregon’s 2011 Class 5A player of the year. Cody totaled 1,000 yards receiving in both his junior and senior seasons and had 30 touchdown receptions in 2010 and 2011 combined.

The brothers walked on at Nevada and were with the Wolf Pack football program for a semester. But after a coaching change in Reno they transferred in spring 2013 to Arizona Western, where Jacob converted to tight end. Both Hollisters turned heads in Yuma and had several scholarship offers before Christmas. Graduating with their associate degrees from Arizona Western, Cody and Jacob both were able to transfer to their new schools after the winter break, and both participated in spring practice.

“Spring and fall practices, it’s been a night-and-day difference,” said Cody, who last year led Arizona Western with 69 receptions for 934 yards and five touchdowns. “In the spring, I was thinking every play (learning the offense). You can’t be the athlete you are when you’re doing that. Now I can just be myself and be a receiver.”

“That was huge,” Jacob added about getting to his new school in time for spring workouts. “The offense (at Wyoming) is really complicated. I’m lucky that our junior college is a lot like it. But getting to come here early and learn the offense, it just makes going into fall camp a review.”

Hitting the ground running was key for both brothers this preseason as they were recruited by their respective schools to contribute immediately. Arkansas went just 3-9 in head coach Bret Bielma’s first season, and the Razorbacks return just two receivers who caught passes a year ago.

“That’s one of the reasons I came here, is there was such a need at receiver,” said Cody, who has run with the Hogs’ first team as an X (split end) and Z (flanker) receiver. “We’re improving so much as a group. … This offense was still new to them last year. As a whole group, we’re getting a good grasp of it.”

Cody and the rest of the Razorback receivers spent most of the spring getting in sync with junior quarterback Brandon Allen, who returns under center after passing for 1,552 yards and 13 touchdowns a year ago.

“He’s going to be in the game plan,” Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith said about Cody. “He’s definitely proven he can play and he’s going to see the field a lot.

“Cody’s smart and plays the game the way I like guys to play it,” Smith added. “He’s got great body control, catches the ball very well and is a very good route runner. … He’s got a great understanding of the pass game and a great understanding of football.”

At Wyoming, Jacob is playing under first-year Cowboys coach Craig Bohl, who came to Laramie after winning three consecutive Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national titles at North Dakota State. Bohl and his pro-style offense have replaced former coach Dave Christensen’s no-huddle spread formations, which did not incorporate the tight end position.

“We’re all new to this system,” Jacob said about the advantage of being a transfer at a program with a new head coach. “Instead of coming in as one of the new guys, and being the one rookie, everyone’s in the same boat.”

Jacob ended spring ball as the Cowboys’ No. 2 tight end and has been used in the preseason in various formations, sometimes split out or lined up as an H-back in the backfield.

“Jake is a different tight end than probably what our coaching staff is used to,” said Shane LaDage, Wyoming’s tight ends coach. “He’s an athletic kid who can run and has some physical ability. … He’s going to stretch the field for us.”

LaDage said Jacob’s previous experience at quarterback only helps him, and the coach makes the case that tight end has been the perfect position for Hollister all along.

“I think it helps him find soft spots in the defense and to know where quarterbacks are looking,” LaDage said about Jacob’s previous life under center. “But really, he’s a natural tight end with his footwork and the way he blocks.”

In reality, the toughest adjustment the twins have had to make this past year has been playing without one another for the first time. Since leaving for school in January, the two have spent most of 2014 apart, in Fayetteville and Laramie.

“It’s been a little bit of an adjustment,” said Cody, who briefly considered turning down Arkansas’ scholarship offer to instead sign with Wyoming. “It was always me and my brother working out and watching film together. But we’re constantly checking in whenever we can.”

“The biggest thing is we support each other,” Jacob added in a separate conversation. “We talk every day about how practice is going. … It’s definitely different not having each other on the field, but we’re always going to be there supporting and encouraging one another.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.