'Heart of a lion': How Garret Rangel's upbringing helped him persevere in first Oklahoma State start

STILLWATER — Each time her son runs onto the football field to take a snap, Christy Rangel feels the chill bumps climbing up her arms, the tears gathering in her eyes.

“I want to cry because I’m so overwhelmed with excitement,” Rangel said. “He’s doing what he loves, and I love that he’s doing what he loves, and I get really choked up.”

Will she feel those emotions on Saturday?

Whether her son — Oklahoma State true freshman Garret Rangel — will quarterback the Cowboys for a second straight Saturday is the million-dollar question.

It is not yet publicly known if regular starting quarterback, Spencer Sanders, will be back on the field after missing last week’s game with an injured shoulder, or if the reins will remain in the hands of the man who was quarterbacking Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas, a year ago.

Head coach Mike Gundy will have to make that decision when the Cowboys host Iowa State in a 2:30 p.m. Saturday kickoff at Boone Pickens Stadium, a much-needed return home for the Pokes, who have suffered two straight ugly losses on the road.

In the last one, a 37-16 loss at Kansas, Garret Rangel made his first college start, rebounding admirably from a difficult beginning sequence in which he two interceptions in his first five passes. He also fumbled a snap and threw a third interception late in the game, but overall, his starting debut was solid.

He was 27-of-40 for 304 yards and two touchdowns. Most importantly, he didn’t panic, particularly after the early picks.

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“One thing I can tell you about Garret Rangel, he will never flinch,” said Jeff Rayburn, Rangel’s head coach at Lone Star.

“I don’t care what the situation is, how big the game is, how big the moment is, Garret wants it on his shoulders, and he’s willing to take it all. He knows that’s the responsibility of playing quarterback, especially at a place like Oklahoma State. He welcomes that.”

From what Rayburn has seen, no quarterbacking challenge has ever fazed Rangel. In the spring following his freshman season at Lone Star, he was in a battle for the starting job with another player who was older and regarded as a Division I talent.

But Rangel took command and won the job, immediately establishing himself as a leader, despite his youth. That roster had not only Rangel’s current OSU teammate, running back Jaden Nixon, but also OU receiver Marvin Mims, Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford and others who went on to play college ball.

“Garret persevered, and he led that 2019 team that went to the semifinals,” Rayburn said. “It was a stacked team, a very senior-heavy team and Garret was one of the best leaders for us. Nobody looked at him as a sophomore. That’s how he’s always been.”

At the core of the culture Gundy has built in Stillwater are discipline and toughness.

Those are two principles Rangel was raised on as well. Several members of the Rangel family served in the military, including Garret’s father, Jerry, and grandfather, Ponciano. And that background influenced Garret’s upbringing.

“Since he was a youngster, we’ve always had some positive affirmations around here, and a big one was, ‘the heart of a lion,’” Jerry said. “You gotta get out there and lead from the front. You have to develop that within yourself and then project it outward to bring your team along.”

Jerry and Christy weren’t in the stadium for OSU’s last two games. Having only learned last Thursday that Garret would be starting, the logistics of getting to Lawrence, Kansas, in time for the game were too tricky.

“Those were the first two football games that we had missed for Garret,” Jerry said. “It was kind of bittersweet for us, in the sense that he has this great opportunity and he’ll be out there doing his thing, but on the flipside, mom and dad were not there on the sidelines.”

Of course, Garret’s up-and-down day led to an emotional rollercoaster for mom and dad, watching from home in Frisco.

“Those interceptions, they kind of made my stomach hurt,” Christy said. “It was more than he’s ever had in a game ever. Then the fumble. My girlfriends wouldn’t let me get on Twitter, which is probably good. But when you saw him in the flow, even when the interceptions were happening, that’s our kid. He was in command, in control. He looks like he belongs out there.”

As a mom, Christy still gets a little nervous for her 6-foot-2, 181-pound son when he has 300-pound defensive linemen barreling toward him.

“Hey babe, you gotta gain more weight,” she often tells him. “Get bigger. Gain more weight, honey. I don’t know if you’re ready for those big boys.”

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While his size is a work in progress, he proved his talent is ready for the moment.

Garret might start again on Saturday, or he might be heading back to the bench if Sanders’ shoulder is healthy enough for action.

At some point, the OSU coaching staff will have to weigh the possibility of preserving Garret’s redshirt status. NCAA rules allow him to play in four games and still redshirt. To this point, he has played in two, against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Kansas. With four games ahead, Gundy, offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn and quarterback coach Tim Rattay will have to consider the future.

But for now, they can only worry about the present, and there’s too much at stake to overreact regarding Garret’s redshirt year.

Gundy recalls the 2014 season when injuries had crippled the Cowboys at quarterback, but the staff decided to bring Mason Rudolph out of redshirt to start the final three games.

“I tried to get him to redshirt,” Gundy said of Rudolph. “I brought him in and he said, ‘No way, I’m playing.’

“We haven’t really talked about it (regarding Garret). Could it be a discussion in the end? If we got to that point. That’s not a bridge we’ve crossed, because obviously, we’re not there yet.”

Garret’s parents have confidence in the OSU coaches to handle their son the right way. That’s a big reason he ended up in Stillwater to begin with.

WIth his recruiting mostly taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic when on-campus visits weren’t allowed, Rattay caught the Rangels’ attention during their virtual tour.

The family thought the visit was complete, but Rattay asked for some one-on-one time with Jerry and Christy, and they anticipated it would be like their experiences with other coaches, who had tried to sell the parents on what the family would like about their university.

But Rattay proved them wrong.

“He showed us all the things he liked about Garret,” Christy said. “One school that was recruiting Garret, they thought he was also a baseball player. They didn’t even know who they were talking to.”

Rattay pulled up Garret’s game tape and spent an extra 45 minutes showing the parents why Garret was right for OSU.

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“Coach Rattay pointed out all the things that Garret did that he admired and loved,” Christy said.

Added Jerry: “We were impressed with that. He was the only position coach to do that. Not only was he showing Garret the most love, but he had done his homework, and he showed us that.”

Rayburn hasn’t spoken to Rangel this week, other than shooting his former quarterback a quick text message to tell him how proud he is. But Rayburn knows what Rangel has been up to all week, because he saw it after every game for three years at Lone Star.

“I told Coach Rattay before Garret ever got on campus ’You’re gonna get tired of Garret Rangel. ‘He’s gonna be in your office every day. He’s gonna have questions. He’s gonna want the film immediately,’” Rayburn said. “That’s just who he is, and that’s a quality you want in a quarterback.

“I know big things are to come, just growing from that experience in his first real live action against a quality opponent. I’m excited to see what he’s gonna do from here.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football: Garret Rangel persevered in first start at QB