Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kendrick Crumedy arrived for work Monday morning at Manvel (Texas) High School to teach his world geography course. He did so in raspy tones.

In his 10th year at Manvel, Crumedy is a longtime assistant coach with the football team, currently serving as offensive coordinator. On Saturday night, as former Manvel Mavericks backup quarterback Kyle Trask came off the bench to replace injured starter Feleipe Franks and lead the Gators to an improbable comeback win at Kentucky, Crumedy plugged into the game with heightened interest.

He and other Manvel coaches were on a group text as events unfolded in Lexington. Exclamation points lit up their smartphones and cheers punctured the silence of their surroundings.

"Our whole coaching staff pretty much lost their damn voice,'' Crumedy said Tuesday. "We're screaming because we're so proud of that kid."

In discussing Trask's unexpected breakthrough with the Gators, Crumedy relied on a familiar source of inspiration for those in Manvel, located about 30 minutes south of Houston.

His birth name: Tasunke Witko. In the annals of American history, he is better known as Crazy Horse. Time for an explanation.
 
You see, when former Manvel head coach Kirk Martin was tasked with launching the school's football program in the mid-2000s, the administrators stressed the importance of building school spirit. Martin, who left to become quarterbacks coach at Syracuse following the 2017 season, landed on the motto "Hoka Hey!"

A famous phrase attributed to Crazy Horse at the Battle of the Little Bighorn when the Native-American battle leader commanded a band of Oglala Lakota warriors to victory over General Custer in what is known as Custer's Last Stand, translated literally, Hoka Hey means "this is a great day to die."

In the Montana Territory of 1876 where the legendary confrontation took place, Crazy Horse's symbolic battle cry was intended to inspire his warriors to fight to preserve their way of life and defend their land as Custer's Seventh U.S. Cavalry battalion loomed as a threat against both. In Manvel, where Hoka Hey adorns signs around campus, walls in the weight room and locker room, and across jerseys – the Mavericks' official Twitter account is @HokaHeyFootball – the message carries a different connotation.

"Today is a great day to die for my brothers, my family, and put away my selfish desires,'' Crumedy said. "We try to preach to our kids to be unselfish and do whatever it's going to take to make us a better team."

After what Trask did on Saturday night at Kroger Field, completing 9 of 13 passes for 126 yards and leading the Gators from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 29-21 win, Manvel's coaches reminded players at practice Monday of Trask's journey from career backup to sudden starter.
 

"He's the embodiment,'' Crumedy said.

When the ninth-ranked Gators (3-0, 1-0) host Tennessee (1-2, 0-0) on Saturday afternoon at "The Swamp," Trask is expected to make his first career start for the Gators. It will be one more than he made for the Manvel varsity team.

Trask said this week that the last time he started a game was in 2012 when he was a high school freshman playing for Manvel's junior-varsity team. Yet, he remained at Manvel and at UF, where he has already earned his undergraduate degree and is working on a master's in sport management.

With Franks in the same class and the starter, and highly touted Emory Jones recruited by UF head coach Dan Mullen as the team's future quarterback, most chatter around Trask the last two seasons centered on when he would transfer.

He said he never considered it.

"I kind of trusted my gut, this whole process,'' he said. "I did what I felt was the best for me, and I felt like all I did was want an opportunity to show what I could really do."

He faced similar speculation in high school.

At a school that has produced several Division I quarterbacks over the last decade, none played at the level of D'Eriq King, who was in the same high school class as Trask and is now the University of Houston's starting quarterback.

As Crumedy emphasized Trask's perseverance and shared his backstory with the Mavericks on Monday, 900 miles away at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson shared a similar lesson in the quarterbacks meeting.

"We talked about that as a group, just having that unit pride and being ready when you go in,'' Johnson said. "Things are going to be like 'oh, no,' or 'oh, yes.' What do you want your mark to be? It didn't shock me that he went out there and played well. He's ultra-prepared and he was ready when his number was called."

If there's anyone who can relate to what the Mavericks faced when they had both King and Trask at quarterback from 2013-15, it's Johnson. As Houston's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach two years ago, Johnson coached King and elevated him to starter once he recovered from an injury in training camp. Two years later, King is one of the nation's most dynamic quarterbacks.

Only a special talent such as King could have rendered Trask a prep backup.

"He's one of the best players that I've ever been around,'' said Johnson, a three-year starting quarterback at Utah as a player who backed up future NFL No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith as a freshman. "We knew all along that he was the guy, that he had that type of ability. It was just a matter of him getting his opportunity and letting him do his thing. When he did, he never looked back."

Crumedy recalled the situation as perhaps the most unique of his coaching career. The joke that Martin tells is that one day ESPN will make a "30 for 30" documentary on Trask and a central question will be asked: "How the hell was that kid a backup in high school? His high school coaches were idiots."

For context, those in Manvel expect their quarterbacks to stand out and play in college. Over the last decade, Manvel has produced Trask, King, Shane McCarley (Old Dominion), Travaughn Colwell (New Mexico State), Dexter Foreman (Minnesota), Julian Walker (Citadel), Josh Coltrin (Tulane) and Kason Martin (North Texas).
 
While King remains the benchmark others aspire to, the Mavericks found ways to get Trask on the field. They owed it to him for his team-first mentality. And, they knew how good he could be if offered a scholarship.

"We got in situations where every third or every fourth series, we had to find ways to get Kyle on the field and get him some throws and get him some tape to get his school paid for,'' Crumedy said. "And Florida finally took a chance."

It was a difficult sell. When college coaches came to town to watch King and other Mavericks, Martin and his staff pushed them toward Trask. Inevitably, the coaches would tell them they couldn't waste a scholarship on a backup high school quarterback. They didn't want to get fired.

Former UF offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier listened to their pitch and told them to get Trask to a camp at Florida. They did and Trask did the rest, attending two Florida camps and convincing the Gators to bring him in as an early enrollee in the spring of 2016 with Franks. He then waited his turn as Luke Del Rio, Austin Appleby, Franks and Malik Zaire took snaps over the next three seasons.

Franks emerged as the long-term starter and Trask appeared destined for the same role he had in high school. That was until Franks went down with a dislocated and fractured ankle on Saturday night at Kroger Field.

In his two seasons around Trask, Johnson has seen nothing but total commitment. He didn't blink when Trask entered the game in the fourth quarter and Florida down 11.

"That's just his personality. He takes care of his business,'' Johnson said following practice Tuesday. "He's already graduated. He's a guy that is self-sufficient and a self-starter. That's a very great quality to have, not only as a football player, but as a human being. He has great pride in everything he does."

In the aftermath of Saturday's victory, the Manvel coaches were not the only ones paying close attention. King was, too.

He told TheAthletic.com this week that Trask deserved his moment in the spotlight.

"Nobody on my high school team thought of him as a backup,'' King said. "It was kind of like 1A, 1B."

In a group text, King messaged both Trask and Johnson a congratulatory note right after the game.

Neither was surprised.

"He's one of my favorite people I've ever been around, players and coaches," Johnson said. "He is an absolute A-plus as someone to coach."

As for King's former backup, no one is alarmed that Trask's demeanor hasn't changed since his coming-out party. Following years of waiting on his turn, you would never know it's finally his turn according to teammates.

"He's the same guy every day,'' tight end Lucas Krull said. "He comes out with a smile on his facing pushing everybody, communicating, keeping everybody's confidence high. He's got that same fire in him that Emory and Feleipe have. It's good to know that you have a quarterback that is ready to lead when you need him to."

"The one thing that stuck out to me was that Kyle came in and didn't let the pressure get to him,'' senior receiver Tyrie Cleveland said. "He stepped right in and made good throws. When he got in, he said that 'he got us.' Everybody listened, everybody followed, and he led us to a victory."

Those closest to Trask view him as a fiery competitor who is able to suppress his ego for the betterment of the team. All he needed was a chance. Talent was never a question.

Everyone got to see that at Kentucky. They have been shouting "Hoka Hey!" all week at Manvel as the Mavericks prepare for their showdown at Fort Bend Marshall this week.

And Crumedy can't stop talking about Trask. He is currently the Hoka Hey poster boy.

"I know that was hard on him as a high school kid,'' Crumedy said. "But Kyle never complained. Even though Kyle knew D'Eriq was the starter, it didn't change the way he worked. We knew he was going to be special. He is one of our favorites. Now, we have Kyle Trask to show, 'Hey, look at Kyle Trask.' He was ready when his opportunity came and now, he's the dude."

The dude, indeed. A dude whose story traces back to Crazy Horse in his hometown. That's one way to make your mark.