College fandom is a wonderful thing. Fall weddings are looked at with side-eyes and with games streaming on cellphones in laps. I mean, college fandom has people teepee trees in Auburn after the Tigers win. There are traditions and feelings that are deeper than even words can explain. Kyle Trask’s family were such big Texas A&M Aggie fans that they, well, they named their son after the stadium.
You’re not reading that wrong.
“You asked me that question on the perfect week. My whole family is full of Aggies. They named me after Kyle Field at Texas A&M,” Trask said on a Zoom call Monday afternoon. “As far as I know, that’s what I was told.”
The Trask’s have been in Texas a long time. Kyle’s grandfather, Orville Trask, originally from Colorado, went to Rice and then played football for the Houston Oilers. He was the Oilers’ first ever team captain and settled in Houston when his football playing days were done. Kyle’s parents both went to Texas A&M and became huge Aggie fans. Kyle’s brother, Hayden — five years Kyle’s elder, went to the University of Houston and now works in the city as a chemical engineer. The Trask’s are proud Texans and they’ll be proud parents in the stands when Kyle returns to the stadium that is his namesake.
Trask’s story on the field is well known at this point but his recruitment may not be as well known. Trask attended Manvel High School, he started as a freshman on the freshman team and then moved up to varsity when he was a sophomore. They had four quarterbacks, three sophomores and a junior, after the season two of them transferred leaving Trask and D’Eriq King. Kyle’s father, Michael, inquired with his son, maybe Kyle wanted to do the same and find a new school where he would be able to start right away and get the ball rolling on his recruitment.
Kyle told his dad there was going to be competition at every stage of his life and he didn’t see the point in running away from competition now. Manvel did the best to get Kyle involved, he would play a few series every week but King was the five-star, blue-chip quarterback, receiving letters from every top program in the country. Trask had an early offer from Lamar, even though the coach at the time told the Trask’s he didn’t think Lamar had a shot of landing the passer.
The offers never really came in. Houston Baptist wanted Trask to come play for them, and McNeese State offered too. It was on a trip when former Florida Gator defensive coordinator Randy Shannon just happened to notice the backup quarterback. At this point, Florida fans were already angry with Shannon’s recruiting tactics, dubbing lesser-known recruits that he went after “Randy Specials” and, hey, an out of state, two-star quarterback, that fits the bill. Shannon liked what he saw and let then offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier know he needed to head out to Texas to take a look.
There was no offer from the school that he grew up watching but Trask doesn’t hold a grudge against the Aggies, its not like they were the only school to snub him.
“Obviously I wasn’t really highly recruited. I think they already had their quarterback for that class and I don’t think I really got any contact from them or any big-time schools for the most part,” Trask said. “There’s always a chip on my shoulder just because of, you know, I wasn’t as, kind of just blown away – or, no one gave me a chance in recruiting. So, I kind of just came in with a chip on my shoulder to whatever program I came into to just try to prove myself.”
Trask’s first few years at Florida weren’t anything to write home about. He went about his business, but like when he was in high school he had to bide his time behind others. Even when things were looking as if they were going to turn and he’d get a shot something would happen. Knee and foot injuries ended two seasons prematurely. It wasn’t until an injury to Feleipe Franks that Trask would fully get the offense. He has taken this Florida Gators team and hasn’t looked back.
This season Trask is leading the SEC with 10 touchdown passes, tied for third in yards (684), completion percentage (71.8), and overall completions (51). He’s leading a Florida offense that hasn’t looked this good since well before Trask was even a freshman in high school and he has a lot of people thinking Florida can challenge for a championship.
This Saturday Kyle Trask will walk into a stadium he’s named after. The way he’s playing this year they might start naming stuff after him in Gainesville.