BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — Football was always king in the Reyna household.
PSJA North’s Ryan and Randy tried other sports. They enjoyed baseball and soccer, but they were destined to play football.
“My dad never forced us to play football,” Randy said. “Until one day I said, ‘Dad, let’s try out football.”
On Friday, Randy signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Division III St. Norbert College, a Catholic school in De Pere, Wisconsin.
“Academically, I think they are top 10 in the nation,” Randy’s father, Randy Sr., said. “It is a very good liberal arts school. They do really well in academics.”
The younger Randy was the quarterback for the Raiders this year as a senior, and Ryan, a junior, played linebacker.
The brothers fell in love with the game by tossing the pigskin with pops in the backyard. They were assigned positions — Randy Jr. was at quarterback, while Ryan, of course, was on defense. Randy Sr. taught them about the intricacies of the game, like play-calling and how to read an offense.
By the time Ryan Jr. and Randy started playing Pop Warner football — when Randy was 7 — they already knew more about the game than most of the kids they were playing with.
From the time they started playing, Randy Jr. and Ryan dreamed of being on the same field together. They realized that goal on varsity this year for the Raiders, but it may not end there.
“I talked to the coaches (at St. Norbert) about him,” Randy Jr. said of Ryan. “Hopefully, when the time comes, they want him, also.”
Ryan has also considered that possibility.
“That’s the dream,” he said. “That’s the plan. It would be super awesome.”
Despite being so far away from Pharr, St. Norbert felt like home for Randy Jr.
“The campus was beautiful,” he said, describing his visit. “As soon as I got there, they welcomed me as if I was family. Like, if I had been there for the past four years and played with them and everything. The coaching staff is phenomenal. We sat down and had lunch, and we were just joking around. They really feel like family. I have no reason to doubt as long as I am there. It’s like my home away from home.”
Randy Jr. said he was excited about St. Norbert’s Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center, which completed a $26 million renovation and expansion in May 2017 and includes an indoor track, pool and basketball courts. “The Mulv,” as it is affectionately known by students on campus also has what Randy described as “a new state-of-the-art, football-only weight room.”
Randy Jr. will have everything taken care at St. Norbert — tuition, food, books and housing — thanks to several scholarships he earned.
Randy Jr. was named to the UIL Class 6A All-State Academic Team honorable mention. His academics always came first, and he used his hard work in school to motivate his brother to stay focused in the classroom, as well.
“I’m going away for four years, and I am going to learn and play football,” Randy Jr. said. “I am doing it for everyone who said I couldn’t. And to prove it to myself, that I can do it. I want to succeed in life and have a foundation to build off of. These next four years are setting me up for my next 40 years.”
When Randy Jr. found out he had been accepted to St. Norbert it was a truly special moment for both Randy Sr. and Randy Jr.
“I could see the joy in (Randy Sr.’s) eyes when he saw that letter come in,” Randy Jr. said. “That filled my heart.”
“It was very exciting,” Ryan said. “It is like my dream come true.”
Randy Jr. will have to wait a year to find out if another of his dreams will come true, as well.
“I have played with my brother since I was 7,” Randy Jr. said. “Playing with Ryan at the NCAA level would be a dream come true.”