Preston Tarpley and Colton Chmelar are Division I kicker recruits who also star on their high school offenses. 

Tarpley ranked third nationally last season with 113 made extra points, then took over as the starting quarterback for Gunter in its quest for a three-peat. Chmelar is a Texas A&M kicker commit, who earned District Co-Utility MVP at A&M Consolidated as a wide receiver.

Yet both insist these physical feats are only possible because of mental strength.

Take Tarpley, for instance. A kicker has two or three high-stress moments within a game. The quarterback has one every play, especially in Gunter’s offense, which is chock-full of run-pass options and zone reads. Every defense is a puzzle that Tarpley has less than three seconds to solve. 

“Those two are related in a sense that I can’t get too high and I can’t get too low,” Tarpley said. “I just got to stay as cool, calm and collected as possible because I know my mental acuity is important for each kick and each throw.”

He and Chmelar thrive under the pressure of a big kick that others would shy away from. The best kickers build a mental block against the ‘What-Ifs’ of a missed kick by treating every field goal like a PAT. Because if they do their correct steps and routine, it is. And both have honed that routine over thousands of reps.

“What am I willing to do when no one is watching?” Chmelar said. 

Tarpley started kicking in peewee football when PATs were worth two points, but he caught the itch in middle school when his cousin had a wedding and one of the groomsmen, a kicker at Missouri S&T College, stayed at his house. Tarpley spent multiple afternoons kicking in the backyard with him, learning all his tips and tricks. 

Chmelar, meanwhile, grew up dreaming of playing professional soccer before falling for the razor-focus kicking required, spending hours by himself in the weight room and on the practice field working the fundamentals. 

“He (Chmelar) is the epitome of how we want young men to handle themselves,” A&M Consolidated head coach Brandon Schmidt said.

Playing both positions can be a double-edged sword, which was a slight concern for Gunter head coach Jake Fieszel heading into the season. Two years ago, as a sophomore, Tarpley wore his emotions on his sleeve with every kick. 

“If he missed a kick or didn’t hit a kickoff right, it was kind of like me golfing,” Fieszel said. “When I miss a shot, that club is going in the woods.”

Fieszel didn’t want a missed kick to affect the next offensive drive, or an interception to affect the next kick. Instead, Tarpley proved that playing both positions prevented him from dwelling on a mistake because he had to focus on the next play. 

Schmidt said he likes Chmelar playing both positions for a similar reason: it puts the team over himself.

“I always like the fact that our kicker is a football player,” Schmidt said. “He’s not just a guy who goes out there and kicks it after a touchdown or the guy who’s kicking off. To me, he’s got a more vested interest in the team than that because he’s part of what we’re doing.”

Both Chmelar and Tarpley had to use the mental toughness kicking provided them in their senior seasons. 

Chmelar missed the first seven games of the year due to a preseason quad injury, spending every practice holding up the signs to call in the offensive play, wishing he could run the route he was signaling in himself. 

He returned in Week 8 and had two catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, then scored six touchdowns in his first three games of the season. By the time A&M Consolidated faced Galveston Ball in the area round of the playoffs, the defense was double-teaming him with an outside linebacker or a safety. 

Gunter got off to a slow start this season, too, falling to 1-2 after not losing a game in the previous two seasons, combined. Two of Tarpley’s first three games as the starter were against now-undefeated Celina and reigning state champion Anna, each of which was at least a classification above Gunter. 

Since then, Gunter has reeled off 10 consecutive wins.

“I understood that it was for the better,” Tarpley said. “I knew that the best way for us to achieve what we want to achieve at the end of the season is for us to play those teams.”

Fieszel said Tarpley proved himself in those two losses by not flinching and staying as calm as the coaching staff to lead the team through the storm.

“When the chips are down, you want him out there,” Fieszel said.

Tarpley is still deciding where to play college football, visiting SMU and Louisiana. Chmelar is staying in College Station to kick for the Aggies… and maybe catch a couple passes.

“I might try to sneak in a few receiver reps here and there to earn a little respect,” Chmelar said. “Coach may not let me do that, but no harm in trying.”