Jake Spavital called it one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do in his life.
The Texas State head coach stood in front of his players Wednesday morning in the team room of the Bobcat Stadium end zone complex not knowing how to break the news of Khambrail Winters’ death. Spavital had just spoken with the sophomore the day before during practice. Winters, who was rehabilitating a torn ACL he suffered before the season, joked with Spavital that he was ready to suit up for this weekend’s game despite being four months away from getting medically cleared by the team’s doctors.
But now Spavital had to explain that Winters wasn’t coming back. His announcement was met with blank stares. Texas State canceled Wednesday’s practice but brought the players back that night for an early Thanksgiving dinner.
“They seemed to be a little bit better,” Spavital said. “But that was kind of where more of the anger and the denial and the finding answers and all the questions and uncertainty of things started to kind of come about.”
Spavital said the Bobcats had a good walkthrough Thursday morning and another good practice on Friday. Texas State honored Winters with a moment of silence before Saturday’s game against No. 20 Coastal Carolina. The team’s defensive backs stepped onto the Jim Wacker Field with arms linked, clutching a white No. 1 jersey — Winters’ number.
But the weight of Winters’ death was too heavy for it to not have an impact on the Bobcats. Texas State fell inside a rain-soaked Bobcat Stadium in its regular season finale to the Chanticleers, 49-14.
“They're not trying to show it but I think they're still wearing it pretty hard,” Spavital said. “But they still came out here and they played. You know, I didn't think that we fought the way that we normally fought, as we've done in the previous games. Which, that game is not going to define our season and who we are.”
Winters was the first defensive back Spavital signed in his inaugural recruiting class at Texas State. The Houston Alief Taylor graduate registered 50 tackles — 30 of them unassisted — and four pass deflections as a true freshman, earning a spot on the 2019 All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention list. Spavital said on multiple occasions he felt Winters would make it to the NFL as a cornerback.
Winters’ torn ACL was one of several injuries that devastated the Bobcat secondary in 2020 that at times left junior Jarron Morris as the team’s only true cornerback available to play.
“He loved the game of football,” Spavital said. “I just loved how that kid approached the game of football. And you know, it's affected me a lot because, you know, you see the family and then the pain and the hurt that they're in and you just hate to see people go through that.”
Winters’ absence was especially felt by a team dealing with absences at nearly every position. Spavital said that 10 players suffered season-ending injuries this year requiring surgery, missing a combined total of 68 games. Another 34 games were missed due to non-season-ending injuries. And 18 Bobcats had to sit out 25 games due to COVID-19 protocols for a grand total of 127 missed games among the team. Spavital also said another two players would undergo surgeries that were put off until after the season.
Yet, despite never being at full strength this year, Texas State became the first team in the FBS to play in all 12 of its scheduled games, with none of its contests being postponed.
Spavital said the players will finish up their academics for the semester and go home for the holiday break. But when they come back, the head coach wants them to learn from the adversity they saw this season and grow from it.
After all, the Bobcats will see the large majority of its team return next year. Texas State has just 14 seniors on the roster and the NCAA ruled that this season will not count toward a player’s eligibility or clock, meaning all players who were on an FBS team this season can get an extra year as long as their schools renew their scholarship. The maroon and gold chose not to hold a Senior Day celebration as a few players have yet to decide whether they’ll come back for another year and Spavital didn’t want them to feel any pressure about it. Spavital did say that “many of them are coming back,” though, and those who choose not to will still participate in a Senior Day event at a later date.
“These kids are gonna be here for a while,” Spavital said. “I think that continuity is just going to keep growing, you know, because they believe in the scheme system and they're having success with it and they know that they're far from playing their best ball here.”
Spavital plans to hit the road recruiting as soon as he’s able to. He wants to continue finding bigger and stronger recruits for the program and especially wants to target upgrades along the offensive and defensive lines. He envisions Texas State having a similar trajectory as Coastal Carolina, which went 5-7 in each of the past two seasons before jumping to 9-0 overall and 7-0 in conference play with a shot at the Sun Belt title this year.
But the Bobcats have a long way to go after finishing 2-10 this season, the program’s sixth consecutive year with just three or fewer wins. And recovering from the loss of Winters won’t be an easy process for anybody.
Spavital still believes Texas State is destined for greatness. It just won’t be the same without having Winters around.
“I give these kids a lot of credit that they show up and they play and I'm really proud of how they handled it. I do think that we got it better this year. I do think that we were a lot better than where we were last year to this year and I think you guys can agree with me on that,” Spavital said. “I think the future is pretty bright here. If we continue to build and work and grow and mature, I think you'd have an opportunity where we can make a run at this conference.
“The thing I've told these kids is that we've gotta keep moving forward. You know in life, whenever things of this nature come your way, you can't stay stagnant, you gotta keep moving. And I think these kids are still working their way through it but eventually, I think time will take care of everything.”
