STILLWATER — Matrail Lopez had a busy weekend in Tulsa already planned, with a Friday night basketball game and a Saturday afternoon 7-on-7 football event.
Yet in between, he and his family decided to squeeze in a trip that turned out to be immensely impactful in laying the groundwork for Lopez’s college future.
On Feb. 3, the morning after helping the Idabel boys basketball team defeated KIPP Tulsa 88-41, Lopez drove to Stillwater for a brief unofficial visit at Oklahoma State’s football facility.
A few days earlier, OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn had driven down to Idabel in the far southeast corner of the state, where he watched Lopez at basketball practice.
“I talked to him after practice and he offered me,” Lopez said. “He’s a cool dude. He’s outgoing and I think he’ll be like family going up there. He made me know they wanted me.”
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After his wild weekend traveling from Idabel to Tulsa to Stillwater to Tulsa and finally back to Idabel, Lopez decided OSU was the place for his college future. He announced his commitment on social media, becoming the Cowboys’ first commitment in the 2025 recruiting class.
“We were on a time crunch for the visit, because we had to get back to Tulsa, so we only had a couple hours,” said Sammy Lopez, Matrail’s father. “I was really impressed with Coach Dunn, because we could’ve taken pictures and done all this other stuff, but he wanted to sit down and talk, get to know us and talk a little football.
“That really impressed us.”
Beyond that, a few key pieces fell into place for Matrail and his family.
Matrail got his first offers from Texas-San Antonio and Washington State during his junior season last fall. In mid-January, Tulsa and North Texas came in, and Dunn’s trip to Idabel followed shortly after.
Even though it’s a four-hour drive from Idabel to Stillwater — “We joke that we’re three hours from anything,” Sammy said — the fact that Matrail can stay in his home state and play Power Five football became a big selling point for the Cowboys.
“My mom’s really happy,” Matrail said with a laugh, referring to his mother, Karess, who is an assistant basketball coach for the Idabel girls team where Matrail’s twin sister, Mercades, is the starting point guard.
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The first four programs to offer Lopez liked him as a defensive back.
“Oklahoma State was the first one to offer on the offensive side, which was really intriguing,” Sammy said.
A 5-foot-11, 175-pound receiver, Matrail has been training at C4 Sports Performance and Fitness, operated by Sean Cooper. Located in Durant, C4 is still nearly a two-hour drive from Idabel. But it has been worth it.
“It gives an opportunity for kids this way to get that elite training,” said Sammy, who coaches softball and baseball at Idabel. “We don’t have that where we are. Sean has done a great job providing opportunities for kids in small towns.”
Matrail is a multi-sport star. He’s a double-figure scorer at point guard on Idabel’s basketball team, which is ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, and he plays shortstop for his father on the baseball team.
“Growing up, baseball was my favorite sport,” he said. “I kind of fell in love with football in high school.”
And the feeling was mutual from Idabel football coach Scott Pratt.
“He’s a great young man, just a high-character kid,” Pratt said. “He’s the same way every day. He doesn’t have good days and bad days. Just a good kid, fun to be around. Academically, he’s a great student, never an issue.
“Athletically — and I’m pretty partial — the last two years, he’s done some really good things for us and been a major contributor for us being successful because of what he’s done for us in all three phases of the game.”
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Over the last two seasons, Idabel is 20-5 with playoff losses to either the eventual state champion or runner-up. And the Warriors did all that with Matrail playing a key role on offense, defense and special teams.
As Idabel went 11-1 last season, Matrail had 814 receiving yards with 10 touchdowns on 41 catches (19.9 yards per reception). He added 484 rushing yards with nine touchdowns on 37 carries (13.1 yards per attempt). At safety, he had 61 tackles and three interceptions, adding an interception return, a kickoff return and a punt return for touchdowns to bring his total to 22 scores.
“Just a tremendous athlete,” Pratt said. “He comes from an athletic family. For us, he’s dangerous with the ball in his hands.
“From an athletic standpoint, guys like him don’t come around all the time, so we’re fortunate to be able to coach him and be around him.”
When recruiters called Pratt, he mostly let Matrail’s athletic exploits speak for themselves through video, but the coach constantly points back to Matrail’s character away from the field — something that comes back to how Sammy and Karess have raised all their children.
“We really stress that we want our kids to be good kids first,” Sammy said of Sammy III, Jaylee and twins Mercades and Matrail. “And then good students. Then the athletic part falls in line third. Those are the things that are very important to us.”
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
