Lockett’s commitment to Arkansas big for family

When highly-recruited sophomore defensive back Tay Lockett surprised his parents on their birthday by committing to the University of Arkansas, his parents reacted with shock, tears, a Hog Call and other emotions.

Only Lockett and his stepfather, Nate Rozzelle, knew of Lockett’s plans to announce his commitment Thursday.

Lockett, 6-0, 165 pounds, of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, chose the Razorbacks over more than 40 scholarship offers from schools like Southern Cal, Washington, Georgia, Penn State, Auburn, Oregon, Tennessee, Florida State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Michigan and Texas A&M. He will be part of the 2026 signing class.

While Lockett had discussed the possibility of committing to the Hogs with his parents, neither saw it coming.

His mother Megan Rozzelle, a Little Rock native, was in at checkout line at Walmart in Murrieta, Calif., at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time when she saw her son’s announcement.

“I get a notification on my phone and I see the picture of Tay and it said, ‘Arkansas’ and ‘committed,’ and I pretty much blacked out from there,” she said.

With Nate videoing her reaction, Megan looked at her phone in disbelief, looked at Nate, and looked back down at the phone as she shook her head before looking at Nate again.

“I was kind of like, ‘What is happening?,’ ” she said. “ ‘Is this a big joke?’ And then I was like ‘Oh my God, it’s literally on Twitter. He posted this on Twitter that he committed to Arkansas.’ I was like, ‘I’m not going to cry,’ and then you can see me turning my head to the guy to finish paying and I’m just crying.”

She described what was going through her mind once she overcame the shock.

“That has been in my heart, soul and bones since we started the whole college journey experience,” Megan said about her hopes of her son being a Razorback. “For me, it was too good to be true. I didn’t think he would actually ever go and be an Arkansas Razorback because I felt like I wanted it too much. Not that he wouldn’t go because I wanted it.”

Tay, his mother, father, stepfather and several family members from Arkansas visited Fayetteville on March 4. He and his family also visited for the Hogs’ spring showcase on April 15.

During the days leading up to Tay’s commitment, Nate grew tense.

“I was nervous because I’m not good at keeping secrets,” Nate said. “I tell my wife everything, so for me not to tell her something like this, it was super tough.”

Tay and St. John Bosco were in Florida on Thursday before Saturday’s game against St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on ESPN2. St. John Bosco won 20-7.

Nate had some awkward moments, including having to excuse himself to take a call from a sports writer about the upcoming commitment and working out details of Tay’s commitment graphic while also spending time with his suspicious wife, who noticed his unusual behavior but didn’t suspect what was coming.

“She’s literally right there beside me, but she has no idea,” Nate said. “I’m tilting the computer sideways so she can’t see. Oh, man, I felt like I was cheating on my wife.”

Nate gave a subtle hint to his unsuspecting wife Thursday by wearing “Razorback gear from head to toe.” as they headed to shop for groceries.

“Here’s the thing: We wear it all the time, but I hadn’t wore it in quite some time,” Nate said.

Lockett’s father Tejuan got the notification of his son’s commitment while at work.

“I got up and calmly walked in the conference room in our building and did a little victory dance and then I called the Hogs,” the elder Lockett said. “Something I never do. I really called the Hogs and sat back down and said ‘Wow, my son just committed.’ ”

He called the day “special.”

“This is something as a parent you’ll always remember, especially it being on your birthday,” Tejuan said.

Tejuan, a native of Ponca City, Okla., is the defensive coordinator at University City High School in San Diego. He said he feels good about his son’s decision after seeing Arkansas firsthand.

“You always want your children where there’s a safety net and that’s protected some way some how and choosing the Razorbacks, it felt like that from the time we were there,” Tejuan said. “For him and myself, just seeing the love and compassion and the commitment from the coaching staff and what they bring to the table and how they care about their players. That in itself made it easier along with having family there with myself being from Oklahoma which is not far from Fayetteville.”

Megan and Tay have spoken numerous times in the past for whenever it was time to make his college decision.

“I talked to him about this millions of times I said, ‘Listen, I don’t want you jumping around. That’s not who we are, That’s not the kid you are. That’s not the player you are,’ ” she said. “ ‘I feel like if you commit to something, that’s what you’re committed to, whatever it is.’ ”

The two trips to Fayetteville won over Megan.

“Southern hospitality is a real thing, like when you’re completely welcomed with open arms. Some people aren’t used to that,” Megan said. “For Tay to grow up in California — not that Californians are not awesome — but they don’t have the hospitality that people in Arkansas do.

“Arkansas showed us so much love. That was literally was probably two of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life.”

Megan reminded Tay that his grandparents, aunts and uncles in Arkansas would always be in the stands for him even if she was unable to attend if he picked the Razorbacks.

“There will not be a single game you play in,that you won’t be represented by a family member,” she said.

Tay said he plans to enroll at Arkansas in January after his senior season thanks to Tejuan’s wife Barbara, who’s a counselor for the San Diego Unified school district. She has lined out a game plan for Tay.

“It’s him having two teams of parents working together to make sure he’s successful off the field just as well as he is on the field,” Tejuan said.

In addition to announcing his commitment on social media, Tay also alerted his parents and family in Arkansas with a group text, and the nine family members have been communicating since.

“That group message has not stopped,” Megan said Friday. “I woke up to messages, they woke up to messages because again it’s been non-stop.”

With Tay now a future Razorback, Nate, a retired Marine, can exhale.

“I feel like I completed the mission, I feel like I was in the Marine Corps all over again,” he said with a laugh.