CUSportsNation recently had a chance to speak with Rudy Rangel, head coach and athletic coordinator at The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas. As Colorado fans will no doubt know, two incoming 2020 commits, WR Keith Miller III and CB Christian Gonzalez, are The Colony products and soon-to-be alums.

Rangel was kind enough to share his insight on what both players can do on the field, as well as provide a look at what the two incoming Buffaloes are like off the field and personality-wise.

Below is a Q&A with Rangel and serves as an intimate introduction to both Miller III and Gonzalez on and off the gridiron.

*Rudy Rangel recently completed his 13th season as head coach and athletic coordinator at The Colony. He has coached at the Colony for 15 years and his total coaching experience spans 25 years.

Q: What makes Keith Miller III such a threat on the field?

Rangel: “Keith is a next level kid. He has grown so much in our program, from his freshman year — he’s almost unrecognizable, maturity-wise and physically. He’s turned out to be one of our best leaders we’ve ever had, especially this year. He’s phenomenal. On the football side, he’s a mismatch for anybody trying to cover him.

You’re just not going to find a guy that can do the things he can. He’s got two of the biggest hands I’ve ever seen. He’s just unreal when it comes to the physical side. His route running has improved tremendously, because he gets a lot of double coverage.

A lot of people want to make sure he’s doesn’t impact the game, so his ability to get off the ball and run really clean, crisp routes has really elevated him. I’m not sure how much he could have really gotten better from junior to senior year, but it’s been like night and day. He’s a kid that shows up every day, is grinding, wanting to compete — every single day asking ‘are we doing one-on-ones? Can you make sure that Christian (Gonzalez) and (three-star ATH and Texas Tech commit) Myles (Price) are covering me just to make sure I’m working on my release?’ That’s the kind of player he’s turned into for us. He’s just the most likeable kid you will ever meet. He steals the room. He’s just that kind of kid.”

Q: How about off the field? What can you tell us about Miller III?

Rangel: “He’s just an extremely likable, coachable kid that takes care of business. His personality is just so transcending as far as people wanting to be around him. The basketball team plays today, they’ve lost like two games (all year) and Keith covers the best player on every single team regardless of how big he is. He does it because he’s physically able to do it, but that’s his personality. That’s his mentality: ‘if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right, to the best of my ability and I’m going to make sure everybody knows I’m a dog.’ That’s how I’d describe Keith."

Q: What does Christian Gonzalez bring to the table when he's on the football field?

Rangel: “He’s physically, in the 25 years I’ve been coaching, 15 as a head coach, one of the most talented kids, athletically, that I’ve ever seen. He was a move-in for me as a junior. He was at Carolton Creekview, which is probably about 15 minutes from The Colony, and he was a JV football player as a sophomore and was a quarterback."

***To interject quickly, Gonzalez, as coach Rangel says, transferred to The Colony as a junior from nearby Creekview High School in Carrollton, which indeed is right down the road from The Colony.

Gonzalez's mom teaches at Creekview and the family lives in The Colony. Within the framework of Texas high school athletics, there is a rule that dictates one may attend/play sports at a high school out of their district or living area, if a parent works at the said institution.

Thus, Gonzalez, whose mother teaches at Creekview, applied that rule for his freshman and sophomore years, attending Creekview, before transferring to The Colony.

Rangel continued: “He walks on campus, I don’t know anything about him — he’s super quiet. I’m talking about one of the most quiet, respectful kids you’ll ever meet. He (practiced) with us, 7 on 7, and all of the sudden he’s making play after play. I was like ‘who is this kid?’ He had zero offers but by the end of one year playing for me and The Colony High School he had 40, including Alabama."

"His deal is that he’s so physically gifted, when you see him, you ask if he’s running fast until you realize that he’s taking two steps to get five yards when everybody else takes three. It’s really uncanny how talented the kid is."

"He ended up being our punter on accident. He was messing around in practice and I see him kick a ball, and I’m like ‘dude, what can you not do?’ He was our punter, he rugby punted, he straight punted, he was our backup kicker, he handled all of our special teams stuff — never came off the field offensively or defensively. When I say not one play, in 11 games, Christian Gonzalez never came off the field for one play."

Rangel's final thoughts on the two players headed to CU: “I’m excited for the way this pair matched up. Christian flipped late from Purdue — he really loves (Darrin Chiaverini and Mel Tucker) so much. So many NFL players have come out of that coaching staff — that was a deciding factor from Christian. I’m excited about these two because they really compliment each other. It is literally polar opposites as far as how they are, and I really think they compliment each other on and off the football field."