ARDMORE, Oklahoma (KTEN)- Growing up in Ardmore, Dontez Fagan showcased his athletic ability both on and off the football field, but his path to the Division I level was one filled with detours and no shortage of adversity.

“There was one point and time where I was stuck,” Fagan said, talking about his time in junior college. “I was like, ‘Man, if I don't go DI I don't think I want to play football no more.”

Fagan began playing football when he was six years old, but he was far from a one trick pony…

Growing up, he also competed at rodeos in an event called the Pony Express where two teams made up of eight riders go head-to-head in a relay race. 

When Fagan began riding with the Ardmore Youth Rodeo Club, his natural ability was apparent to Stephanie Hacker, who served as the behavior interventionist specialist at Ardmore Middle School.

“It’s a pretty raucous sport, but he’s really good at it,” Hacker said.  “It takes a lot of grit to do something like that.”

For Dontez, it was a passion that helped him stay on the right path.

“My momma wanted to keep me out of everything else, so I really just liked going to ride horses, being out there in the country, giving them baths and what not,” Fagan said.

As Fagan continued to ride and compete in rodeos, his football career began to take off. He won back-to-back state titles at Millwood before signing at Division II school Central Oklahoma in 2019, but he never gave up on his dream of playing at the Division I level.

“Me and my guys from Millwood, we got a group chat called ‘Keep Going’ and we’d all just keep posting motivational quotes in there,” Fagan said. “We’d call each other, check up on each other, and see if we were all good."

With that support group, Fagan left UCO after three seasons to go play at Independence Community College in Kansas. 

After earning all conference honors there in 2022, the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself. The chance to play Division I football at Charlotte.

“I was like, ‘Thank you God. Thank you,’” Fagan said. “I just felt like all the stress was gone. My family can watch me play on TV, and I can get my name out there and show them how good of a player I am.”

On November 25, he would do just that, securing his first career Division I interception against South Florida.

“It was like, ‘Did I really just do this?’ I was like oooh. I was hyped. I had chills,” Fagan said. “I couldn't stop watching the video.”

And for Hacker, who had served as almost a second mother figure to Fagan, she never had any doubt he would do exactly what he said his mind to.

“Even when his truck broke down or he had nowhere to put his horse or he was still needing money, he still stuck with it. He never gave up,” Hacker said. “I just can’t say enough good things and whoever ends up in their life knowing Dontez or having him a part of their life is going to be very fortunate.”