R’Monie Edwards doesn’t wear a costume when he takes his three younger siblings trick-or-treating — he’s already a scary sight for opposing defenses.

On this Halloween night, as Edwards strolls behind his little siblings who dash from house to house, it’s easy to mistake this high school sophomore for a grown man. At 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, he’s started at left tackle for Cypress Ranch, a Class 6A school, since the second game of his freshman year. Head coach Will Blaylock says that by the time he graduates, he’ll have played more varsity snaps than anyone in school history. The college scouts have seen enough already — Edwards has 20 offers from schools such as Texas, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss.

“If you were playing a video game and you built your offensive lineman, he’d probably come out looking like R’Monie Edwards,” Blaylock said.

Edwards may not don a costume, but he does love to dress up. His dream, aside from playing in the NFL, is to own his own clothing line. His mother, Ronnicee, had him when she was 16. As a toddler, Ronnicee and her teenage friends used to gift R’Monie baby Jordans and Timberlands, igniting his love of fashion.

Ronnicee kept her son looking sharp, but she didn’t pamper him. She always tells him that either she can humble him, or life will. R’Monie doesn’t have the aura of an older kid just because of his physical traits — serving as a mentor to his three younger siblings, ages 12, 10, and 7, has caused him to mature more quickly than most. He’s the same age his mother was when she had him, and he feels a similar sense of responsibility to what she felt the day she first held him in her arms.

“I wanted him to be strong — to be somebody,” Ronnicee said. “With me having him so young, he was automatically a statistic. I’m just like, ‘No, son, you’re gonna beat that statistic.’ Where I come from, not a lot of people ever reach the success that he’s already having at 16.”

She has been his biggest fan all along the way. R’Monie is also a varsity basketball player, and last year his AAU team had a tournament in California on his birthday weekend. During a tight game, R’Monie’s team broke a full-court press and dished it to the big man for his first-ever dunk. It was a milestone moment, made all the more memorable by what his mother did next.

“It was my mom’s first time ever going to Cali,” R’Monie said. “She ran out on the court celebrating, and it was a close game when I dunked the ball. She almost got a tech!”

If Ronnicee isn’t storming the court, she’s falling down in the stands after R’Monie gets a block. She tells R’Monie before every game that he’s an entertainer — his job is to put on a show for her. Part of her reaction is pride. Part of it is genuine awe: her son has the athleticism of someone half his size.

That athleticism on the football field comes from his multi-sport background. It’s not just basketball — R’Monie swims like a fish. Swimming was his first love growing up in Wichita Falls. Turning six was a big day because it meant he could start lessons at the local Boys & Girls Club. R’Monie’s birthday was in April, just in time for the summer. He was up at 7:00 a.m. sharp every morning so he could make his swimming lesson, tugging his mom’s shirt to hurry up so he could get in the pool.

“He has great feet,” Blaylock said. “I always ask my offensive linemen, ‘Can you dance?’ If you can dance, you can pass block — and pass blocking is where you make your money.”

Combine that agility with the aggressiveness built from playing defensive line in Little League, and R’Monie has the chance to make a lot of money in the near future — in college and beyond.

But part of getting him ready is keeping him humble. That task falls to Ronnicee and the Cypress Ranch coaching staff, most of whom have played and coached on the stage R’Monie is trying to reach.

“In an era where you can get caught up in NIL and stars and all this, he still shows up to work every day and practices and plays like he’s still trying to get his name out there — not like his name is already out there,” Blaylock said.

That’s why, before you see him protecting quarterbacks on a college football Saturday, you can find R’Monie Edwards protecting his siblings on Halloween night.

“Football is only a small piece of your life,” Blaylock said. “You’re only going to play football five to ten percent of your life. You still have to be a good husband, a good father, and a good person.”