At the beginning of high school, Jack Lange didn't have everyone convinced.

Those around him saw his towering potential firsthand every day, but it was one instance his sophomore year that opened the eyes of one of the closest teachers in his life, Michael McDonald.

McDonald taught Lange geometry and more recently statistics his senior year. But during his sophomore year, Lange stepped into a starting role as an underclassman for the football team during the playoffs.

"(Justin Selbert) walked in, and he had a knee brace on because he tore his ACL, and he goes, 'Jack, come with me,'" Lange recounted sternly of the then senior offensive tackle. "And it was like I was being summoned."

Lange was just getting fitted for a new helmet, but when he returned to class, McDonald realized all of Lange's football tales were real. The then sophomore was trusted to play a premier position in a postseason run.

"He's like, 'Alright, I won't make fun of you anymore,' and I'm like, 'Thank you,'" Lange laughed.

But at that time in high school, Lange was still gaining confidence in himself. His accounting teacher Tony LaRusso, who also serves as the defensive line coach for Eureka (Mo.) High, noticed the offensive tackle coming more out of his shell, knowing the now Missouri signee since middle school.

Yet it was a suggestion from Lange's girlfriend their junior year to branch out and take an elective together. The two settled on show choir, an almost Disney-like film idea for one of the school's largest sporting figures.

"Being athletic is really important to be in show choir," Eureka vocal music teacher Nathan Schaefferkoetter said. "It's fun to see kids be successful in every aspect of what they do, whether it's sports or music class or anything like that."

Lange embraced the rhythm, similarly what he excelled at while playing offensive line, knowing the footwork and plays like the back of his hand. Though, choir offered Lange a distraction from football and especially recruiting.

"It was a good space to just breathe and just step back from all the recruiting," said Lange, who was pulled from class up to five times a day his junior year. "It was just so stressful, and just being in that space with a new set of people and just new friends, it was a good way to just disconnect from everything else.

"I never would have thought in a million years I would have done it."

The stigma that athletes don't partake in fine arts became even less true as Lange reignited interest from Eureka football players. He recruited three freshmen to join him this past year.

"All the guys were giving me crap," Lange laughed. "I never really saw myself as a singer per se, but my girlfriend wanted to do a couple duets. ... Being on a stage in front of a bunch of people, and it's just me and her, and we're singing, it's a little different. It did help improve my confidence, and that translates to many other things, too."

Lange never felt unconfident in himself, though. But after his sophomore year, he had doubts about the future at times and dealt with personal struggles outside of school, so an opportunity to spend time with his girlfriend and new people only put him back on track.

"I'm 6-foot-8, 300 pounds, and I'm up there singing and dancing," Lange said. "I look ridiculous, but it did help improve my confidence, just me being in that crowd and me sticking out like a sore thumb."

Schaefferkoetter's favorite part of teaching Lange was seeing his student's growing courage. From the first audition to the final performance, Lange not only improved his singing ability but also grew as a person on that stage and around new people, singing with his classmates and performing pop duets with his girlfriend.

"I was just like, 'Holy cow,'" Schaefferkoetter said. "Even my wife, who's also a music teacher, she's like, 'Man alive, he is a good singer.'"

Eureka has a long history of football players being involved in show choir, but that trend started to tail offer after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Lange's freshman year.

"You wouldn't necessarily expect a football player to sing and dance," LaRusso said, "especially when you got a kid that's 6-foot-8 and three bills doing it. That's really odd, but it's just the person he is."

Lange's football schedule at Missouri likely won't allow much time to join a choir group or use time to explore fine arts. But Schaefferkoetter still wants his former student to put himself out there with any opportunity outside of football.

"He's just a great example to everyone of just trying something different and being successful at it," Schaefferkoetter said. "He's really someone that I think a lot of kids in the school, look up to, literally and figuratively, but he's just a friend to everybody."

Lange wants to make the Tigers' depth chart as a freshman. He wants to make a career out of football, but he also recognizes that the game won't have him forever. He took LaRusso's year-long accounting class to give him a leg up in the business school, especially after deciding to forego early enrollment and arrive at Missouri this summer.

"Having him in class, he's not the standard dumb jock or whatever," LaRusso said. "I don't like that, because athletes are smart, too. ... He has a thirst for knowledge, and he wants to be the best, whether that's a left tackle or right tackle or accountant or marketing or finance or whatever it is."

During his sophomore year geometry class, Lange assisted in completing a tiny home. McDonald bought one-size-fits-most hardhats for his students, but that label did not factor in a 6-foot-8, 300-pound offensive lineman.

The helmet fell off anytime Lange reached down to work on parts of the interior to the point he had to toss it to the side. He didn't fit in parts of the home either, but he still exuded leadership and teamwork qualities to McDonald, who only ever wanted the best for Lange.

"This is a really cool opportunity, and he's like, 'Yeah, no, I know. I'm really lucky,'" McDonald recounted from a conversation about Lange's football future. "And then I looked him dead in the eye, and I said, 'You better not screw this up.' ... He's like, 'No, I know. I will not.' I'm like, 'Good, I know you won't, but I just had to say it.'"

Thrusted into a starting role in the 2022 postseason, Lange never flinched. That opportunity only strengthened his trust in himself, as he realized he was transforming into a college talent.

"We always joke about the nuts dropping," LaRusso said. "You'd see him at those summer scrimmages leading up to his junior year. He would get on people and run them into the dirt, bury them, give them a little look and chirp a little bit. And it was like, 'Oh, here we go. We got something.'"

Lange committed to Missouri in April 2024 and signed his national letter of intent in December. Yet rather than getting ahead and joining the team for spring practices, he decided to spend his final months as a kid with the people that shaped his life the most.

"We're proud that he represents Eureka, the town, the school, the state of Missouri," LaRusso said. "He's going to give back to the community, and anytime they go to hospitals or do things with kids, I'm sure he's going to be there."

"He's definitely going to be a kid that I'd be like, 'Hey, I had him in class one day,' hopefully when we're watching him in the Draft," McDonald added. "He's not entitled. He just goes with the flow, and I'm just proud of him."

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