Garces Rams ignoring “rat poison;” poise themselves for huge 2026

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — There's likely not a single team in the entire county with higher expectations than the Garces Rams.

Star power has flooded to the school en masse. So much so that on paper, you might think the Rams are set to win every game. But if you're a college football fan, you'll know legendary college football head coach Nick Saban had a name for those types of expectations placed on his team by the media; rat poison.

"It is a poison pill. It is rat poison," said Garces Football Head Coach Grant Campbell. "It's something that we don't want to pay attention to, I tell my guys that every single day."

But why so much hype?

Well, in case you've been out of the loop, last season, Garces did pretty good. They won six games in the regular season and made it to the playoffs behind the county's most prolific passing attack, with quarterback Markis Gomez leading the way, throwing for a county leading 3,471 yards. He was a sophomore that season, which means he's back this year, alongside a number of other star returners.

"I'm trying to do the same thing but better," said Gomez. "Try to get that 4k, and a higher completion rating."

But it's far from the only reason the Rams have high expectations this season. There are four other big ones, and they called another school home last year; Carter and Bryce Hanson, stand outs for the Liberty Patriots call themselves Rams this year; star defensive lineman LJ Riley from Frontier also makes his way to Garces; and perhaps most notably, out-of-state transfer Jackson Parker dons horns, and does so as the state of California's second-highest rated recruit in the class of 2028.

If the last name Parker rings a bell, it should; his father Larry was a standout at Bakersfield High before playing football with the USC Trojans, and finally in the NFL.

"I grew up out here until about 2018, and then we moved over to Kansas and that's where I continued school. And so I'm coming back here … it's a little surreal," said Parker.

"Didn't think I was going to go back home at all, but the opportunities that Garces has in general, even outside of football, everything they have here is top notch. So I think it was really just a great chance and opportunity to come back out here."

And while writing this may add to the mountain of rat poison that already sits before the Rams, it's not untrue to say that the sky is the limit for Garces in 2026. And they know the way to get there is to not take the bait.

"The whole team, they've kind of put their heads down, they stopped going out much, they stopped doing things they shouldn't be doing off the field," said Parker. "And it's just been work these past three, four weeks."

"Don't listen to the hype. Don't listen to what people are saying about us, whether it's positive or even negative too," said Coach Campblell. "I know people are talking a lot about our team with what we have going on right now with the new guys and even the guys that have been here the last two seasons. Let's focus on us, let's focus each and every day to have a great practice, and focus on the things that we can control."

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.