Minutes after Texas A&M was invited to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, Jason Sternberger, the father of Aggies star tight end Jace Sternberger, visited the game's web site to seek information about the game.

He clicked on the staff directory and noticed the hometown listed for vice-president of marketing Katie Cox: Kiowa, Kansas, population 1,026, according to the 2010 census.

Sternberger was stunned because Kiowa is where he was born and raised. He then emailed Cox and as it turns out, their Kiowa connection goes back to the 1950s when Sternberger's father Paul was a legendary athlete for Kiowa High School.

"My parents knew [Jace Sternberger's] grandparents well," Cox said of her father and mother, Jim and Cathy Cox. "What are the odds that two people from such a small town in Kansas make a connection like that in Jacksonville?"

Cox describes Kiowa as a typical Kansas farm town. Her graduating class at South Barber High has 32 students, and at the time she left, the Chieftans were playing eight-man football.

Her father owns a small heating and cooling business. Her mother is a teacher.

"Fun was driving up and down Main Street on Friday night," Cox said.

The Sternbergers moved away from there after their son reached high school, and Jace Sternberger played at Kingfisher High in Oklahoma. After playing one season at Kansas, he transferred to a junior college in Oklahoma, then transferred to Texas A&M.

Sternberger has become the Aggies' most potent passing game weapon. He leads the team in four major receiving categories, with 47 receptions for 804 yards, a 17.1 per-catch average and 10 touchdowns.

He has scored four of his touchdowns in the last two games, including two in the seven-overtime victory over LSU.

Cox finally met Jace at the Aggies' team hotel, the Sawgrass Marriott, during a team function she was coordinating on Friday. Texas A&M players (and N.C. State players, at the Omni Amelia) were stuffing food and other items as part of the "Blessings in a Backpack" charity. After helping players sort and pack the items, Cox asked someone which player was Sternberger.

"I didn't know ... to me they were all just big guys," she said.

As it turned out, she had been standing next to Sternberger for 30 minutes stuffing backpacks.

"He hadn't said too much but that's the way people are from small towns in Kansas," Cox said. "Very humble."