When new Vance High football coach Keith Wilkes began watching film from the 2011 season, his eyes kept coming back to senior linebacker/running back Larenz Bryant.
“I mean,” Wilkes said, “you can just see a lot of talent right there.”
On the TV was this dazzling 6-foot-1-inch, 207-pound, 17-year-old block of granite, and, as Wilkes said, he just kept making plays.
Right there, Wilkes would point at the screen, was Bryant, a South Carolina recruit, running through multiple tacklers, showcasing his powerful running style and his 4.6-second 40-yard dash speed.
Right there, Wilkes would point again, and there was Bryant, now playing defense, shedding larger blockers en route to the football, where he would greet quarterbacks and running backs with the kinds of hits on Friday nights that they would remember on Saturday mornings.
Wilkes, who has coached state championship teams at Winston-Salem’s Carver High, feels that Bryant could be one of the state’s premier running backs if he concentrated only on offense. Bryant rushed for more than 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. But Bryant’s speciality is defense. He had more than 140 tackles last season, when he made the N.C. Associated Press all-state team. Bryant enters his senior season ranked No. 8 nationally by ESPN at his position and a top 100 player overall.
And his coach knows exactly what he’ll do with the guy he’s been watching on film this season.
“I haven’t had a chance to coach him in the regular season,” Wilkes said, “but I watched him, and I told him that I had a brand new saddle when I got here to Charlotte, and I’m going to ride him this year.”
Bryant, like now, has always been a standout on the field. He started playing when he was 5, starting shortly after his father, Raymond Frazier, was killed during an altercation at a nightclub. His mother, Stephanie Bryant, said her oldest son had a keen understanding of the loss and she wanted to do something to give him some distraction.
At 5, Bryant was physically as big as kids much older, his mother said. He grew up in Johns Island, S.C., a remote locale 23 miles from Charleston that is the fourth largest island on the East Coast. One day, a youth coach there caught a glimpse of a young Bryant and asked his mom if he could play....on the 9-year-old team.
“I explained that Larenz was 5, and he couldn’t believe it,” Stephanie Bryant said. “But Larenz was just as athletic as the big kids out there.”
Larenz played that year with the 9-year-old kids and his first team won a championship. It started a pattern.
In 2002, when the family to Charlotte for a job opportunity, Larenz started playing on a team that his mother felt was poorly coached. She eventually met former Florida Gators All American Larry Kennedy who coaches the Ballantyne Gators youth team.
Pretty soon, the coaches that Kennedy’s team played against didn’t believe Larenz’s age either.
They thought he was too old.
“He was so good,” said Kennedy, now an assistant coach at South Meck as well as a youth coach, “and he was running over the league. The league consistently complained about it because no one could stop it. They had never seen a kid that big and that strong and that fast and just running over folks. He was just destroying folks on offense and defense. It was almost unfair to have him on the field.”
How many years did he play for you coach?
“Five years.”
And how many championships did you win?
“Five.”
In middle school, Bryant’s team kept winning championships and in his sophomore year in high school, Vance reached the state semifinals.
Last year, as a junior, Bryant began receiving college offer after college offer as he put together a monster season. He ultimately picked South Carolina over Clemson and Florida, heeding his mother’s advice to play close to home and to play in the SEC.
Stephanie Bryant played basketball, ran track and played volleyball in high school. Bryant’s father played basketball. Larenz’s mom is not surprised he grew up to become an athlete. She sees the same thing in Larenz’s younger brother, R.J., a sophomore running back and linebacker on the Vance team.
But as dominant and aggressive as her oldest son is on the field, she reports he is entirely different away from it.
Larenz loves to read. He writes poetry. He’s kept a daily journal for nearly four years.
“He really cares about people,” she said. “He’s very protective of me. He’s practically a momma’s boy. He’s really kind of quiet. He’s different than on the field. (On the field,) he has an alter ego that almost takes over.”
Kennedy has taken Bryant to many college camps and all-star clinics this summer. Last week, the two were in Orlando for an ESPN event for the nation’s top 100 players, who were divided into regions. Bryant’s Southeast team won the event championship.
“I’ve seen so much on these trips,” Kennedy said. “I’ve seen him work. By far, he’s one of the best in the country. It’s like (Alabama coach) Nick Saban said: he hadn’t seen an outside linebacker in the past three years as good as Larenz Bryant. At the Gridiron Kings last weekend, playing against the great quote unquote linebackers out there, he was head and shoulders above the rest.”
Speaking Friday night, after a late practice, Bryant appeared tired, and mellow -- well into his off-field persona.
But when asked about his goals for this season, the other guy came out, the guy who has won a championship at every level but this one.
“My goal is to shock the world,” he said. “That means win state. No one is expecting us to go. You can’t just stop me now. We’ve got other guys on the team you have to look forward to. We’ve got a different tempo at Vance. We get in the weight room every day. It’s more organized. Everyone knows what they’re doing and the coaching staff has a practice plan. It’s new gear (for the players), everything. Everything is new.
“And, trust me, we’re going to shock the world.”
link: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/04/3430700/vances-bryant-is-ready-to-shine.html
“I mean,” Wilkes said, “you can just see a lot of talent right there.”
On the TV was this dazzling 6-foot-1-inch, 207-pound, 17-year-old block of granite, and, as Wilkes said, he just kept making plays.
Right there, Wilkes would point at the screen, was Bryant, a South Carolina recruit, running through multiple tacklers, showcasing his powerful running style and his 4.6-second 40-yard dash speed.
Right there, Wilkes would point again, and there was Bryant, now playing defense, shedding larger blockers en route to the football, where he would greet quarterbacks and running backs with the kinds of hits on Friday nights that they would remember on Saturday mornings.
Wilkes, who has coached state championship teams at Winston-Salem’s Carver High, feels that Bryant could be one of the state’s premier running backs if he concentrated only on offense. Bryant rushed for more than 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. But Bryant’s speciality is defense. He had more than 140 tackles last season, when he made the N.C. Associated Press all-state team. Bryant enters his senior season ranked No. 8 nationally by ESPN at his position and a top 100 player overall.
And his coach knows exactly what he’ll do with the guy he’s been watching on film this season.
“I haven’t had a chance to coach him in the regular season,” Wilkes said, “but I watched him, and I told him that I had a brand new saddle when I got here to Charlotte, and I’m going to ride him this year.”
Bryant, like now, has always been a standout on the field. He started playing when he was 5, starting shortly after his father, Raymond Frazier, was killed during an altercation at a nightclub. His mother, Stephanie Bryant, said her oldest son had a keen understanding of the loss and she wanted to do something to give him some distraction.
At 5, Bryant was physically as big as kids much older, his mother said. He grew up in Johns Island, S.C., a remote locale 23 miles from Charleston that is the fourth largest island on the East Coast. One day, a youth coach there caught a glimpse of a young Bryant and asked his mom if he could play....on the 9-year-old team.
“I explained that Larenz was 5, and he couldn’t believe it,” Stephanie Bryant said. “But Larenz was just as athletic as the big kids out there.”
Larenz played that year with the 9-year-old kids and his first team won a championship. It started a pattern.
In 2002, when the family to Charlotte for a job opportunity, Larenz started playing on a team that his mother felt was poorly coached. She eventually met former Florida Gators All American Larry Kennedy who coaches the Ballantyne Gators youth team.
Pretty soon, the coaches that Kennedy’s team played against didn’t believe Larenz’s age either.
They thought he was too old.
“He was so good,” said Kennedy, now an assistant coach at South Meck as well as a youth coach, “and he was running over the league. The league consistently complained about it because no one could stop it. They had never seen a kid that big and that strong and that fast and just running over folks. He was just destroying folks on offense and defense. It was almost unfair to have him on the field.”
How many years did he play for you coach?
“Five years.”
And how many championships did you win?
“Five.”
In middle school, Bryant’s team kept winning championships and in his sophomore year in high school, Vance reached the state semifinals.
Last year, as a junior, Bryant began receiving college offer after college offer as he put together a monster season. He ultimately picked South Carolina over Clemson and Florida, heeding his mother’s advice to play close to home and to play in the SEC.
Stephanie Bryant played basketball, ran track and played volleyball in high school. Bryant’s father played basketball. Larenz’s mom is not surprised he grew up to become an athlete. She sees the same thing in Larenz’s younger brother, R.J., a sophomore running back and linebacker on the Vance team.
But as dominant and aggressive as her oldest son is on the field, she reports he is entirely different away from it.
Larenz loves to read. He writes poetry. He’s kept a daily journal for nearly four years.
“He really cares about people,” she said. “He’s very protective of me. He’s practically a momma’s boy. He’s really kind of quiet. He’s different than on the field. (On the field,) he has an alter ego that almost takes over.”
Kennedy has taken Bryant to many college camps and all-star clinics this summer. Last week, the two were in Orlando for an ESPN event for the nation’s top 100 players, who were divided into regions. Bryant’s Southeast team won the event championship.
“I’ve seen so much on these trips,” Kennedy said. “I’ve seen him work. By far, he’s one of the best in the country. It’s like (Alabama coach) Nick Saban said: he hadn’t seen an outside linebacker in the past three years as good as Larenz Bryant. At the Gridiron Kings last weekend, playing against the great quote unquote linebackers out there, he was head and shoulders above the rest.”
Speaking Friday night, after a late practice, Bryant appeared tired, and mellow -- well into his off-field persona.
But when asked about his goals for this season, the other guy came out, the guy who has won a championship at every level but this one.
“My goal is to shock the world,” he said. “That means win state. No one is expecting us to go. You can’t just stop me now. We’ve got other guys on the team you have to look forward to. We’ve got a different tempo at Vance. We get in the weight room every day. It’s more organized. Everyone knows what they’re doing and the coaching staff has a practice plan. It’s new gear (for the players), everything. Everything is new.
“And, trust me, we’re going to shock the world.”
link: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/04/3430700/vances-bryant-is-ready-to-shine.html
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