Our Honor Defend

We are firmly in the final countdown before the kickoff to Ohio State’s 121st season of organized football. While Buckeye fans are making final preparations for their tailgating plans or stocking up on beer and dip to watch the game at home, I have to do some serious eleventh hour homework on the 2010 recruiting class. My bad.

This 17th installment of this now 19-part series in its third edition titled Better Know A Buckeye covers Christian Bryant.  Bryant is a defensive back coming out of the storied Glenville program out of Cleveland.  The Tarblooders have sent one of their own to Ohio State on scholarship every year since 2002.  Sometimes Ted Ginn Sr’s program sends more than one to Columbus.  Last year gave us Marcus Hall and Jonathan Newsome.  This year, Bryant alone fortifies the I-71 pipeline.  He is better known in usual fashion in this feature.

Height: 5’9
Weight: 178lbs
40: 4.46
Bench Max: 225
Bench Reps: 7
Shuttle: 4.18
Vertical: 34 inches
GPA: 3.25
High School: Glenville HS; Cleveland, OH

His Recruitment:  I have written several BKAB features by now on Tarblooders.  Their stories are similar.  Ted Ginn Sr has developed a very good program in Cleveland since taking over the job there.  They annually graduate some of the area’s best athletes.  They draw attention early because of their prowess and because of how well Ginn markets them and gets them exposure with colleges in the region.  They also tend to sit on offers for awhile in order to get the maximum exposure for the school, program and future recruits.  As such, recruitment starts early and ends late.  Bryant is no different.  He already had the attention of Ohio State in July 2008, a staff that always likes to know who Ted Ginn Sr has on deck.  Ohio State was not the only one interested.  He was hearing from programs like Illinois, Wisconsin, WVU, Michigan State, Tennessee and Cincinnati through his junior season.  Offers soon accumulated.  However, Ohio State was a little slower in ultimately extending an offer.  This eventually came in May 2009 and itwas the offer that Bryant had been waiting for.

“It’s a big relief. I don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Bryant told Bucknuts.com’s Gary Housteau. “Right now they’re probably my number one. I’m really excited about it.”

Like most Tarblooders the Buckeyes pursue, it certainly does not end here.  Bryant took unofficial visits to Ohio State and other places through the fall.  He was at Ohio State for the USC game on an unofficial visit, commenting how the fans there were well aware of who he was and were screaming his name.  Further, he and high school teammate and Buckeye target Latwan Anderson arrived at Michigan State for an official visit near the end of October.  Dantonio and company came after the Glenville teammates hard, with both sharing different thoughts about their experiences in East Lansing. Ultimately, Bryant’s commitment to high school football took priority.  He was a senior leader on a Tarblooder team with strong state title aspirations.  While the Tarblooders continued their march to Canton, Bryant’s recruitment was kept on the back burner for the most part.

After the season concluded, Bryant took his official visit to Ohio State.  He was no stranger to Columbus, so ultimately nothing was new.  He also intended to exhaust a few more of his official visits before ultimately announcing.  In particular, he swung by North Carolina.  It was a trip that put the Tar Heels into his top two shortly after wrapping up at the US Army All-American Bowl.  He identified January 25th as the date he was going to commit.  When that day eventually came, there was ultimately not a lot of suspense over who he was going to pick.

His Commitment: Buckeye fans are blessed that Christian Bryant ultimately chose to stay home, etching his name into the pipeline that has given Ohio State such recent greats like Donte Whitner, Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr while also providing newer blood like Bryant Browning, Marcus Hall and Jonathan Newsome.

Bryant went with the hat gimmick that most kids do these days.  I don’t particularly care for it, but Bryant set up the routine by speaking first from the heart.

“First I just want to thank my mom and my dad for being there for me through the entire recruiting process,” Bryant said. “They’ve been great parents and they’ve just been here with me through the tough roads and the great roads.”

After thanking his coaches, teammates and support at Glenville, Bryant then spoke about the recruiting process in general.

“The recruiting process has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but it has also been exhausting,” Bryant said. “Also I’ve visited several colleges, there were pros and cons about each college, but in the final decision I had to think about not only myself, but I had to think about my family and my community. This city and state has been good to me and in my future I just want to do great things and give back to the children that came before and that’s coming after me.”

With the necessary preliminaries out of the way, Bryant concluded the matter appropriately.

“Therefore today,” he continued, “I’ll be making my commitment, not only for the next four years but for the rest of my life, and I’ll be choosing The Ohio State University.”

He donned the Block O hat accordingly, forgoing the UNC Tar Heel blue ballcap also on the table.

Bryant’s commitment was the last one before signing day and, as fate would have it, the only Tarblooder in the class.  Matt James ended up committing to Notre Dame.  Seantrel Henderson and Latwan Anderson, the other two players of interest for the Buckeyes by this time, ended up committing to USC and West Virginia respectively before both wound up at Miami several months later.  Bryant was the cherry on top for this recruiting class, giving the Buckeyes another true defensive back alongside Bradley Roby.

Where He Excels: Again, I like cheating and doing these after they have already enrolled.  I get to update my prior expectations about how they will perform at the college level with actual information about how they are already performing at the college level.  Christian Bryant has been one of the success stories among the incoming freshmen.  He is also one of the few that are already on the depth chart for Marshall.

Bryant compared himself to fellow Tarblooder alumnus Donte Whitner.  Buckeye recruitniks were quietly throwing around an allusion that is not to be used liberally: Antoine Winfield.  I obviously do not have to stress how serious of a reference that is, but observers are already seeing just how ferociously he hits in that tiny frame of his.  To be sure, we saw this from his time at Glenville.  That it has already come up at Ohio State has people very excited that he could be an immediate contributor on defense for his true freshman season.  Whether he reaches that level remains to be seen.

Elsewhere, Bryant is very quick (not necessarily “fast”, more on that later) and shows a very good burst out of a cut or pivot.  He moves his hips very well.

Must Work On: One of the nascent curiosities about Bryant is just how fast he is.  He has a good burst out of the gates, but there is curiosity if he has the necessary foot speed to be a cornerback.  The cornerback/safety question came up throughout his recruitment.  Most expected he would end up a safety (and a good one), but that this issue might take awhile to resolve.  The sooner he moves into either/or, the better.

You may have noticed that Bryant is a little on the tiny side.  At 5’9 178lbs, that Antoine Winfield comparison just seems so right¹.  It is not debilitating to be that small and playing as a defensive back, but the weaknesses are obvious.  I’m not sure how you can “must work on” this.  What am I going to do, ask that he get taller?

Redshirt? Nope. He factors in the “star” rotation at Ohio State.

Highlights: Senior film.

Miscellany:

• Bryant has a younger brother about 8 years his junior named Coby.  Yes: Coby Bryant.
• With all the talent that Ted Ginn Sr has graduated through the years, it’s any wonder how Glenville doesn’t have an entire wing at the school to house trophies.  The state title eluded them once more in Bryant’s final game.  The Tarblooders lost the state final to Hilliard Davidson out of the Ohio Capital Conference.
• Bryant played in the US Army All-American Bowl, the Big 33 game and the Ohio North-South Classic.  The following write-ups are available for his participating in Big 33 (first) and the Ohio North-South Classic (second).

Christian Bryant, CB/WR Glenville (Ohio State)

Bryant was probably the best player on the field Saturday night. He was only challenged once on defense in the first half, which came on a deep throw late in the second quarter, and he stayed with his man step for step as the ball fell incomplete. Most of the night, the quarterbacks never even looked his way.

He did have an interception late in the game that was waved off because he was called for pass interference while he and the receiver were battling for a jump ball. He was also strong against the run, and showed a nice open-field tackle on a scrambling quarterback.

But it wasn’t just defense where he excelled, because he caught quite a few balls (6 receptions for 47 yards) in the game as well—including the game-winning touchdown. He was very elusive as a slot receiver and became one of quarterback Mark Myers’ go-to receivers as the game wore on. Exhausted towards the latter stages of the game, Bryant had to dig down in order to come through for his teammates at the end.

“I was beat, but I knew I had to suck it up for the team,” he said. “They were all telling me that they needed me, and I just wanted to go out there and contribute to the team so that we could tie the series up at 9-9, and that’s what we did.”

Even though he caught the game-winning touchdown, the week’s events off the field seemed to excite Bryant even more.

“This experience was mind blowing,” he admitted. “Just having our buddies—the special needs children, it was a really good experience for me. I loved it. It was a humbling experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“I will remember this for the rest of my life.”

ON CHRISTIAN BRYANT…

One of the biggest names in the game, Bryant had an up and down night for the North. He didn’t get burned for any of the South’s big plays, but also didn’t make many big plays. His biggest play did come in the end zone when he broke up a pass intended for tight end Alex Welch (Notre Dame) on third down.

He wasn’t very impressive as a return man, not because he lacks the speed and athleticism but more because of the way he approaches the whole process. He comes across as a maverick back there. On the first punt of the game, Bryant scooped a ball that bounced inside the 15 yard line despite the fact there were players from both teams all around. He did it again later, scooping up a ball that he had no business trying to field and then there’s the matter of the way he carries it. Talk about a loaf of bread, Bryant holds that thing out almost like he’s enticing defenders to go for the ball so he can pull it back and take off the other way. That’s not going to be tolerated at the college level.

Lastly Bryant did make some nice tackles, showing good pursuit and effort, but he was ejected late in the game for throwing the ball back to the ref with what was deemed too much velocity.

• Buckeye fans may be a little curious about Bryant in light of Hall’s “academic redshirt”.  In fact, Bryant carries a 3.2, was never in any position of concern on academics, and was also offered by Stanford.  His mom talked here about how he does the extra little things in the classroom.
• Alex of Eleven Warriors scored this interview with Bryant after the Ohio North-South game.
• Signing day Q&A with him and Darryl Baldwin, who actually beat out Bryant to win the area’s player of the year honor by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
• Played Wayne, high school of Braxton Miller, in the third game of his senior season.  The Tarblooders crushed Wayne, 53-28.  Photos are here.
• Vital statistics, courtesy of Bucknuts:

* Vital Statistics: Bryant earned first-team All-Ohio honors in Division I while leading Glenville to a 13-2 record and a berth in the state championship game. He played defensive back, wide receiver, some at quarterback and also handled kicking and punting duties for the Tarblooders. As a senior, he had 82 tackles and five interceptions (two for touchdowns). On offense, he had 17 catches for over 200 yards and also had 17 carries for over 300 yards. In all, he had 13 touchdowns for the year. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 9. He has been selected for the Ohio All-Star Classic April 23 at Ohio Stadium as well as the Big 33 Football Classic in June. He becomes the 16^th Glenville played in nine years to sign with the Buckeyes.

* Rankings: He is rated as the No. 11 overall senior prospect in Ohio, according to Ohio High magazine/JJHuddle.com. Also rated as the No. 9 overall prospect in the state, according to The Ohio Football Recruiting News. ESPN Scouts Inc. rates Bryant as the nation’s 35th-best safety. SuperPrep considers Bryant as an All-American, ranking him as the 27th-best prospect in the Midwest and the nation’s No. 35 defensive back.

I think I can say Bryant is now better known.

I’ll put him on the board too.

Class of 2010
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
Darryl Baldwin	DE	Solon, OH	05.25	James Louis	WR	Delray Beach, FL	06.21
Drew Basil	K	Chillicothe, OH	05.17	Scott McVey	LB	Cleveland, OH	05.03
Corey Brown 2010	ATH	Springfield, PA	08.08	JT Moore	DE	Youngstown, OH	02.15
Christian Bryant	DB	Cleveland, OH	08.31	Andrew Norwell	OL	Cincinnati, OH	03.29
David Durham	LB/DE	Charlotte, NC	04.12	Verlon Reed	ATH	Columbus, OH	08.24
Taylor Graham	QB	Wheaton, IL	05.08	Bradley Roby	DB	Suwanee, GA	08.29
Adam Griffin	ATH	Columbus, OH		Roderick Smith	RB	Fort Wayne, IN	05.13
Chad Hagan	LB/S	Canonsburg, PA	07.06	Jamel Turner	DE	Fork Union, VA	03.08
Johnathan Hankins	DT	Detroit, TSUN	08.29	Tyrone Williams	WR	Cleveland, OH	07.09
Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL	06.29.09

1. Winfield is listed at 5’9 180lbs for the Vikings [↩]