From the Houston Chronicle...full story at the link...
'Deep down, everyone wants to be a ball player,' says Klein Collins' Powers on commitment shift
For the past year and a half, Bryson Powers has been inextricably linked with Harvard.
Linked to the point that people actually called him 'Harvard.'
And the two stayed linked right up until the weekend prior to National Signing Day, when Powers took his last opportunity for an official visit to the University of Tulsa. As it turns out, he'll join fellow Klein Collins teammate Dante Bivens as a member of next year's Golden Hurricane squad.
Decommitments can be tricky. It's inherently a tough situation.
Think back to May 2016. Tate Martell announced his decommitment to Texas A&M via Twitter, prompting assistant coach Aaron Moorehead to rattle off a multi-tweet rant about loyalty, questioning whether or not an unnamed person were 'soft.' Perhaps wisely, Mannie Netherly then reversed his commitment to A&M after seeing the Twitter rant. All of the drama was breathlessly reported by numerous national outlets, digital, television and other.
So these things can go pretty badly.
They didn't go badly at all, though, when Powers – taking an official visit and staying on campus at Harvard to get a feel for what student life would be like - experienced acute culture shock, and eventually told Harvard's coaches that he felt like a change was needed.
"The coaches up there at Harvard were awesome," Powers said. "Coach Murphy is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. The guys up there were great, too. But, going up there, I'm from Houston, my dad's a high school football coach, so I've grown up in this culture my whole life. The culture was way different up there."
Klein Collins head football coach Drew Svoboda was fairly involved with his graduating quarterback's recruiting process, since Bryson's father Steve is on the Tigers' coaching staff. As with any player, Svoboda offered only one piece of concrete, actionable advice on where to settle for four years: trust your judgment.
"We were in constant communication the whole time," Svoboda said. "His dad's on my staff and a good friend of mine. I've known Bryson forever. Ultimately, you just want the players to feel good about their decision. It's a huge commitment. I didn't have an opinion on it, other than, 'you need to go with your heart.' The one thing I do believe is that when they make a choice on where they're going to go to school, I think there's a component of 'it just feels right.'"
Good vibrations
A lot of the components of the story 'feel right.' Powers had planned on sealing up the grueling, enervating recruiting process entirely before embarking on a season in which he intended to compete for a state title. With his heart firmly set on Harvard, Powers helped the Tigers rattl off 12 straight wins to close the season and open the playoffs, but the team ultimately fell just short of its state-title game aspirations, by one game - and one week.
That extra week was a week Powers hadn't accounted for. Now, back home with serious doubts about Harvard's viability as a destination, Powers said the white noise from Bivens, which he'd been hearing for some time, intensified and took on new clarity (he especially as Tulsa coaches visited Klein Collins a final time to check on their lineman prior to signing day.
Powers was in the right state of mind and the Tulsa recruiters were in the right place – both at the right time – that when the conversation turned to the inevitable, Powers was open to the message.
"I still planned on signing with Harvard, but Tulsa came back in, checking on Dante," Powers said. "They told Coach Svoboda they're still really interested in me, and I could take an official just to have peace of mind. Since I was kind of iffy – it's a four year decision – I took the visit the weekend before signing day."
Since the reader knows the ending of the story from the headline, what happened next should not be surprising.
"I fell in love," Powers said. "All the coaches up there are awesome. They're all old high school football coaches. That's what I've been around my whole life. It just felt like more of what I'm used to. The culture there is down south, basically, and I've been around that my whole life."
In another nod to the good-vibes idea of the situation 'feeling right,' one of those old high school football coaches, offensive line coach Mike Bloesch, is also an old Klein Collins varsity football player. In fact, he's one of the oldest, in the sense that Bloesch was a member of Klein Collins' first graduating senior class in 2004.
Bloesch was Klein Collins' first-ever scholarship athlete. In the hall of the athletic wing, next to the football offices and weight room, there is a wall of honor with a long row of portraits. Bloesch's hangs first.
For Powers, Tulsa was as familiar and inviting as the People's Republic of Cambridge was alien and inhospitable.
CONTINUED in next post...
'Deep down, everyone wants to be a ball player,' says Klein Collins' Powers on commitment shift
For the past year and a half, Bryson Powers has been inextricably linked with Harvard.
Linked to the point that people actually called him 'Harvard.'
And the two stayed linked right up until the weekend prior to National Signing Day, when Powers took his last opportunity for an official visit to the University of Tulsa. As it turns out, he'll join fellow Klein Collins teammate Dante Bivens as a member of next year's Golden Hurricane squad.
Decommitments can be tricky. It's inherently a tough situation.
Think back to May 2016. Tate Martell announced his decommitment to Texas A&M via Twitter, prompting assistant coach Aaron Moorehead to rattle off a multi-tweet rant about loyalty, questioning whether or not an unnamed person were 'soft.' Perhaps wisely, Mannie Netherly then reversed his commitment to A&M after seeing the Twitter rant. All of the drama was breathlessly reported by numerous national outlets, digital, television and other.
So these things can go pretty badly.
They didn't go badly at all, though, when Powers – taking an official visit and staying on campus at Harvard to get a feel for what student life would be like - experienced acute culture shock, and eventually told Harvard's coaches that he felt like a change was needed.
"The coaches up there at Harvard were awesome," Powers said. "Coach Murphy is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. The guys up there were great, too. But, going up there, I'm from Houston, my dad's a high school football coach, so I've grown up in this culture my whole life. The culture was way different up there."
Klein Collins head football coach Drew Svoboda was fairly involved with his graduating quarterback's recruiting process, since Bryson's father Steve is on the Tigers' coaching staff. As with any player, Svoboda offered only one piece of concrete, actionable advice on where to settle for four years: trust your judgment.
"We were in constant communication the whole time," Svoboda said. "His dad's on my staff and a good friend of mine. I've known Bryson forever. Ultimately, you just want the players to feel good about their decision. It's a huge commitment. I didn't have an opinion on it, other than, 'you need to go with your heart.' The one thing I do believe is that when they make a choice on where they're going to go to school, I think there's a component of 'it just feels right.'"
Good vibrations
A lot of the components of the story 'feel right.' Powers had planned on sealing up the grueling, enervating recruiting process entirely before embarking on a season in which he intended to compete for a state title. With his heart firmly set on Harvard, Powers helped the Tigers rattl off 12 straight wins to close the season and open the playoffs, but the team ultimately fell just short of its state-title game aspirations, by one game - and one week.
That extra week was a week Powers hadn't accounted for. Now, back home with serious doubts about Harvard's viability as a destination, Powers said the white noise from Bivens, which he'd been hearing for some time, intensified and took on new clarity (he especially as Tulsa coaches visited Klein Collins a final time to check on their lineman prior to signing day.
Powers was in the right state of mind and the Tulsa recruiters were in the right place – both at the right time – that when the conversation turned to the inevitable, Powers was open to the message.
"I still planned on signing with Harvard, but Tulsa came back in, checking on Dante," Powers said. "They told Coach Svoboda they're still really interested in me, and I could take an official just to have peace of mind. Since I was kind of iffy – it's a four year decision – I took the visit the weekend before signing day."
Since the reader knows the ending of the story from the headline, what happened next should not be surprising.
"I fell in love," Powers said. "All the coaches up there are awesome. They're all old high school football coaches. That's what I've been around my whole life. It just felt like more of what I'm used to. The culture there is down south, basically, and I've been around that my whole life."
In another nod to the good-vibes idea of the situation 'feeling right,' one of those old high school football coaches, offensive line coach Mike Bloesch, is also an old Klein Collins varsity football player. In fact, he's one of the oldest, in the sense that Bloesch was a member of Klein Collins' first graduating senior class in 2004.
Bloesch was Klein Collins' first-ever scholarship athlete. In the hall of the athletic wing, next to the football offices and weight room, there is a wall of honor with a long row of portraits. Bloesch's hangs first.
For Powers, Tulsa was as familiar and inviting as the People's Republic of Cambridge was alien and inhospitable.
CONTINUED in next post...
