North Carolina State University Athletics
Program Spotlight: George Bryan
11/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 9, 2011
Raleigh, N.C. - For the most part, rivalries are different for players and coaches than they are for fans. The intensity is different, much more under control, and players and coaches rarely display the level of animosity that exists between the fans of rival schools.
Then there's George Bryan. For the Wolfpack's two-time all-conference senior tight end, the Carolina game matters much the same way it matters to the 50,000-plus screaming Wolfpack fans in the stands at Carter-Finley Stadium. If Bryan wasn't playing in this game, he'd be in the stands himself, rabidly rooting for the Wolfpack and heaping verbal abuse on the Tar Heels.
Bryan grew up a State fan. A diehard State fan. He's never had any affection whatsoever for any other school. His father and uncle, who introduced him to the game as his Pop Warner caoches, both attended NC State in the 1970s. Bryan grew up in an NC State household where you were expected to love the Wolfpack completely and unconditionally. Bryan exceeded all such expectations.
So given that background, you can understand that this game is truly matters to George Bryan.
"Oh yeah, definitely," he says. "It's been a special game since I was 4."
For players who grew up in North Carolina, the UNC game means answering questions all week from the media about the rivalry, about friends from back home who are playing for the other team, about local bragging rights.
Bryan grew up in Castle Hayne, N.C., about two hours from Raleigh, "if I drive the speed limit," Bryan says. He played high school football at Wilmington's New Hanover High School. Ask him how the game will affect bragging rights with his UNC friends back home in Castle Hayne, and he doesn't flinch.
"I don't usually become friends with Carolina people," he says.
Pressed if there are players, even one, on the current Tar Heel roster that he played with or against in his younger days, Bryan scratches his head and thinks a moment before coming up with one worth mentioning.
"Jonathan Cooper is their starting right or left guard," Bryan says. "I played with him in Pop Warner. My dad coached us, and then he went to my rival high school (Hoggard). I never really got to go against him one-on-one because he always played inside and when I played defense I was on the outside at defensive end. He's a really good player. He just plays for the wrong team."
As a diehard fan, Bryan grew up dreaming of playing football for the Wolfpack. As a senior at New Hanover in the fall of 2006, he had verbal offers from East Carolina, South Carolina and, yes, North Carolina before then-NC State coach Chuck Amato called. Whereas some players agonize over their college choice, all it took for Bryan to choose NC State was an invitation.
"I've always wanted to play here," Bryan said. "When I got offered by a couple of other teams before State did, I told my dad, if they offer me they're automatically going to be in the top two just because of how much I love `em. Then I came here on my visit and saw the facilities and saw everything here, and within four hours of when I went home, I committed here."
Bryan's commitment was the first in Amato's final recruiting class, but Amato never got the chance to coach that group. He was dismissed as coach following the `06 season, and current head coach Tom O'Brien came to Raleigh that December.
For some players and recruits, a coaching change can be a deal-breaker. The head coach often plays a substantial role in a player's recruitment. And because Amato was fired before national signing day, Bryan's commitment to NC State was non-binding, both for player and coach. Bryan genuinely liked Amato, but the coach was a secondary consideration in his decision. It came down to whether the new coaching staff would want him.
"Coach O'Brien and his staff came in and reevaluated me and offered me [a scholarship]," Bryan says. "I knew I definitely wanted to come here regardless of who was the coach. It's not too far from my house and I love the facilities, and I really love the school. So it was never in doubt."
The plan was for Bryan to redshirt as a true freshman for the Wolfpack, then be brought along slowly behind veteran tight ends Anthony Hill and Matt Kushner. Excellent plan, but fate intervened early on, during the 2008 season, in fact, Bryan's second year in the program.
First, Hill went down with a pectoralis strain during the season-opening loss at South Carolina. Kushner blew out a knee a week later vs. William & Mary and was lost for the season. The week three opponent was Clemson, and Bryan found himself in the starting lineup that afternoon, way ahead of anyone's timetable.
"I hated it for Anthony and Matt in front of me getting hurt," Bryan says. "That got me into the game very early on as a redshirt-freshman. It was basically do or die. I had to do well because we had no one else."
He did well. By season's end, Bryan had made seven starts and was the team's fifth-leading receiver with 18 catches for 201 yards. And he made the most of his catches, ranking second on the team with four touchdown receptions.
"I definitely made some mistakes, but I think I made some plays here and there that opened some eyes and gave me an opportunity to play," Bryan says. "I just tried to make the best of the situation when A-Hill and Kush were out. I give a lot of credit to those two guys because they taught me a lot of stuff before I had to go in there. They showed me what to do."
Bryan built on that solid redshirt-freshman season and became the Atlantic Coast Conference's top pass-catching tight end the next two years. As a sophomore in `09, he was second on the team with 40 receptions for 422 yards and six touchdowns. He had the most catches of any tight end in the entire ACC. During one six-game stretch early in the year, he caught 28 passes for 309 yards and five touchdowns. The Atlantic Coast Sportswriters Association voted him first-team All-ACC at season's end.
A year ago, Bryan was part of a deep, talented and dependable stable of receiving targets for then-Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson. While Bryan still managed to catch 35 passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns, his numbers were down a bit from 2009, thanks mostly to the emergence of Owen Spencer, T.J. Graham, Darrell Davis and Jarvis Williams. Bryan wasn't complaining.
"I wasn't open as much last year, but when I wasn't open, it meant someone else was," Bryan says. "It was good for the team."
Bryan repeated as first-team all-conference tight end. He caught four passes in a game four different times, and had 64 receiving yards against Boston College and 51 yards against Clemson. By all accounts he was a huge part of NC State's prolific offense.
Bryan finished the 2010 season with 992 career receiving yards, which ranked second most ever by an NC State tight end. He moved past Hill and into the top spot with 19 yards on two catches earlier this season at Cincinnati. Entering this week's encounter with the Tar Heels, Bryan has 106 career receptions, which ranks 15th among all NC State receivers for career catches, for 1,122 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is tied for fifth all-time in State history for touchdown catches.
"It's a dream come true," Bryan said of the receiving record. "I never dreamed in a million years that I would be in the record books at NC State. I've been blessed. God's taken care of me. My family's taken care of me. They did a great job of keeping me working and pushing as I was growing up, and these coaches have done a great job of keeping me level-headed and keeping my head down and playing. I didn't even know about that record until this year. That's a great honor and I'm proud to have it."
It certainly helped that Tom O'Brien's offensive system is a dream-come-true for pass-catching tight ends.
"Every recruit who comes here who's a tight end, I always tell them this is a great offense to be in if you like to catch the ball," Bryan says. "You're a big part of this offense if you're a tight end. I remember when I got here, [former tight ends] coach [Jim] Bridge told me that besides the quarterback, the tight end is as important as any position in this offense. You have to know a lot of stuff. It's not an easy position, but it's real gratifying if you get it down pat and learn how to play it."
After back-to-back all-conference seasons, Bryan briefly considered turning professional and not returning to school for his senior year. In the end, however, the decision wasn't all that difficult.
"My family and I sat down a couple of times and talked about it," Bryan says. "It wasn't that big of a decision, just because I felt my game needed to grow some more. I needed to get stronger because it's a different story in the NFL. You're playing against a bunch of grown men and I felt like I needed to work on my game."
He also felt that he had to make sure he was prepared for life after football, which comes sooner rather than later for most players. That meant finishing his education.
"I definitely wanted to get a degree," Bryan says. "I'm not going to be playing football for the rest of my life. I love NC State so much, and I wanted to be a part of an ACC championship or go to a really big bowl. I will graduate this fall, and that's important to me."
Bryan will complete his degree in parks, recreation and tourism following final exams in December. He won't be the first person in his family to be a college graduate -- his mom has a degree from East Carolina -- but he'll be one of the first.
"That's probably a bigger deal than the whole football thing for my family," Bryan says. "I don't think I ever thought I'd get a college degree and I'm glad it's going to happen now. I've had a lot of help but I've put a lot of work in. I'm sure that all my friends and family will be at the graduation."
Come 2012, Bryan will follow professional football wherever it takes him. A tight end who can block and catch the ball should have some kind of a future in the NFL. There are other professional options available as well. And when that chapter in his life is over, he'll take his college degree and put it use, maybe as a game warden near his home at the coast. An avid hunter and fisherman, he'd like to get a job that will allow him to work outdoors.
And on weekends, he'll be back at Carter-Finley Stadium, this time sitting in the stands and cheering on the Wolfpack.
