By Zachary Wagner
Monday through Friday seem to move at a snail speed nowadays for Rich Bresee, the father of the nation’s former #1 overall recruit in the class of 2020, Bryan Bresee. On Saturday, Rich puts on his number eleven jersey and heads to wherever Clemson is playing to sit in the stands and root on his son, who is slowly becoming a household name on the Tiger defense.
“The weekends are fantastic now. The weeks for us now drag by, waiting to get back down to wherever we’re going.” Said Bresee. “It’s been a remarkable experience so far for me and my family.”
Rich Bresee knew that his son was going to be a football player at a young age. Growing up playing football and basketball, Bryan excelled in sports according to his father.
“In first and second grade, I could just tell Bryan loved the sport. He played quarterback and defensive line and he excelled very early on. He played other sports, he played basketball and played travel basketball for some of the bigger name AAU organizations”
It was never a question for Bresee what sport he would pursue in the collegiate ranks though.
“Football was just his love. Bryan is extremely competitive, he loves the physicality of the game, he’s extremely intense when it comes time to play. I think we knew very early on that this was the sport for him.”
Physical and competitive was just what Bryan was in his final year of high school. The Maryland native forced 30.5 tackles for loss and recorded 14 sacks his senior year at Damascus High School in Damascus, Maryland.
When it came time for the nation’s top recruit to choose where he would be playing his college football, Rich and family made sure that Bryan knew the distance was not an obstacle.
“What we did early on in the recruiting process, is let Bryan know that distance wasn’t going to matter to us. We didn’t care if it was a car ride, or an airplane ride. We wanted Bryan to be as comfortable as possible wherever he went.”
For his son, it was about relationships when choosing the school he wanted to spend the next few years at.
“Bryan is a big relationship guy. I knew for Bryan it would be about where he built the best relationships at.” Said Bresee. “It was going to be for Bryan, “where can I build the best relationship, where do I feel the most comfortable, where do I feel the most comfortable about the other kids in the room, and also where would I have the best college experience if I couldn’t play football.””
When Bresee committed to the Tigers in April of last year, he joined a long list of top recruits choosing the Tigers, including joining Trevor Lawrence and Da’Quan Bowers choosing Clemson as the top recruit in the nation.
Fast forward to the second week of September, and Clemson and Bresee are getting ready to take on Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, Rich and family had no idea that Bryan would be walking out with the defense to start the game.
“He told us that he had been working with the twos and sprinkled in with the ones and he sounded like he was doing pretty good and catching on pretty quick.” Said Bresee, “We didn’t find out that Bryan was named a starter until it came out on the internet though. The depth-chart said Jordan or Nyles or Bryan.”
“I guess I would say I was surprised, because of all the talent returning on the defensive line, but I knew Bryan was going to go there and work as hard as he can and grinded to put himself in a position to be where he is.”
On his first collegiate drive against the Demon Deacons, Bresee registered a half-sack and also blocked the Wake Forest field goal attempt. On his first snap on defense, the freshman jumped offsides, drawing laughs and smiles from teammates, coaches, and family.
“It was extremely emotional to see how far he’d come from the All-American Game to when we arrived on campus and just all the hard work he had put in.”
The emotions were overwhelming for Rich and Bryan’s family when the freshman recorded his first collegiate tackle, which happened to be a sack on the Wake Forest quarterback.
“I was happy he got a sack so early on. I’m sure that took some of the butterflies away.” Said Bresee. “That whole first game was just very emotional for our whole family.”
When Rich and his family pull into Tiger Town on game day weekends now, he has a whole new family in Tiger Nation. Bresee has felt the love from Clemson fans everywhere and had some kind words for fans of the Orange and Purple:
“I’m just extremely thankful that they welcomed us with open arms, they’re extremely generous and kind. Thank you for the way you treat my son and my family.”
Bryan Bresee has a chance to become one of the Tiger legends that we hear about all the time on the defensive line. So far he has lived up to the hype, recording one and a half sacks on the young season.
