Many of today’s high school athletes find themselves wishing upon a star for an opportunity to obtain a college scholarship, but if you are junior Brandon Summers you are far from the wishing wells.
Summers seems to find it easy to obtain scholarships in all three of his athletic pursuits. Excelling in varsity football, basketball, and baseball for the past three years of his high school career, Summers has been a center of attention in the high school sports world.
From the tender age of two “Summers was always bouncing around with a football,” said Derek Summers, Brandon’s father. “He loved to pose as a tight-end and running back and then run around the house shouting, “Hut!”
At age six, Summers began to take up a serious interest in football, so his parents enrolled him in the Southfield Jayhawks little league football program. There, he started off as a freshman on the defensive line. Although he enjoyed playing football, he did not feel that being on defense brought out the best of his abilities, so he started proving to his coaches that he was strong enough to be a starting quarterback on offense.
“The thing I remember most about Brandon while playing little league was that he didn’t wait until the coach came to start practice. He got out there and ran his eight, 10 laps all by himself and then ran with the team when the coach got there. We used to think he was weird, but I know now that extra mile is what brought Brandon where he is today,” said junior Brandon Gilliam, Summers’ best friend and teammate.
Basketball, here I come!
When football season was over, Summers did not plan on stopping there. He wanted to keep active and fit for the following year in football. So he began playing basketball at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).
Summers found out quickly that this league did not baby players or just put them on the team. “They were focused on winning and staying champions,” said Summers. There, he learned a lot about the game and discovered that he actually liked basketball.
His thirst for football, however, lingered on. At age eleven Summers began focusing on his speed for both sports. “Don’t get me wrong. I was the bomb in both leagues. It’s just that I felt that my speed was not where it should have been,” said Summers, smiling. So he began to work on his speed by running track for the Amateur Athletic Union. Summers’ bounds were endless, and he showed this by taking up three sports by age 11, and he wasn’t stopping there. After attending a pro baseball game the summer of ‘96 with his father, Summers had fallen in love with yet another sport.
He began playing baseball and excelled in that as well. According to his little league baseball coach, Tim Douglas, “Brandon was kind off rough around the edges when he first started, but after a couple more practices and games, Brandon became one of the best players on the team.”
After nine years of playing little league sports Summers was finally ready to carry on his many talents to Southfield High School. He tried out for the Southfield High School football team as a freshman and to his surprise made varsity. “I mean I knew I was good, but I had heard a lot of players didn’t even make junior varsity, especially their freshman year,” said Summers.
What the coaches say
Football Coach David Reese said, “ I have never seen a player like B-sum. It’s like he likes to go out there and eat the players with his teeth. He don’t take no mess.”
Summers has continued to lead his team at practice by telling them to work hard and stay focused. Despite the team’s abysmal record of losses two straight seasons in a row, (The Blue Jays were 1-8 in 2002 and then 3-6 in 2003) Summers is determined to lead the Blue Jays to the playoffs next year.
After his freshman football season was over, Summers tried out for junior varsity basketball. He made the team with no effort, and was even offered the opportunity to be on the varsity basketball team. “I decided to stay on junior varsity because I did not want to ride the bench all season, due to the fact that I was a freshman,” said Summers.
Starting as a power forward on the junior varsity team, Summers was the center of attention. “Playing basketball in high school was much different than little league because in high school there was actually stars on the team who had made a name for themselves,” said Summers.
Gary Teasley, the coach of the Varsity Basketball team this year, says that “Summers is a great player, and I know with his leadership skills he will bring the team to its highest quality this season.”
Like Teasley, Southfield High School Baseball Coach Richard Cok has nothing but praise for Summers: “Baseball, basketball, football – I mean what else can he do? And he’s good in all three. I mean the kid’s got heart, coming out here three years in a row playing these sports. There’s no doubt Brandon is going to go far.”
Cok recalls how Summers as a freshman started out on the mound for the Junior Varsity Baseball team. “He started as a pitcher and was a leader for this team. You don’t see many freshmen who can lead a team. That is one of the things that makes Brandon unique.”
What lies ahead?
Summers plans to take his many talents to the University of Indiana when he graduates from high school. Although Summers is outstanding in every aspect of his game, he plans to use higher education not only to pursue his athletic goals but his academic goals as well.
“When I am not thinking about sports, which was hardly ever, I am always thinking about being an engineer or owning my own business. So if I get tired of playing sports, which I don’t think I ever will, business and engineering are possible career goals for me.”
Brandon says he has learned a lot from his basketball, football and baseball experiences. It has been much more than just playing the sports. He says, “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. That is exactly why I have come this far, because I know the impossible only happens when people don’t try.”