Clemson football commit Bryant Wesco wows opposing coach: 'He can make a 7th grade QB look good'
MIDLOTHIAN, TEXAS — James Woodard got to know how talented Bryant Wesco was last year — months before the state’s No. 1-ranked recruit committed to head football coach Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers.
During last year’s 57-0 loss against Midlothian, one particular play stood out for the Cleburne head coach.
Wesco, the top-rated prospect in Texas, No. 3 receiver and No. 9 overall prospect in the country in 2024 (per 247 Sports), had his breakout game last year against the Yellowjackets, hauling in eight catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
The first thing Woodard sees on film is Wesco's explosiveness. He's watched him as a standout long, triple and high-jumper for Midlothian's track team. And the head coach wasn't upset with his game plan, nor his secondary's execution to stop Wesco.
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"Both of his touchdown catches tonight, we had kids in great positions. He’s an athlete and went and got the football," Woodard said. "You tip your hat to him and go on to the next play.”
One play in particular stands out.
“You want to talk about NFL kids, last year he had an NFL catch at our place,” Woodard said, then in his first year at the helm after coming over from Tomball Memorial as an offensive coordinator. “They ran a skinny post to him and I’m on the sidelines watching it and I thought they overthrew it and I’m getting ready to catch the ball on the sidelines.
“Then, he goes up and makes the play and walks into the end zone. All you can do is just go, ‘Holy Smokes.’”
In his second meeting against Wesco, Woodard unfortunately had a few more moments like that in Midlothian's 47-15 win on Thursday at Don Floyd Field, a former NFL player for the Houston Oilers.
After keeping Wesco in check in the early part of the first quarter, he scored twice before halftime. He had an 11-yard touchdown catch to make it 21-3, coming on a pass from Drew Wendel near the front pylon on the end zone.
The senior quarterback placed it only where Wesco could catch it and he did.
“He can make a seventh-grade quarterback look good ... he will make you look good,” Wendel said. “Putting him in space is really good for the offense and really good for the team. Easy points. Just throw it in his direction, within a 10-mile radius, and he will catch it. If he doesn’t get it, he is batting it down. He makes my job really easy.”
Late in the first half, Wesco delivered his first-ever punt return touchdown, a 64-yard score with 26 seconds left in the first half.
“One thing we’ve said to our punter all week is if you look up and see No. 19 back there, don’t kick it anywhere within the field of play and give him a chance,” Woodard said. “I don’t care if we only gain three yards on a punt, don’t give him a chance.”
The late punt took a couple of bounces and Wesco picked it up and ran up the Panthers’ sideline and trotted into the end zone.
"I wasn’t supposed to return it and I saw a wide open outside lane and I took it,” Wesco said “We had some great blocks on that. I wouldn’t be able to return it without blocks, even though they weren’t supposed to block, they made good adjustments.”
The last of his three touchdowns came in early in the fourth and made it 41-15. On a 2nd-and-1 play from the Cleburne 30-yard line, Wendel went back and threw a pass to the corner of the end zone. Wesco was being face-guarded by the defender and reached up to snare the pass.
“I made sure I got my feet in bounds so it counted,” said Wesco, of his 10th touchdown catches of the season — only two behind last year’s total.
The play was another that left Woodard shaking his head.
“Shoot, a kid like that you do whatever you can to try to take him away and make somebody else beat you,” he said. “But you know at the end of the day, Clemson doesn’t recruit average football players and that kid is going to get his. It doesn’t matter if you put 2 or 3 or 4 on him, he’s going to get his. It is really impressive to go watch the film on a guy like that and challenge our kids to go out and play. Leave it all out there and see what happens. Like I told my kids it is a great opportunity … every college coach in the country is going to flip on the tape and watch Bryant Wesco. It is a great opportunity to catch somebody’s eyes and if not, hell, you go out there and say you played against No. 19 when you are watching on Saturday night."
-- James Woodard, Cleburne coach (on Bryant Wesco)
-- Cody Thorn | codythorn1981@gmail.com |@sblivetx
