outside, watching the guys
play and you’ll feel like, ‘Oh
man, I feel like I could play
again,’ but your body just isn’t
allowing you. So I told him
he’d go through that process
as well and I was just telling
him it’s great to still be around
the team.
“You’re still caught up in
helping the guys out and you
contribute to the win — just in
other aspects. Not on the field,
but helping with gameplan,
helping the coaches when
they need something and then
bringing in the new talent that
comes and being mentors to
the new freshmen and guys as
we recruit them.”
As a player, Bryant had
never
realized
just
how
much went into football. He
was
particularly
unaware
of the work that went into
convincing
high
schoolers
— like Bryant once was — to
sign with Michigan in the first
place.
That aspect appealed to
him the most. Bryant liked
being able to talk to kids who
weren’t able to afford tuition.
He liked being able to tell
them that they could earn
the right for Michigan to pay
their way through hard work.
He liked the “whole vision” of
giving kids — that he felt, in
some way, were like him — an
opportunity of a lifetime.
It was all the more sweet
that he got to do so alongside
his best friend.
“We used to talk about it
and (we) joke about it now —
there’s no way in the world
that another university in
the country has two players
that both ended up having
to take medicals (who are)
roommates
in
the
same
recruiting class,” Bryant said.
“But at the same time, things
happen, and I feel like that
was God giving us each other
to support each other and
be there for each other. That
was my boy, man. We’ve been
through a lot together. I just
can’t think of anybody else I
would’ve rather went through
everything
we’ve
been
through together (with).”
Added Poole: “I think it
worked perfectly. I really
believe that — we were talking
about that a lot — it was God’s
will to bring us on this path
and to show people that
there is life after football,
and that you can do it.
Because a lot of people go
into a very depressed mode,
but you can make something
out of it after you lose the
game of football.”
***
Following a 5-7 season
in 2014, Hoke was fired.
As fate would have it,
his replacement came in
already
knowing
Bryant.
While at
Stanford,
Jim
Harbaugh
had
recruited
Bryant
vigorously.
He
had
hosted the
Bryant
family
on
an official
visit
and
made
Bryant feel comfortable.
When
Harbaugh
left
for the NFL, Bryant didn’t
anticipate crossing paths
ever again.
In
2015,
though,
he
found himself sitting in
Harbaugh’s new office at
Schembechler Hall.
“Coach Harbaugh came
in, and he knew who I was
from recruiting, he knew
about
my
injuries
and
everything like that, and
we just had a conversation
when he first got here,”
Bryant recalled. “He asked
me what I wanted to do,
and I told him I wasn’t
really sure. I didn’t know
if I wanted to go into the
real world yet, but I knew I
loved football and I wasn’t
ready to give it up.”
The two quickly reached
an agreement: Bryant would
stay on as an intern with
the team while continuing
his studies at Michigan’s
graduate school for social
work.
He had to work his way
up from the bottom — this
involved cutting a lot of film
— but eventually he earned
a paid internship, and most
importantly for Bryant, he
earned the responsibility to
work with recruits.
“I
felt
comfortable
sitting in front of recruits
and
different
families,”
Bryant said. “I felt like I
had a unique story (in)
that I was only here to start a
couple games but I’m sitting
here
getting
my
master’s
degree from the University
of Michigan and not having
to come out with any debt. …
Coach Harbaugh felt like that
was a unique story, and Coach
Harbaugh is really huge on
taking care of his guys.”
Harbaugh continued to give
Bryant bigger assignments.
He was tasked with bringing
recruits on campus, where
he’d host them
on
visits
and
give them tours
around campus.
And
then
one
day
this
past
summer,
director
of
player
personnel Sean
Magee grabbed
Bryant and told
him Harbaugh
wanted to see
him.
“(Harbaugh
was) like, ‘We
were
thinking
about making you our Director
of High School Relations,’
” Bryant said. “And I didn’t
really know — who was
the director of high school
relations, and what happened
to him? And he’s like, ‘We
never had it, and I feel like
you’d be perfect for it. I feel
like you have the character.’ ”
The promotion was a big
step
up
in
responsibility.
Bryant describes the role
as being Harbaugh’s “right-
hand man” when it comes to
maintaining relationships in
high schools and communities
across
the
country.
His
importance
only
increases
during
the
season
when
Harbaugh is busier.
He enjoys the role. But last
summer, he had a chance to
work in the area he eventually
hopes to transition into.
In July, Bryant served as the
director of football operations
for Michigan’s annual Youth
Impact summer camp. The
program brings in kids from
inner-city Detroit, where they
work with Marines, football
players and teachers from Ann
Arbor public schools for two
weeks before the experience
culminates in a game of
football at Michigan Stadium.
“It’s tough because I don’t
want
to
leave
Michigan,”
Bryant said. “But I’m going
to find a way to get my own
nonprofit up and running.
Just helping out inner-city
kids, teaching them the path
to get out of their situation
and get to the next level.
“I feel like I could be a
prime example. I found a
way, and I don’t know all the
answers, but I know a way
that I got here. … That’s my
whole goal, to be doing that
within the next year or two.”
***
When
Joy
Bryant
was
pregnant, her doctor correctly
predicted that her unborn
child would play football.
“He said,” Joy recalled,
“‘The way he’s kicking, the
way he wants to come out,
you’re going to have a little
football player.’ ”
That eager baby never had
the 10-15 year professional
career he dreamed of. But
he was still, as his doctor
anticipated, a football player.
And however short his career
may have been, however brutal
the injuries he suffered were,
Bryant knows he wouldn’t be
where he is now without going
through all of it.
“I feel like I’m a walking
action
of
what
Michigan
stands for — our values as
far as taking care of our
own,” Bryant said. “I’ve been
through a lot, but everything
I’ve been through, I just kept
fighting, kept going through it
… I had a goal in mind.”
He’s in a position now
where he can use his story
to help others — and he’ll
continue to do so, even if that
isn’t at Michigan.
Of course, the game still
calls to him. Just a few weeks
ago, Bryant was watching
practice
with
graphic
designer Aaron Bills when he
told Bills he’d do “anything”
to get on the field. Bills turned
to him and told him that’s how
he knew Bryant really missed
football — he didn’t want to
just play the game, he even
wanted to practice.
“I tell you,” Bryant said, “to
this day, I still go out there
and I want to play football.”
Bryant doesn’t think that
urge will ever subside. Yet
he has no regrets about how
his career panned out at
Michigan.
It may seem paradoxical.
But Chris Bryant found peace
in football. He just needed to
step off the field to get there.
5
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
COURTESY OF THE BRYANT FAMILY
Bryant poses with his father, Eric, and his mother, Joy.
COURTESY OF THE BRYANT FAMILY
Bryant was appointed Director of High School Relations this summer.
I’ve been
through a lot,
but every-
thing I’ve been
through, I just
kept fighting.