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.

