Published: May 13, 2008 12:27 pm            

Central’s Bryan signs with Cumberlands

RICHMOND — Daniel Bryan has always been passionate about football.

From his days playing Pop Warner under coach and long-time mentor Gordon Lunceford through a solid career at Madison Central, the sport has played a prominent role in his life.

Still, when it came time to make an important decision about his future, football wasn’t that big of a factor.

At least not at first.

“I never thought about playing college football until mid-way through my senior season,” Bryan said.

As he emerged as standout leader at linebacker during he final year at Central, the chance to play at the next level because a real possibility. And when he found a school that would let him pursue both his athletic and academic goals, Bryan knew he had been given an opportunity he could pass up.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound linebacker signed a national letter of intent Monday to play football at the University of the Cumberlands. He picked the Patriots over Georgetown College and Division III Anderson University.

“They offered me more,” said Bryan, who plans on majoring in athletic training. “It’s a great academic school and I want to go to school for academics, not just football. So, that why I choose the Cumberlands.”

Bryan cracked the starting lineup late in his junior season and really flourished when the Indians switched to a 3-5 defense last season. He was moved to outside linebacker and was among the team leaders in tackles.

“He kept developing and kept working hard and put himself in position to get a lot of playing time,” Madison Central coach Kenny Turner said of Bryan. “He was under the radar a little bit (to college coaches), but he turned out to be out to be one of our most consistent defensive players last year.”

Bryan finished his career at Central with 156.5 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.

The Cumberlands coaching staff thinks the Central senior can be an impact player at linebacker and might be able to contribute as a freshman.

Bryan is the 16th Indian to sign a college football scholarship in the past five years and the third this season — Patrick Ford (EKU) and Ricky Rhodes (Gardner-Webb). Junior lineman Larry Warford has already committed to Kentucky.

“We are real proud of the kids in our program,” Turner said.

        

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