Sports360AZ
Brophy College Prep has such a rich history and tradition when it comes to their football program. Senior D’Amani Grayer has seen this up close and personal as a running back and defensive back for the last four years.
In that time, Grayer and the Broncos won 37 games, including 11 games in each of the last two seasons.
There’s a saying that goes, “all good things must come to an end,” and for Grayer, his time at Brophy is nearing its end.
Grayer reflects back on what head coach Scooter Molander taught him. Things that Grayer would be able to apply to his daily life, not just on the football field.
“Coach Molander, he really stressed paying attention to the little things,” Grayer said. “I’ve started applying that not just to football, but to school, to chores, to everything in my life.”
“If you take care of the little things, the big things will handle themselves,” Grayer said.
Grayer has a unique and pretty cool situation he’s facing: he has four Ivy League schools that are interested in him. Yale, Harvard, Brown, and Columbia are all in talks with Grayer about playing for them.
“Those four have been really interested in me pretty much all throughout the process,” Grayer said. “Harvard came in first, Yale pretty much offered on the spot and then Brown and Columbia have recently picked up with their recruiting interest.”
Of course you and I both beg the same question: “How can he decide between these four schools?”
“It’s a great feeling, it’s also hard too because its like ‘how am I gonna choose among all these different high, top programs?'” Grayer said.
“It’s great knowing that my fallback will be another Ivy League school,” Grayer said with all due respect to all the schools involved of course.
Grayer’s family has different outlooks for him and why he should go to one school over another.
“My dad, he stresses going where I’m wanted,” Grayer said. “My mom, she looks at the academic side, she stresses going somewhere not because of football, but because of the academics, the potential majors and how strong they are in their majors.”
“My sister, she kind of throws in ‘Well I like this campus, or I liked this campus,'” Grayer said.
“They all put their input in, it’s light-hearted,” Grayer said. “They tell me ultimately it’ll be my decision.”
Grayer knows all four schools offer top-notch academics, so he knows he’s straight on that end. He says when he goes on the visits, he’ll talk to the coaches and players at the schools and see “how they interact.”
Grayer says he’ll also take a look at the atmosphere around the schools, and what it’s like being an student-athlete on campus.
Back to academics…
Grayer says he has three majors in mind: Psychology, Business and Pre-Law.
Grayer says if he goes the Psychology route, he’ll be a psychiatrist. If he goes Pre-Law, he wants to become a judge or a lawyer. If he goes down the Business path, he’ll want to own his own video game company, along with his uncle, who’s already in school for video game design.
At 5’9″, 170, Grayer isn’t made out of granite, but he says don’t let the frame fool you.
“I just say watch me on film,” Grayer said. “I’ll outwork anyone that tries to take my position and tries to beat me on the other side of the ball.”
