From Lions to Golden Bears: Liberty’s Cal Signees

After four years of keeping opponents out of the Lion end zone, Liberty defensive seniors, Ryan Puskas and Braxten Croteau, both turn from Lions into Golden Bears.

The Liberty defensive duo committed to California early in 2018 and made it official on Wednesday. Both were nominees for the 2018 Ed Doherty Award and just two of the six early signers to ink with Cal.

The duo was part of the first freshmen class for head coach, Mark Smith. After five straight losses by the varsity team in 2015, the two were pulled up by year’s end and witnessed 32 victories on the field from 2015 to 2018.

The two began their journies in the top tier of AIA Football with a wild, ‘Super Division I.’ After that 4-7 season, the worst in Liberty history, the duo made their return to the top conference (now the 6A Conference) as seniors. This time they finished out the season as the fourth-ranked team and nearly reached the state semi-finals.

Braxten Croteau, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound defender, started on offense when he arrived at Liberty but was quickly moved to the defensive side of the ball. “Freshmen year I started out as a quarterback, then I got a little too big for that and Coach Smith moved me to defensive end.”

“They always say over time, stories get a little wilder,” said Lions head coach, Mark Smith, on the school’s PSBN broadcast. “I wouldn’t say you outgrew the position, I would say that left arm took about, a month of Sundays, for you to get rid of the football. I said, ‘I think your days at quarterback are over.’

“I asked him what his goals were and he said, ‘go to college and get a scholarship but I don’t need football to get a scholarship.’ Here he is with a 4.0 (GPA) and playing football.”

According to MaxPreps, Croteau racked up nearly 70 total tackles his senior year along with eight sacks from the defensive end position. He showed off some offensive versatility too, scoring twice as a goalline tight end.

“You’re the best role model we have at this school and that’s exciting for me as a principal,” said Liberty Principal, Tawn Argeris.

Now standing at 6-foot-3, 205-pounds, Ryan Puskas showed off as a kick returner freshman year before he was pulled up to varsity as a safety and eventually linebacker as well.

“I was looking for defensive help,” said Smith. “I saw this one play where he was lined up as a punt returner. The other team faked the punt and he came out of being a returner and undressed this kid. I think his helmet was eight feet to the right, his mouthpiece was ten feet to the left. I turned the film off right there and called down to the front office and said, ‘what class is Ryan Puskas in right now?’”

Over his four seasons, Puskas totaled over 250 tackles, four sacks, and added on 11 interceptions while also scoring as a rusher three times his junior season.

“Cal is the right fit for me as a student-athlete. Number one public university and it’s a football program that’s definitely on the rise,” said Puskas.

Croteau plans to join Cal this upcoming spring semester in 2019, Puskas will attend in fall.