Bryant Wesco's road to Clemson: 'Nothing he does surprises me'

Bryant Wesco shined in his Death Valley debut.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Friday, September 13 2024

The first time Midlothian head football coach Doug Wendel laid eyes on Bryant Wesco was when Wesco was in seventh grade. What he saw was a gangly, awkward middle schooler. But one with a lot of potential.

Since 2015, Wendel has been the head coach at Midlothian, a city in Texas of about 40,000 people that sits about 25 miles southwest of Dallas. He has seen players come and go, but Wesco stood out early.

“He was in my son's grade, so I got to watch him in football, basketball and track in seventh grade, and I knew then he was going to be a really good high school athlete,” Wendel told TigerNet. “He was very awkward, like most middle school kids are, but he had the length, and you could kind of tell he was going to be athletic the way that he ran track. And so, I knew in middle school he was going to be good.

“And then his sophomore year I just felt like it was just a matter of time. And it was fun to watch him grow. He wasn’t 6-foot-3 in middle school, he had to get that height, but because of his parents' size, I felt like he would. But to see him and see the light come on and click and to become a hard worker and embrace the weight room, I don't think that was natural for him until probably his junior year.”

Wesco had a few traits that couldn’t be taught.

“He always loved to compete, and to me, he's a great competitor. He's a perfectionist,” Wendel said. “He's obviously talented, but he's also intelligent and because he's a perfectionist and he's a worker and he's intelligent, it gives him the opportunity to get on the field this early. And I just think the sky's the limit for him both as a person and a player.”

Wendel said a few things caused something to click for Wesco along the way.

“I would say No. 1, maturity. I would say No. 2: we really didn't do a whole lot with him as a sophomore or junior. He wasn't the complete package until his senior year, to be honest with you,” Wendel said. “We just threw fades to him and he had the length to go get it. Great ball skills, and that's what he liked to do. He wasn't ready to go over the middle. He wasn't a great blocker. He certainly was not complete, so we just threw fades up to him, and really nobody could stop him, and they weren't always great passes, and so he probably realized, hey, I got a chance in sophomore year.”

It didn’t take long for the offers to start rolling in, and Wesco began to realize he had an opportunity to play at the next level.

“I think after he got his first offer from Texas Tech, and I think once he got a Power Five offer, he was like, oh, somebody does like me or somebody is interested in me. I think that really started the motivation, and then from that point, his recruiting really took off,” Wendel said. “I think that offer was spring his sophomore year, but it was fun watching him in track because his body changed so much from fall to the spring each year, and so he just accelerated in the spring, his sophomore year in track, triple jump, long jump relays, and then the same thing as junior year, so that's where you could really see his body changing and maturing.”

Despite offers from many of the major programs nationwide – including LSU, Southern Cal, Miami, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas, and Tennessee – Wesco wound up committing to Clemson in June of 2023.

What did the Tigers do right?

“I know they talk about it, but for Bryant, it was a perfect fit, and it was immediate. When he went on his visit, he knew that that's where he wanted to go and he didn't want to wait, didn't want to go anywhere else,” Wendel said. “He came back and all he talked about was the culture's just different there than any place he'd seen, and he had been on several before that. I will say this, the relationship piece between both the receiving coach and offensive coordinator played a big part, but it was really the culture of the whole program.”

Wesco played just 12 snaps in the season opener at Georgia, but earned the start in last week’s home opener against the Mountaineers. His first catch in Death Valley was a 76-yard touchdown pass from Cade Klubnik and he ended his first home game with three catches for 130 yards.

Wendel saw the clips.

“I saw it,” Wendel said with a laugh. “Nothing he does surprises me.”