Greg Bryant surprised many and thrilled even more when he committed to Notre Dame in December of 2012 in the midst of Notre Dame’s run to the 2013 BCS Championship game. The 5-star star recruit gave Irish fans visions of having the big-time back the Irish had lacked since the days of Julius Jones. Less than three years later, the former prep star is still looking to make his mark and will apparently being doing so at UAB… in 2017.
A year ago Bryant flashed the potential that had recruiting services rank him as a top 100 player. He nearly returned a punt for a touchdown against Louisville and against USC he looked like one of the few Irish players who belonged on the field during that debacle. He ended up being the second leading rusher for the Irish, but things went down hill from there.
This past spring rumors were then converted wide receiver CJ Prosise had moved even with Bryant on the depth chart. Then news broke over the summer that Bryant would be suspended for the first four games of the year for violating team rules only to be worsened a few weeks later by news that he was also academically ineligible for the 2015 season. When asked about Bryant’s status with the team following the news Brian Kelly acted like a guy who didn’t know what his player was going to do and he did so for good reason. No one knew.
Bryant decided to transfer to ASA Miami junior college this summer instead of staying enrolled at Notre Dame and getting his academics in order to play again in the spring. So far he hasn’t made an impact there and now on Wednesday he has announced that he has committed to UAB – a school that will not have a football program again until 2017.
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Had Bryant not gotten into trouble academically or with the team this summer, he very well could have been the top back after Tarean Folston’s injury – or at least would have likely gotten the first shot at it given his experience. At worst, Bryant would have been the number two back for the Irish this fall and would have almost certainly seen a larger work load than freshman Josh Adams has gotten again due to his experience.
Instead, Bryant will not be playing football again in a division 1 contest until at least 2017 – a full five years after his original commitment to Notre Dame. Hopefully for Bryant he will make the most out of what very well could be his last opportunity to have a future in football. He clearly has talent – we’ve all seen flashes of it – but so far he hasn’t shown that he
