Standing at 6’0″ and 240 pounds, Brandon Scanlon is a lineman for Garnet Valley High School out in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania. Scanlon is a very inclusive teammate, always bringing the positive energy to the team he will proudly lead into battle this upcoming season. He also notes that the team he is a part of is a special one, and that nobody should be counting them out of anything. This past week, I had the chance to speak with Brandon.
When asked why he plays the game and what it means to him, Brandon said he loves the camaraderie he gets out of it and the person he has become. “I think football symbolizes my want to be better, to be perfect,” Brandon said. “It motivates me to do more, to be better. Not just in day-to-day life, but forever.” Brandon went on to talk about how football is almost an energy tank for him, and it only propels him further. “I play and continue to play due to the consistent opportunities I get as a player and a man.” With his senior year coming up, Brandon is looking forward to life afterwards. “Regardless of if I’m playing in college or not even playing football,” Brandon said, “I think it’s going to serve as a lesson for me. Something that serves as a lesson and a testament to what I have accomplished. That’s what I see, big picture.”
Every player has chances to learn new things and overcome new challenges. For Brandon, football was no different. Brandon spoke about how the one thing Garnet Valley talks about a lot is the concept of one-ness. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is that you can stick together.” As for challenges, the fact that he started later than most was something he had to get through. “With everything you have to learn on the fly, it helped… It has been a little bit harder [for me than some others] getting to the point where I am now.” Brandon takes advantage of every little situation he can, which has helped him get up to speed with his peers. Another challenge for Brandon is one that plagues every player: how to balance sports with everything else in life. In relation to it, Brandon notes that a big struggle is time-management, but the coaches help a lot. “When football gets around, the coaches talk about how they want us to be good people more than good football players… Realistically, we are [always] still growing on and off the field.”
A big goal for every player is to make sure you are always ready for football season. That always starts in the off-season. During the off-season for the Garnet Valley football team, the coaches utilize “S.M.A.R.T. goals for their players to track themselves. Brandon wanted to do as much as he could, so he competes in power lifting competitions alongside his teammates, while attending speed training after school on Mondays. “Lifting and competing are only going to make me better,” Brandon said. “They are only going to get me better as a football player.” On the other hand, Brandon noted that he thought his biggest strength was his get-off. “I may not be the biggest or the fastest, but I think the biggest thing I have is my get-off.” Brandon said that he may not be the biggest or the fastest player, but that his get-off has been a major point of work over the years and something he is proud of. “I think doing things well and doing things fast is also a big strength of my game.”
Football is very mental. You have to make quick decisions and know a lot to perform well, but it is more than that. Every player tries to be the best they can, and Brandon looks to some stars to get additional inspiration. “I’ve grown up and seen a lot of Aaron Donald, Jordan Mailata… As far as the Aaron Donald’s and Jordan Mailata’s of the world, they’re forces on the field. And me becoming a force on the field is really going to be a big point for me this year. Those guys are all animals and guys I love to model my game after.” As for his favorite football memory, his answer is similar to his teammate Caden Olinger. The team played a game against a private school midseason, and Garnet Valley was the underdog heading in. “Once the game started, you could feel that they thought the game wouldn’t go for how they wanted to,” Brandon told me. “You could just feel the energy from the players, the fans, the coaches… it just stuck with me, even going into my senior year.” He keeps that environment in the back of his head as he goes on, especially with mentality being such a big part of the game. He notes how having and maintaining the right mentality, saying that you’re the biggest on the field, is definitely the hardest part over the physical side. “You could be the strongest kid on the team, but once you put the pads on and there is a guy in front of you, are you going to go the same speed and strength?”
When asked if there was anything he wanted to share with everyone reading, Brandon said, “I started from scratch. Regardless of whoever is reading this, regardless of where you start and where you finish, you’re going to realize that you are all in and need to prove it… One of my defensive line coaches says ‘earned, not given.’ That is just something I am going to stick to for the rest of my life… Anybody that is looking to start something, whether you are starting from scratch or with experience, I think anything is achievable.”
To learn and see more of Brandon, use his Hudl link below and watch his highlights!
https://www.hudl.com/profile/18326286/Brandon-Scanlon/highlights
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