Leechburg’s Braylan Lovelace making smooth transition to college football at Pitt
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Braylan Lovelace was faced with a dilemma when he enrolled at Pitt in January while his Leechburg High School classmates were five months from graduation.
Pitt coaches and support staff presented him with this challenge: gain weight, but don’t get fat.
Upon early graduation from Leechburg, which plays in the WPIAL’s smallest classification for football, Lovelace immediately entered Pitt’s winter conditioning program that is designed to produce Power 5 football players, no matter where they went to high school.
“When I first got here, I was told the playing weight was 220. I got here about 195,” he said. “I didn’t want to get fat. The nutritionist and the weight staff, they really helped me out with that. They do a great job telling me what I should eat, what I should stay away from.”
Sweets were off-limits for the most part, he said.
“You can have some here and there, but you want to stay with colored foods, like vegetables. Make sure you get that on your plate with some protein,” he said.
Now that his body has reached a point where childhood friends remark on its increased size, the next step is to earn playing time as a first-year freshman. Not an easy task, considering the dramatic upgrade in competition and demands from a small high school to Pitt.
Yet there is room for young talent among Pitt’s group of scholarship linebackers. There are five upperclassmen — seniors Shayne Simon, Bangaly Kamara and Brandon George and juniors Solomon DeShields and Aydin Henningham — and no sophomores. The bulk of the playing time at middle and the two outside positions figures to go to the older, more experienced players.
Meanwhile, Lovelace (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) and freshman classmates Jordan Bass (6-4, 215) and Rasheem Biles (6-1, 195) and redshirt freshman Kyle Louis (5-11, 220) must provide reliable depth.
“Those guys are going to be really, really good,” Simon said. “Fast, athletic, can make plays. We’re excited about their future, for sure.”
Simon grew up in West Orange, N.J., and watched with interest as Louis, who is from East Orange, built up his body and honed his skills.
“Super fast, athletic,” Simon said. “He’s going to be a showtime player, for sure.”
Lovelace, an outside linebacker, has received similar plaudits from coaches and teammates. He credits enrolling early for his improvement.
“Anybody coming out of high school, I definitely encourage them to come early,” he said. “You get a head start on the playbook, head start on lifting, head start on building relationships with everybody on the team.
“I got the playbook down … knowing when to do this, knowing when to do that, especially reading the keys, watching film. This guy does this on a run. When this guy’s expanded (lined up outside), it might be a pass.”
Will Lovelace’s knowledge and athletic ability — and that of the other young players — be enough to get them on the field and give Pitt the depth it needs at linebacker?
“I believe I’m an athlete, but at the end of the day, that’s a coaches’ decision,” Lovelace said. “I do what I have to do. I’ve trained all offseason. Coaches put us through a lot to be able to be that guy.
“Just keep my head down and grinding. Every day coming with good energy, knowing that I have to perform at a higher level than I did in high school.”
Lovelace is motivated by the fact that he is the first Leechburg graduate to play Division I football since 1994, when his father, David, was at Rutgers.
“That’s definitely a big thing for me,” he said. “Motivating the younger kids to show them they can do it, no matter where you’re at.”