{"id":16155,"date":"2025-11-18T02:07:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16155"},"modified":"2026-04-16T13:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:33:42","slug":"last-lap-running-back-through-time-with-dion-bryant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2025\/11\/18\/last-lap-running-back-through-time-with-dion-bryant\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Lap: Running back through time with Dion Bryant"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Micah Partee ’26, staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When young athletes first begin their sports careers, the last thing on their minds is the long, winding journey ahead of them. Most grow through multiple positions, sports and coaches. Over time, all those stops, starts and systems blend into a unique story \u2014 a story that shapes not only who they are as competitors, but who they become as people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sentiment rings especially true for senior Dion Bryant, whose legacy will be cemented after the football team\u2019s bowl game next weekend against Ursinus College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Bryant, this game serves as his \u201clast lap,\u201d after a road that\u2019s taken him to different teams, roles and successes. A win would simply add the cherry on top of a multi-sport r\u00e9sum\u00e9 defined by consistency, toughness and grit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant has been busy on the gridiron since he was six years old. While he played multiple sports in his early years, such as hockey and baseball, he ultimately decided on football taking the forefront. Bryant attributes this to the multiple teams and teammates he\u2019s enjoyed playing with and conference championship visits as well in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many athletes tend to bounce from numerous positions regardless of sport when finding what really speaks to their skills and talents. For Bryant, running back was always his bread and butter, even after playing quarterback and a number of other positions on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running backs often play a more unsung role, typically labeled as \u201cundersized\u201d while lining up beside the quarterback in the backfield. But Bryant never let that size stereotype holds him back from playing both positions at a high level. He treated it as an early challenge, not a limitation, on the road that now leads him into this weekend\u2019s final trip to the end zone, as he will be lined up as both a quarterback or running back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from the nearby Milton Hershey School, deciding to play in close proximity to his alma mater has made the experience even sweeter. Despite the size and speed of the next-level competition that college football has to offer, Bryant enjoyed early success as a freshman and will finish as a key contributor to a squad that faced numerous obstacles in their way the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the football team prepares to finish the series as bowl winners against Ursinus, one thing is for certain. This last lap for Bryant serves as an example of the impact that sports have on a young student-athlete’s life. Leading them to different places to play, with many diverse individuals, which eventually makes up who you are as not only an athlete, but as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis last game is going to be weird, but I am just glad to get another chance to go out and play with the team,\u201d Bryant said.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Micah Partee ’26, staff writer When young athletes first begin their sports careers, the last thing on their minds is the long, winding journey ahead of them. Most grow through multiple positions, sports and […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-front-page","9":"category-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16155"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16448,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions\/16448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}