John Marshall’s Brannon sticks with Memphis
Nigel Brannon sat on the John Marshall High School stage in his letter jacket surrounded by family. As he announced his college decision, a Memphis Tigers shirt appeared underneath.
“I just found it in my heart that I really wanted to go to Memphis,” Brannon said.
Two weeks ago, John Marshall’s star lineman made that realization. He was sticking with his original commitment.
But it wasn’t easy in a new era of two football signing periods.
Brannon had decided to hold out in December when Power 5 schools started to offer scholarships. As Ole Miss, Arizona, LSU and Washington State became appealing, his scholarship with Memphis could have been in doubt.
Brannon instead became a recruit who realized he had the power. Memphis never considered moving on.
“At the end of the day, he’s always in control of the recruiting process,” said John Marshall coach Rashaun Woods, a former Oklahoma State star. “Any point that you don’t think you are as a kid then you need to revisit the rules overall. But the kid should always be in control of what he wants to do and that challenges that, I think, with the two singing (periods).
“Going through the process and understanding how it goes, a guy like Nigel is a hot commodity. People are going to want him there. For him, it worked out and it was the right decision for him.”
Brannon was a firstteam selection on The
Oklahoman ’s All-State team and is ranked No. 16 on the Super 30 rankings of the state’s top college recruits. The 6-foot7, 340-pound senior starred on both sides of the ball as the Bears won the Class 3A state championship.
He’ll get a chance to play alongside his best friend, John Marshall safety Deontè Curry, who will be a preferred walk-on at Memphis as well. They’ll live together and continue growing together like brothers.
“We’ll be there to push on each other and when times get tough we’ll have someone to lean on,” Curry said while wearing a blue Memphis shirt.
Brannon said their friendship did not factor into his decision. Though, it certainly did not hurt.
It was actually the early recruitment from Memphis.
The Tigers had been there from the beginning. Not Arizona, Washington State or Ole Miss. And that mutual respect led to a commitment.
“All of them late offers came in from nowhere, but I feel like they overlooked me,” Brannon said. “Memphis showed me a lot of love and they have an up-and-coming program I’d like to be a part of.”