After winning the 3A state football championship, the honors kept rolling in for the Charleston football program. The Tigers’ Brandon Scott was named as the Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year by Hooten’s Arkansas Football publication.
For Scott, the honor follows being named as the Most Valuable Player in the Tigers’ championship game win over Booneville. Scott is also expected to be named as an All-State quarterback capping his third year of the honor and a stellar high school career that now includes three conference championships and a state championship.
Earlier in the week, RNN Sports spoke with his coach, Ricky May, about what Scott’s play and leadership has meant to the Charleston football program over the past four years. In an interview with the coach, the newly named Coach of the Year began by saying, “Passing on the year, Brandon was 270 completions out of 274 attempts, for a 74% completion average. He threw for 2627 yards.”
From a leadership standpoint, Coach May said, “Well, man, he was definitely the leader. Not only did he lead in the classroom (Brandon has a 4.00 grade point average) but he also did on the field. He was the first guy here and last one to leave everyday, and did all of the little things that were needed and just went above and beyond to lead by example. He is just a winner.”
But in the playoffs, Brandon also contributed on defense with his play in the secondary. Coach May explained, “We practiced him in the secondary all season, but we did not play him there until the Newport game in the third round of the playoffs. Newport had the guy (wide receiver) who had committed to play at Jackson State. And he was really good; tall and athletic, so, Brandon was the best athlete that we had, so, we put him on that receiver. And while Brandon was covering him, the guy had one catch for five yards.”
Moving forward, Coach May said several colleges are interested in Brandon. Coach said, “I don’t know what his plan is. I talked with Brandon back in the summer before the season and told him that if he were interested in playing college ball that he needed to go visit some schools, and go to some game days. But he hasn’t really said a lot about it (playing in college). With his grades and his ACT score he can get most of it paid for. There are some smaller schools that say he could start for us right now. And today (Tuesday, December 13) he is at basketball practice. That is just the kind of kid that he is.” Brandon played in the championship football game on Saturday, December 10, and just two days later, he reported to basketball practice.
I pressed Coach May a little further to ask his opinion as to if he thought Brandon would eventually choose to play college sports. Coach May said, “I think eventually he will play. I think he is going to miss it really bad, and, I know he loves basketball, too. Brandon is just that way; whatever sport it is, he loves it. He is committed to it; if he is going to play, he is going to be the best he can be at it. So, I am sure he is concentrating a lot on that (playing basketball for the Tigers.) But at the same time, it has to be at the back of his mind. I think a big part of his decision may lye in where the college is located and who it is. I also know his family is very supportive of whatever he does, so I don’t know for sure.”
In 2019 I started covering Charleston athletics for RNN Sports. That year was Brandon’s freshman year. Early in basketball season, there was a story that surfaced that his older brother, Geoffrey, who was a senior starter for the Tigers, allegedly went to the coaching staff and voluntarily gave up his starting sport to the freshman brother, Brandon. The reason was that Geoffrey thought that Brandon was a better player who could help Charleston win. I asked Coach May if he could confirm the story, and he did. What an unselfish thing to do…this story, to me, epitomizes the Scott family and the tremendous people they have raised that have contributed in so many ways to both Charleston academics and athletics. And by the way, shortly after being named as a starter on the basketball team, I covered the Tigers that year against the Elkins Elks in a conference game of the 2019-20 season. And in true Brandon Scott fashion, the freshman took the inbound pass with Charleston trailing by two and less than five seconds to go in the game, drove the length of the floor, and hit a three-point jumper that hit nothing but net and won the game for Charleston by one point. The story reminds me of the old saying that Texas Longhorns football coach Darrell Royal once said. Coach Royal would say, “If a dog is going to bite, he will do it as a puppy.” Yes, Brandon Scott is a winner, and he “started biting as a puppy.”
But to this writer who has watched Brandon play since 2019, one of the many things I have admired the most about his play is the class and sportsmanship that he has always shown. If you have watched him play, you will notice that, with all of his success and domination of his opponents, he does not talk trash, point at the players, taunt the opponent, etc. Brandon plays with confidence and does what he has to do to win a game, but that is it. He plays with class and dignity and is a winner in every aspect. Coach May reinforced this by saying, “Brandon is modest and probably doesn’t realize what he can do. He has worked hard for his success, but, he is just a winner. Everything he does he does 100%, and I can’t say enough about that. When he scored touchdowns, he would hand the ball to the official. He’s not going to score or get a first down and jump up and give a first down sign, he’s not going to point at somebody, he’s just going to play.”
The selection of Brandon Scott by Hooten’s is well-deserved, and on behalf of RNN Sports and all of the fans who had the pleasure of watching him play, we would like to give our hearty congratulations to this outstanding student-athlete. He has brought both pride and honor to his team, coaches, school, and community. It was great watching him play, and we all look forward to getting to see him play basketball. Congratulations, Brandon…you ARE the Offensive Player of the Year!
